davidl@orca.UUCP (David Levine) (08/15/83)
I tried to send the author of the article "Looking for book info" mail and it
was returned. I am posting it in hopes he will see it, and because I think the
books mentioned therein are of interest to the community at large. (I would
recommend "Takeoff!" to any SF fan looking for an evening's laughter.)
------------------ Returned message follows
Subject: Re: Looking for book info
In-reply-to: Your news article pucc-h.167 of Tue Aug 9 12:26:46 1983
Can't help you with the first two questions (aside from mentioning that most of
the Ferdinand Feghoot pun-stories have been collected in a book with
illustrations by Tim Kirk... but, not knowing the title, author or publisher
this information is more frustrating than helpful)...
But, the story of the man who stopped an alien invasion of Earth by judicious
half-truths was written by Randall Garrett. It has been collected in
"Takeoff!" by Garrett, published by Starblaze Editions in large format
paperback and available at specialty bookstores and convention huckster rooms.
I have also noted that the book "The Best Of Randall Garrett," which is
available in normal-size paperback (cheaper and more readily available)
contains many stories also found in "Takeoff!" and might contain the story to
which you refer. This story was written back in the pulp era, so you probably
would have little luck finding the original magazine publication.
If this isn't enough and you need the title and pubdate, drop me a note and
I'll get them for you. I'm at work now and my copy of "Takeoff!" is at home.
Hopefully helpfully yours,
-- David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl) [UUCP]
(...tekecs!davidl.tektronix@rand-relay) [ARPA]
------------------ End returned messageisrael@umcp-cs.UUCP (08/17/83)
The story by Randall Garrett about someone saving the world by
half-truths is indeed in "The Best of Randall Garrett" and it
is called "The Best Policy". I recommend that collection highly.
It has a whole mess of stories and other things by Randall Garrett
interspersed with couple of page comments on Garrett by noteable
authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Norman Spinrad, and Gordon
Dickson. There is one thing by Garrett in it which is a complete
synopsis of Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" set to the tune of
"She'll be Comin' Around the Mountain" and it is great!
--
~~~ Bruce
Computer Science Dept., University of Maryland
{rlgvax,seismo}!umcp-cs!israel (Usenet) israel.umcp-cs@Udel-Relay (Arpanet)