Século XXIX (Coleção Urânia #15) - Envoy to New Worlds

Keith Laumer

CEDIBRA / Bruguera Editorial, (RJ)

1971

160 páginas

5h 20m

ISBN-10: 067165635X

Português Brasileiro

Envoy to New Worlds (Jaime Retief Series #1) - Satirical adventures of Retief, the galactic diplomat. -- O Século vinte e nove põe na ordem do dia o problema do relacionamento intergalático, e o da necessidade da paz. Esta é a historia de um ditador, que exerce poder sobre bilhões de pessoas, forçando-as a viver em paz. Mas mesmo assim um ditador...

Publicado na Colecção Argonauta nº 212 sob o título "Corrupção nas Galáxias" -- [Introdução]: Qual o melhor sistema de governo, de administração ou gestão: o de cúpula ou o de base? A acção dos homens que tudo sabem (ou tudo julgam saber) e que pensam poder dirigir empresas, comunidades, nações, impérios, a partir do seu gabinete, ou a acção dos homens que vivem os problemas, que os conhecem de facto e que, quantas vezes, conhecem também a solução mais fácil e mais eficiente? Eis uma questão extremamente actual - e a ficção científica, que sempre foi o melhor dos veículos para a análise política e sociológica, ocupando o lugar da fábula, na denúncia dos vícios e na exposição das tendências a longo prazo, não podia alhear-se dela. Com a sua ironia inimitável, Keith Laumer descreve, nesta obra, quanto se pode perder em ignorar as bases e como as grandes organizações podem ser ineficientes - mesmo no Século XXIX ou XXX.

Between the lines of the official histories of the frontier worlds of the 29th Century lie myriad confidential accounts of the boners, near-catastrophes, and interstellar crises that were bound to occur when human meets non-human. The adventures of CDC (Corps Diplomatique Terra) diplomat Jame Retief loom large in six highly classified missions where brain and brawn save land and lives despite red-tape bound superiors amid conspiracy and conflct across alien planets - guaranteed astounding, amazing, startling, galactic, weird, and thrillingly wonderful.
[Index] 1 Protocol / 2 Sealed Orders / 3 Cultural Exchange / 4 Aide Memoire / 5 Policy / 6 Palace Revolution

Envoy to New Worlds_ (1963) is the first collection of Retief stories by Keith Laumer. There are six tales, all published in _If_ between 1961 and 1962. For those not in the know, Jame Retief is a low-ranking official in the Terran Diplomatic Corps, an organization that seems to be willfully determined to work against the best interests of Earth. Retief, using a bit of trickery and martial arts, manages to foil pirates, villainous aliens, and dictators in spite of his superiors.

The stories are all good fun. But Judith Merril raised a question some years ago that I find hard to forget. Here is Retief-- dashing, witty, intelligent, and heroic. There is the CDT, filled with personnel who are crooked, stupid, hidebound, and bungling. Why does Retief stay with them? We see that he enjoys sticking pins in pompous bureaucrats. And we see that he manages to do good for worthy people from time to time. But somehow these reasons do not seem to be quite enough. Couldn't he accomplish good things outside the CDT?

Retief -- Satirical adventures of Retief, the galactic diplomat. Most are collections; novels are shown as (n).
Envoy to New Worlds (1963) (see Retief Unbound (1979)) later expanded as Retief: Envoy to New Worlds (1987)
Galactic Diplomat (1965)
Retief's War (1966) (n)
Retief and the Warlords (1968) (n)
Retief: ambassador to space; seven incidents of the Corps diplomatique terrestrienne (1969)
Retief of the CDT (1971)
Retief's Ransom (1971) (n)
Retief: Emissary to the Stars (1975)
Retief at Large (1978)
Retief Unbound (1979) (inc Retief's Ransom and five of the six stories from Envoy to New Worlds) (see Retief: Envoy to New Worlds (1987))
Retief: Diplomat at Arms (1982)
Retief to the Rescue (1983) (n)
The Return of Retief (1984) (n)
Retief in the Ruins (1986) (three stories, two original including the title story)
Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude (1986) (including Retief's Ransom and the original title story)
Retief: Envoy to New Worlds (1987) (Envoy to New Worlds plus one story) (see also Retief Unbound)
Reward for Retief (1989) (n)
Retief and the Rascals (1993) (n)
Retief! (posthumous, ed. Eric Flint) (2002) (Envoy to New Worlds, Galactic Diplomat, Retief's War, plus the first Retief story, "Diplomat-at-Arms" (1960))