July 2021 - "Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain" by Keith Laumer

[Jim]

July 2021 is Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain by Keith Laumer. There are quite a few stories about Retief, a smart diplomat in a bureaucratic service who ignores the rules to fix problems. They're full of action & poke fun at conventions.

This story is available for free on Gutenberg.org in multiple formats including reading online here:
gutenberg.org/ebooks/61146

[Ryan]

As a standalone, I didn't find this very compelling. It was quite pulpy, and the action was a bit sub-par, I felt. The theme attempted at the beginning and end of a competent person taking control over plans made by superiors who lack on-the-ground knowledge fell flat because there was no background about the bureaucracy, and we didn't even get to see what the orders were. I don't get the point of the story.

[Jim]

That's a shame, but I can see that. Obviously, the humor didn't connect. It is supposed to be pulpy since it's a satire of the Campbellian heroes of the pulps. Not seeing the orders was the point since they were issued by the red-tape mountain. Both of those would be more clear if you'd read previous books & stories. Still might not have worked since it's rather old humor. Hard for me to judge since I've read most of them at one time or another & I'm old.

[Phil]

I enjoyed the heck out of it! I thought the humor was great. I liked how it had a pretty solid sci fi plot and setting, and the humor came from the exaggerated characters.

If I had to pick a theme, I wouldn't say "bureaucracy is bad" so much as "thinking on your feet is good." Regardless of which character he meets, Retief is always one mental step ahead of them. Personally, I love this type of character.

I enjoyed this story so much that I dug around and saw that there are a ton of other Retief stories out there. I would definitely like to read more of them. For some reason, though, this one has not been collected.

I see that Laumer also wrote the short story "Night of the Trolls" which I read a long time ago in the excellent anthology Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow: Science Fiction War Stories. It turns out he wrote more stories in that universe as well.

Some of my favorite "books" are actually collections of related short stories, so it looks like Laumer is someone I should read more of.

It's interesting to me that you also chose this month to read a Sturgeon novel. According to Wiki, he thought the Retief stories were racist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jame_Re...

[Jim]

I think Sturgeon was way off base, but thanks for pointing it out, Phil.

"Night of the Trolls" is one of his Bolo series which I like even better than his Retief series. His first book of them is Bolo, a collection of half a dozen short stories or so. He anthropomorphizes the AI built into tanks & puts them into some tough situations. Many have a Murderbot vibe. It would be interesting to see Wells do a Bolo story. A lot of other well known authors have. Like Saberhagen's Berserker series, the universe has plenty of room for many.

[Oleksandr]

A nice short piece, but nothing spectacular. If there is a series about Retief I cannot say I'm eager to read it, but as a standalone it was fine. What I disliked is that everyone bar the hero were notably weaker/more stupid...

[Phil]

Oleksandr wrote: "A nice short piece, but nothing spectacular. If there is a series about Retief I cannot say I'm eager to read it, but as a standalone it was fine. What I disliked is that everyone bar the hero were..."

I see what you mean. I enjoyed this so much that I read another Gutenberg freebie, Retief: The Yillian Way. It definitely doubles down on the formula and is even more blatant than this one. I enjoyed it just the same, even though it was clear that Reteif was going to run circles around the other characters.

It reminds me a little bit of when I used to read my dad's old Superman comics from the '50s. Supes was so overpowered that there was no doubt he would win, but it was still fun to watch him do it. The fun was watching different stories play with the formula. It's clear that Laumer is no Arthur C. Clarke, but sometimes just having fun is enough for me.

[Ed]

I read both "Red-Tape" and "Yillian Way". I can't say I'm a fan. These are the "adventure story" type of SF which isn't really what I prefer. I don't hate it. I would simply prefer something else.

The title "Red-Tape Mountain" made me expect something quite different from what it was. He didn't face red tape in this story; it was just a throw-away gag line.