Series
Retief
Keith Laumer & William H. Keith, Jr. · 9 novels · 7 novellas · 23 novelettes · 12 short stories · 10 collections · 1960–2020
Retief follows Jame Retief, a wry, capable diplomat in the Terran Corps Diplomatique who solves interstellar crises through unorthodox action while his blustering, status-obsessed superiors busy themselves with protocol. Keith Laumer's satirical space-opera stories, mostly standalone adventures unified by the character and his bureaucratic universe, ran from the 1960s into the 1980s; later entries continuing under Laumer's name were completed by William H. Keith Jr. after his death. The books favor comic diplomatic farce over a continuous plot arc, so they read well in almost any order.
Summary by Loreful, from public sources
- Genre
- Theme
- Place
- Time
- Tone
- Audience
- Form
The order the books came out.
Best read in the order they were published.
- Omnibus editions(2 editions)
Map
Retief at the centre, its books fanned around what holds them. Pick anything for its details, and zoom out for similar series in orbit — the reading order above lists the same books as text.
Stats
By decade
- 1960s30
- 1970s13
- 1980s13
- 1990s1
- 2000s2
- 2010s1
- 2020s1
Shape
9 novels · 7 novellas · 23 novelettes · 12 short stories · 10 collections
2 authors
reads like:science fictionpolitical intriguespacefar futurefunnyadult
Mood
Bright and intense: 98% of this series' placed works, the catalog's 44%.
this series · the catalog · one dot = one book53 of 61 works carry a tone
Edges of the map
- The Frozen Planetdarkest · most intense
- The Return of Retiefbrightest
- Retief to the Rescuecalmest