SOLVED. Humorous Science Fiction - Space Secret Agent - 1960s/70s - Alien Opponents Spoke in Infinitives, eg "To be surrendering now!" [s]

[Bob]

1960s/70s series featuring an interstellar secret agent. His main alien opponents spoke in infinitives, e.g.
"To be dropping your blaster!"
"To politely refuse, and to suggest you are outnumbered!"
As you may infer, there was a humorous streak in the books.

[Kris]

Bob, that's a good start. Copy plot details (incl. years read) from your message #1 to the topic header/title, so someone can recognize your book from that description alone. Many members only read the headers.

We have thousands of book requests. We close threads with vague headers.

Click the small "edit" link after the topic header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, there's a "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)

[Bob]

Kris wrote: "Bob, that's a good start. Copy plot details (incl. years read) from your message #1 to the topic header/title, so someone can recognize your book from that description alone. Many members only read..."
That any better?

[Kris]

Thanks for updating the topic header/title. This will help searchers and moderators.

[Ky]

Very long shot, and I didn't even read this series, my father did, but could it be the Retief series by Keith Laumer? I do remember my father laughing as he read these books so they were humorous.

[Genesistrine]

Or Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villiers series? It starts with Star Well

[Kat]

I don't know if the details match, but maybe check out the Bill the Galactic Hero series? The first book was published in the 60s.
Check out this book on Goodreads: Bill, The Galactic Hero https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

[Kat]

(The author, Harry Harrison, wrote another series you could check, The Stainless Steel Rat, although I don't know if those books were funny or not.)

[Bob]

Ky wrote: "Very long shot, and I didn't even read this series, my father did, but could it be the Retief series by Keith Laumer? I do remember my father laughing as he read these books so they ..."
Solved! That's them! Thanks very much, this has been driving me crazy!

[Ky]

You're welcome, Bob!

[Genesistrine]

Um, mods? This topic isn't about Bill the Galactic Hero, it's about Keith Laumer's Retief series....

[Kris]

First book in the series - Retief: Envoy to New Worlds by Keith Laumer