jmellby%ti-eg.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (09/25/84)
From: John_Mellby <jmellby%ti-eg.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> I'm looking for a book I read in 1967. It is by Malcom Jameson (?). It s a book of short stories about a character called Bullard. One of the stories has been frequently reprinted called "Bullard Reflects". This is classic space opera where Bullard is the captain of a space ship in the Terran "Space Patrol". Does anyone know the name of the book, or know where I can find it?
rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist) (09/30/84)
[the cloaking device has hidden this line]
The title is _Bullard_of_the_Space_Patrol_, and the author
is indeed Malcolm Jameson. It is a whiz-bang-shoot-em-up
classic of space opera -- makes the Lensman books look 2nd
rate (deflectors up Captain! Doc Smith Fan Flame coming in).
I wouldn't mind owning this one myself. From memory, other
stories in it include
Inspection -- Bullard as brand new officer on a crack ship,
ends up saving everyone when a simulated crisis turns
into the real thing. (The inspection is carried out by
teaming the crew with their counterparts from a rival
ship as referees; extensive use of simulated casualties
smoke bombs let off in the ship, etc. The story refers
to this doubling of crews as being a US Navy, WW II
era practice. Anyone know if this was ever really done?)
White Mutiny -- Bullard gets rid of an incompetent superior
who takes refuge in the regulations, by outdoing him in
following "the book" -- and ONLY the book.
Bullard Reflects -- a real BAD pun at the end. Good story.
Introduces DazzleDart, one of the more interesting
zero-gee sports that writers have come up with.
Blockade Runner -- Bullard manages some gee-whiz space
smuggling by pulling deus-ex-techno-machina type
stuff. An ok story, nothing special.
The Threat (?) -- In a postwar space navy, Bullard has
to send out a colleague on essentially a suicide
mission, backed only by his secret orders. Bullard
has by this time advanced out of combat duty into
administration, which is rare for space opera type
heroes (anyone ever see Kirk stay behind?)
The Bureaucrat (?) -- The son of an old comrade comes to
Admiral B., and asks for help in getting off of the
coward's ship he's on now (a scam rigged up for the
sons of rich men to avoid the draft), and into real
combat. Bullard explains that his hands are tied,
and that he can only follow orders. As one might
expect, though, he can do a fair bit by only following
orders. Ends up with a nice space battle description.
I think there are a few other stories.
Apart from the way Bullard ages, and moves out of the active
end of the story and into the administrative end, there are
other nice points.
The stories were written in the 40s, and they reflect a
sea-going Navy all the way. Guns are loaded by hand; aiming
is done by huge wheels with azimuths and such marked on
them; the space torpedoes need to have their explosives mixed
and loaded just before launching. There's a pleasant old-
fashioned feeling about the spaceships which makes them
somehow much more realistic than the glitzy, positronic, miles
of shining circuitry in the walls spaceships which are the
usual thing in space opera now. I am particularly fond of
any spaceship which has "speaking tubes" as a backup intercom
system (watch old movies to see them in use; a few Dr. Who
episodes have used them also -- The Horror of Fang Rock, and
Enlightenment, among them).
--
Rick Keir -- MicroComputer Information Center, MACC
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