Fri 19 Nov 2021
Diary Review: LARRY MADDOCK – The Flying Saucer Gambit.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[7] Comments
LARRY MADDOCK – The Flying Saucer Gambit. Agent of T.E.R.R.A #1. Ace G-605, paperback original, 1966.
The Temporal Entropy Rescue and Repair Agency sends the team of Hannibal Fortune and Webley to the year 1966 on Earth to stop Empire from using a new weapon capable of driving mankind insane. The trail leads from the plains of Kansas to the mountains of Arizona, where a last-ditch battle is fought in the cave headquarters of Empire.
The basis of history, as expounded upon on page 56, is not that of individuals, but of social dynamics, determining a certain stability that makes temporal tampering difficult, although not impossible. It is Fortune’s job to maintain current time-lies, relative to the 26th Century, against Empire’s efforts to tyrannize the universe.
All ends [of the story] are tidy, except for a lingering suspicion that time-travel should make warfare even easier. Or more complicated. The background seems well-researched, but the basic character of Hannibal Fortune does not yet seem settled – James Bond is a prototype, but the Bond of the books, or of the movies?
Rating: **½
The Agent of T.E.R.R.A. series —
1. The Flying Saucer Gambit (1966)
2. The Golden Goddess Gambit (1967)
3. The Emerald Elephant Gambit (1967)
4. The Time Trap Gambit (1969)
Biblographic Update: Larry Maddock was the pen name of Jack Jardine, who wrote other SF novels and stories as Howard L. Myers. The comments following my earlier review of The Mind Monsters which he wrote under that name has quite a bit of discussion about him.
November 19th, 2021 at 8:58 pm
I just found this photo of the back cover on abebooks and thought I might share it with you:
November 19th, 2021 at 11:21 pm
I seem to recall that Jardine wrote the original outline for this as a Man From U.N.C.L.E. novel and Terry Carr suggested that he turn it into a science fiction novel. I read the first three books in this series 50-some-odd years ago and loved them, liked the fourth one but thought it wasn’t as good. I haven’t ever reread them and it’s unlikely that I will, but I have fond memories of the series.
November 19th, 2021 at 11:43 pm
Do you know, I was just thinking of finding a copy of this one and reading it again. As you say, though, I probably won’t either, but I am curious as to what I’d think of it now. Back then, 2 1/2 stars puts it right in the middle of a five star range.
November 20th, 2021 at 2:21 am
I have vaguely fond memories of these. Hopefully someone will reprint them in cheap e-book editions. This is the sort of thing ideal for that format.
November 20th, 2021 at 2:27 am
Turns out they have. All of the AGENT OF TERRA series and the three books featuring the short adventures of his symbiote companion and a few more Maddock titles are available in e-book format on Kindle for around $3 a piece (the short Webley adventures for .99).
November 20th, 2021 at 7:21 am
Thanks, David. I’ll check them out this afternoon.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:47 am
Reread these recently, having first read them when they were quite new and I was only about twelve. They are still entertaining and I have got the additional e-book items awaiting reading.
The Webley stories are available as “simultaneous device usage unlimited” which is the only Kindle format I will consider. All others are essentially long-term rentals as you have no control over your purchased file.