What do you think?
Rate this book
Retief #11
Retief to the Rescue
Jame Retief must go over the heads of his superiors in order to discover the source of conflict between the Hither and Nether Furtheronians
250 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
128 people want to read
About the author
Keith Laumer
498 books227 followersJohn Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a U.S. diplomat. His brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Keith's The Other Side of Time).
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 26, 2024
This is one of the latter novels in Laumer's Retief series. It's a space opera parody of James Bond, featuring a womanizing diplomat/spy who accomplishes his missions and gets all the girls and leaves his opponents and lots of innocent bystanders trampled in his wake. (So, very early-1960s social and colonial attitudes.) It's a funny romp of a tale if you don't think about it too hard, harmless entertainment unless you're easily offended. Think Ron Goulart with a nasty streak. This one doesn't really add anything to the series and seems like a rewrite of earlier adventures with changed names and lightly altered situations. Pocket/Timescape published it in 1983 with a Rowena Morrill cover that it didn't deserve. I'd suggest reading one of the early books in the series first and then continuing only if really strikes your fancy. I thought it was okay, but didn't continue with later volumes.
December 18, 2007
read 07.04.87
October 2, 2017
Put me to sleep.
I vaguely remember this story and I think it was originally a short or novelette. Apparently, the pressure for a new novel in the Retief series resulted in an expansion of the short story.
Now, the short story I think I remember, was okay, but the extra content was pure boredom to me. Lots of running around to no purpose. Also, many plot inconsistencies in the story line -- often within a few lines of each other. For instance, a character has just lapsed into a self-induced "coma", but replies to a comment three lines later.
As many know, I do most of my recreational reading before going to bed. Good books would have me so engrossed that I hated giving it up to go to bed. When reading this book, I'd often wake up in my chair wondering where the last half hour went, and I was now late for bed. Well, at least I got some extra shut-eye.
This is a shame, because I like most of the Retief books as well as other of Laumer's stories.
This book, however, is going into my "trading" bag.
I vaguely remember this story and I think it was originally a short or novelette. Apparently, the pressure for a new novel in the Retief series resulted in an expansion of the short story.
Now, the short story I think I remember, was okay, but the extra content was pure boredom to me. Lots of running around to no purpose. Also, many plot inconsistencies in the story line -- often within a few lines of each other. For instance, a character has just lapsed into a self-induced "coma", but replies to a comment three lines later.
As many know, I do most of my recreational reading before going to bed. Good books would have me so engrossed that I hated giving it up to go to bed. When reading this book, I'd often wake up in my chair wondering where the last half hour went, and I was now late for bed. Well, at least I got some extra shut-eye.
This is a shame, because I like most of the Retief books as well as other of Laumer's stories.
This book, however, is going into my "trading" bag.
July 9, 2025
I love the duplicitous diplomatic intergalactic dialog, but the rest of Laumer's writing style is definitely of an earlier era. If you don't like the statecraft satire, then deduct a star. This brief review will be reused for all my Retief books.
March 14, 2009
This was probably my least favorite of the Retief books so far. I think the material works much better in the short story medium.
As always Retief, our hero, is a "diplomat" with a James Bond flair.
The true diplomats in the book (of whom Retief is always an underling - 2nd or 3rd secretary or somesuch) are always bungling, stupid, well spoken and get absolutely nothing done except add layers of bureaucracy to make the problems they face even harder to solve. The enemies are typically other "diplomats" and generals from various alien races that are trying to exploit some '3rd world planet' for their resources. I see these books as a close parallel to the way most of the major nations of this wonderful world seek to exploit their neighbors (and fight with each other to see who can exploit them first). The books really make light of the situation, but are eager to point out all the wrong-doing in the world.
And they're really hilarious.
As always Retief, our hero, is a "diplomat" with a James Bond flair.
The true diplomats in the book (of whom Retief is always an underling - 2nd or 3rd secretary or somesuch) are always bungling, stupid, well spoken and get absolutely nothing done except add layers of bureaucracy to make the problems they face even harder to solve. The enemies are typically other "diplomats" and generals from various alien races that are trying to exploit some '3rd world planet' for their resources. I see these books as a close parallel to the way most of the major nations of this wonderful world seek to exploit their neighbors (and fight with each other to see who can exploit them first). The books really make light of the situation, but are eager to point out all the wrong-doing in the world.
And they're really hilarious.
February 17, 2016
This is one in a long line of books about Retief, intergalactic problem solver and diplomatic flunky. I have never read any of the others, but I like the author's Bolo series, so I figured I would try this out. I found the book quite confusing due to the humorous slang that everyone is throwing around. There are some good jokes in here, but they are mostly drowned out by a nonsensical plot, too many characters that all seem the same, and too much general silliness. I can't recommend it.
July 17, 2008
classic retief
December 15, 2014
1985 grade D
Retief!
series book R?
Retief!
series book R?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews