Interstellar Patrol [Mass Market Paperback]

Christopher Anvil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2004 | Series: Interstellar Patrol

The crew of the ship were marooned on a planet with no ship repair facilities, where the well-meaning schemes of social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. They had their own invention with them-an emotional amplifier, which could cause anyone to feel a heightened emotion, but this wasn't useful at first. If they heightened the locals' sense of pride, they took pride in becoming better criminals. So they pretended to be the Royal Legions, sent by a distant star kingdom in pursuit of an all-powerful villain who was hiding on the planet. Things were going better than they could have hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed-but instead they were told they had shown just the type of initiative and intelligence that the new arrivals were looking for. So they were inducted into the Interstellar Patrol. And that was just the beginning. . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I'm delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. . . . I've always loved Anvil's, ah, peculiar sense of humor . . . a delightful pleasure."

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Baen (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743488482
• ISBN-13: 978-0743488488
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #513,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Think Sidestage Lensman, November 9, 2004

By 

S. N. Gaines (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interstellar Patrol (Paperback)

This book is a collection of stories that have been published before in one form or another. The introduction by David Weber makes that very clear.

What is not clear is that this is space opera of the old style. If you liked (loved?) E.E. Doc Smith's Lensmen series, then you are going to enjoy this. It is simple story telling, without any of the pscyhobabble claptrap that seems to encumber most SF today.

The characters are gruff, they smoke cigarettes(?), they carouse and they shoot first and sometimes ask questions later. In short, Lensman type space opera.

Reccommended without reservation.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murphy's Law in Action, February 20, 2004

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interstellar Patrol (Paperback)

Interstellar Patrol is a collection of stories in the Colonization universe, including the early tales of Roberts, Hammell and Morrisey. This volume also includes several other tales related to Federation agencies other than the IP.

The Paradise tales describe how the captain and crew of the Orion, an Interstellar Rapid Transport ship, found themselves stranded off the planet Boschock III, misnamed Paradise. The Captain Vaughn Roberts, the cargomaster Hammell, and the comtech Morrissey brought the worst injured down to the planet in their tender, but crashed in the jungle outside the only city. Nearby settlers took the injured back to their village for treatment in return for some weapons and ammo, but the city officials, under the overall command of the central computer, were less than helpful.

After escaping from the city, Roberts and Hammel returned to the tender to discover that Morrissey, having time on his hands, had stumbled across an unusual application of their communications system; it generated a field that induced various emotions in anyone within range of the equipment. Experimenting with the effect, they learned how to project and overlap several fields as desired. Using this want-generator to control the emotions of the various factions on the planet, they created sufficient chaos that the central computer of the city decided to provide repairs to their ship and equipment just to get them offworld.

In subsequent visits to the planet, the trio found themselves somehow becoming responsible for the whole planet under the guise of Dukes of the Empire. Then they found that the Interstellar Patrol had been observing their progress with interest and was offering them a chance to become recruits in that organization.

The Boot Camp tales introduce Dan Bergen, another IP recruit, as well as Colonel Valentine Sanders, who becomes their commanding officer. In these stories, the IP submits the recruits to various tests, both to evaluate their capabilities and to induce the proper attitudes. Some of the tests are live and others are simulated, although it is hard to tell the difference. However, it is better to be eaten alive by carnivorous fish in a simulation than in the real world, although the sensations are much the same.

The Others tales present a broader view of the Federation and various unaligned worlds. A major theme in all these stories is interservice rivalry, particularly between the PDA and the Space Force. Another ongoing theme in some of these stories, particularly the Stellar Scouts tales, is the failure of new and improved equipment under field conditions; while some improved devices work as expected, others display quirky and sometimes harmful behavior in the real world.

All these stories say something about the foolishness of human beings. The author has specialized in writing Murphy's Law yarns, where things go wrong in ways none had realized were possible. The author has a rare insight and ability to illustrate the SNAFUs and FUBARs that haunt all human activities, particular in bureaucratic environments. Although such stories are probably not as popular today, there are still enough readers with military, or corporate, experience to relate to these situations.

Only the first three stories have been previously published in book form, so this is a rare opportunity for those who don't have the original magazine versions. However, there are many more out there slowly rotting in attics and basements. The editor has promised that some of those will be appearing in the sequel volume(s).

Highly recommended for Anvil fans and for anyone else who enjoys seeing other people make foolish mistakes much like the ones we ourselves have made.

-Arthur W. Jordin

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Irregular Patrol, August 2, 2003

By 

Juan Carlos de Paz (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Interstellar Patrol (Paperback)

Marooned space sailors are to expect hardships, but not in a planet designed to be an Utopia! Savage beasts, robot policemen, social experiments out of control and an experimental machine that could solve all the troubles of Utopia...if it didn't get everybody killed. And then there is the ultimate solution space captain Robert Vaungh came up with to deal with the warring factions of Utopia: unite them under his rulership against a wizard that did not exist.
Now it is a toss who will get him; the factions, the hostile planet, Space Fleet(which loves to hunt pirates), real pirates, the machine or the Interstellar Patrol drafting ship! Because people who survive mad situations like these are just the kind of people Interstellar Patrol needs.

A collection of the best of Christopher Anvil, Interstellar Patrol is a lengthy book composed of a large main story and a dozen small ones, all set in the futuristic universe of the Interstellar Patrol.