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Once upon a star,: A novel of the future
In four zany episodes, the unflappable detective Manning Draco travels the 35th-century galaxy to tackle a variety of insurance frauds, scams, and con men. In the process, he encounters bizarre-looking aliens from different planets, woos the most alluring humanoid females, is almost forced to wed a crocodilian princess, competes in futuristic games, and finally overcomes his rivals to win the affection of the fairest damsel in all of outer space. Three further adventures in the Manning Draco series await the reader of volume 2, Whistle Stop in Space.Kendell Foster Crossen, a mainstay of the science fiction pulps in the 1950s, also published over forty-five detective and spy novels under a variety of pseudonyms, including M.E. Chaber, Christopher Monig, Richard Foster, and others.
- GenresScience Fiction
237 pages, Hardcover
First published December 21, 2013
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10 people want to read
About the author
Kendell Foster Crossen
103 books3 followersaka Richard Foster , Kendell F. Crossen , Kendall Foster Crossen , Ken Crossen , Christopher Monig
Kendell Foster Crossen was a mainstay of American pulp fiction and science fiction of the 1950s. He was the creator and writer of stories about the Green Lama (a pulp and comic book hero) and the Milo March detective novels.
Kendell Foster Crossen was a mainstay of American pulp fiction and science fiction of the 1950s. He was the creator and writer of stories about the Green Lama (a pulp and comic book hero) and the Milo March detective novels.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 1, 2018
Manning Draco is the chief insurance investigator for the Greater Solarian Insurance Company, "Monopolated", in the 35th century. He is called upon to work the most difficult cases of fraud, scams, and circumvent con artists of all types. This book contains four sequential novellas that feature humorous/zany situations where Draco must exercise his considerable intellect to come up with creative solutions in order to prevent huge inappropriate monetary payouts from his company. Frequently he rescues his company from poor decisions.
These stories are filled with funny situations and Draco’s snarky, yet friendly personality makes these stories really fun to read. Since they take place in the far future, the author pulls out all the stops when creating alien species and planetary/cultural governments and cultures. In fact, it often goes to the point of being absurd but that’s entirely consistent with the zany tone of the stories and just adds to the fun. It’s a bit like combining The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with the Flashman novels but with an insurance investigator plot. Fun stuff indeed.
These stories were originally published in the early 1950’s in “Thrilling Wonder Stories”. I was surprised to learn that the author, is actually the same person as M.E. Chaber, the creator of the Milo March Detective novels although that makes sense because Milo March is also an insurance investigator with a humorous slant. Crossen was incredibly prolific and actually wrote over 400 radio and television dramas, some 300 short stories, 250 non-fiction articles and approximately forty-five novels. He also found the time to write reviews, edit several science fiction collections, and serve as editor for Detective Fiction Weekly. He was responsible for the creation of private eyes Brian Brett and Pete Draco, although he's probably best known for creating “The Green Lama”, a costumed vigilante who appeared in the pulps from the forties.
I’ll now turn to Volume two in this set of fun science fiction pulp fiction, Whistle Stop in Space: Further Adventures of Manning Draco, Volume 2.
These stories are filled with funny situations and Draco’s snarky, yet friendly personality makes these stories really fun to read. Since they take place in the far future, the author pulls out all the stops when creating alien species and planetary/cultural governments and cultures. In fact, it often goes to the point of being absurd but that’s entirely consistent with the zany tone of the stories and just adds to the fun. It’s a bit like combining The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with the Flashman novels but with an insurance investigator plot. Fun stuff indeed.
These stories were originally published in the early 1950’s in “Thrilling Wonder Stories”. I was surprised to learn that the author, is actually the same person as M.E. Chaber, the creator of the Milo March Detective novels although that makes sense because Milo March is also an insurance investigator with a humorous slant. Crossen was incredibly prolific and actually wrote over 400 radio and television dramas, some 300 short stories, 250 non-fiction articles and approximately forty-five novels. He also found the time to write reviews, edit several science fiction collections, and serve as editor for Detective Fiction Weekly. He was responsible for the creation of private eyes Brian Brett and Pete Draco, although he's probably best known for creating “The Green Lama”, a costumed vigilante who appeared in the pulps from the forties.
I’ll now turn to Volume two in this set of fun science fiction pulp fiction, Whistle Stop in Space: Further Adventures of Manning Draco, Volume 2.
July 11, 2016
In the 35th Century, many things have changed. Terrans have gone to the stars and discovered the many alien races living out there, fighting with some, cooperating with others. Right now, the Milky Way Galaxy is at peace. Other things have not changed; there are still companies selling life insurance, and there is still insurance fraud. And that’s where Manning Draco, top investigator for the Greater Solarian Insurance Company, Monopolated, comes in.
Of course, since Manning is the best insurance investigator around, that means he only gets the toughest cases, using quirks of the local biology or customs to create loopholes in insurance policies. Most of his workload is caused by crooked insurance salesbeing Dzanku Dzanku of Rigel IV, and his sidekick, the easily mindwiped Sam Warren. The slippery pair have figured out all sorts of ways to cash in on insurance scams, but just try to prove it!
Once Upon a Star was originally published as four short stories in the 1950s, then edited together slightly to make a fix-up novel. (Three other stories about Manning Draco are in the second volume.) These comedic science fiction tales follow an obvious pattern. At the beginning, Manning is on Earth, flirting with an attractive woman (like Captain Kirk, Manning Draco has broad tastes and will hit on just about any humanoid species–he draws the line at crocodile people.) This is interrupted by his irascible employer, J. Barnaby Cruikshank, who describes an oncoming crisis the company is facing.
Manning flies off to the planet where the problem is in his private starship, the Alpha Actuary. There he learns what Dzanku and Warren have been up to, usually involving something about that world that isn’t in the official survey reports. There will also usually be another attractive woman for him to flirt with. Things get worse before they get better, but a combination of telepathy, eidetic memory and rules lawyering allow Manning to win the day. (There’s also some nifty technology at his disposal, but if anything it’s underutilized and seldom plays a key role.)
As one might expect from the time these stories were written and the genre, Manning Draco is pretty much omnicompetent, though this does not always help a great deal. For example, he’s the one Earthling with any appreciable psionic abilities…which puts him at about average in Galactic society. And while Manning is aces with the ladies, Dzanku is fully aware of this and is perfectly willing to use it against him. (It should be noted, however, that at no point is a woman forced to do something she didn’t want to do in the first place, despite one spoilery bit.)
Dzanku, meanwhile, is generally two or three plots ahead of Manning (having already set up the next scams while Manning has just arrived to fix the first problem), but suffers from the urge to gloat when he’s winning and devise elaborate traps rather than just finish Manning off. He’s also addicted to gambling on games of skill, which Manning uses against him more than once. Sam Warren is more or less a nonentity that Dzanku can have conversations with to advance the plot.
There’s no damsels in distress in these stories as such, though Fifties attitudes are the default. A female insurance investigator is rare enough that Manning Draco is taken off guard by one showing up, and there’s a clear expectation that women will quit their jobs once they’re married. With one notable exception, the women in the story are fully capable of making up their own minds and have agency, and the exception is so because of [spoiler redacted.]
The science is dubious (there’s an entire page-long note devoted to a nonsensical set of equations proving that people from outside a fast-time zone won’t age faster while inside it, despite experiencing events at the faster rate.) There’s also some fantastic racism (Rigellians are inherently dishonest and have built their entire culture around deception and betrayal.) And our hero at one point sells Dzanku into sex slavery as the best way to keep him imprisoned without dying (which would cost the insurance company money.)
Still, if you enjoy the 1950s style humor and want to watch a rules lawyer in action, this is the book for you.
Of course, since Manning is the best insurance investigator around, that means he only gets the toughest cases, using quirks of the local biology or customs to create loopholes in insurance policies. Most of his workload is caused by crooked insurance salesbeing Dzanku Dzanku of Rigel IV, and his sidekick, the easily mindwiped Sam Warren. The slippery pair have figured out all sorts of ways to cash in on insurance scams, but just try to prove it!
Once Upon a Star was originally published as four short stories in the 1950s, then edited together slightly to make a fix-up novel. (Three other stories about Manning Draco are in the second volume.) These comedic science fiction tales follow an obvious pattern. At the beginning, Manning is on Earth, flirting with an attractive woman (like Captain Kirk, Manning Draco has broad tastes and will hit on just about any humanoid species–he draws the line at crocodile people.) This is interrupted by his irascible employer, J. Barnaby Cruikshank, who describes an oncoming crisis the company is facing.
Manning flies off to the planet where the problem is in his private starship, the Alpha Actuary. There he learns what Dzanku and Warren have been up to, usually involving something about that world that isn’t in the official survey reports. There will also usually be another attractive woman for him to flirt with. Things get worse before they get better, but a combination of telepathy, eidetic memory and rules lawyering allow Manning to win the day. (There’s also some nifty technology at his disposal, but if anything it’s underutilized and seldom plays a key role.)
As one might expect from the time these stories were written and the genre, Manning Draco is pretty much omnicompetent, though this does not always help a great deal. For example, he’s the one Earthling with any appreciable psionic abilities…which puts him at about average in Galactic society. And while Manning is aces with the ladies, Dzanku is fully aware of this and is perfectly willing to use it against him. (It should be noted, however, that at no point is a woman forced to do something she didn’t want to do in the first place, despite one spoilery bit.)
Dzanku, meanwhile, is generally two or three plots ahead of Manning (having already set up the next scams while Manning has just arrived to fix the first problem), but suffers from the urge to gloat when he’s winning and devise elaborate traps rather than just finish Manning off. He’s also addicted to gambling on games of skill, which Manning uses against him more than once. Sam Warren is more or less a nonentity that Dzanku can have conversations with to advance the plot.
There’s no damsels in distress in these stories as such, though Fifties attitudes are the default. A female insurance investigator is rare enough that Manning Draco is taken off guard by one showing up, and there’s a clear expectation that women will quit their jobs once they’re married. With one notable exception, the women in the story are fully capable of making up their own minds and have agency, and the exception is so because of [spoiler redacted.]
The science is dubious (there’s an entire page-long note devoted to a nonsensical set of equations proving that people from outside a fast-time zone won’t age faster while inside it, despite experiencing events at the faster rate.) There’s also some fantastic racism (Rigellians are inherently dishonest and have built their entire culture around deception and betrayal.) And our hero at one point sells Dzanku into sex slavery as the best way to keep him imprisoned without dying (which would cost the insurance company money.)
Still, if you enjoy the 1950s style humor and want to watch a rules lawyer in action, this is the book for you.
June 23, 2017
The finest science fiction novel I've ever read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews