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Federation of Humanity #1
Interstellar Patrol
A new omnibus anthology chronicles the adventures of a starship crew trapped on a planet populated by battling gangs, surviving by pretending to be the Royal Legions from a distant world pursuing a powerful villain hiding on the planet, but their plans go awry when the real Royal flagship shows up. Original.
480 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2003
15 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Anvil
163 books31 followersChristopher Anvil was a pseudonym used by author Harry C. Crosby. He began publishing science fiction with the story "Cinderella, Inc." in the December 1952 issue of the science fiction magazine Imagination. By 1956, he had adopted his pseudonym and was being published in Astounding Magazine.
Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog were due in part to his ability to write to one of Campbell's preferred plots: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. A second factor is his stories are nearly always humorous throughout. Another was his characterization and manner of story crafting, where his protagonists slid from disaster to disaster with the best of intentions, and through exercise of fast thinking, managed to snatch victory somehow from the jaws of defeat.
Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog were due in part to his ability to write to one of Campbell's preferred plots: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. A second factor is his stories are nearly always humorous throughout. Another was his characterization and manner of story crafting, where his protagonists slid from disaster to disaster with the best of intentions, and through exercise of fast thinking, managed to snatch victory somehow from the jaws of defeat.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 29, 2020
I discovered this 17-hour waste of time while I was browsing books recently added to hoopla. The description sounds unrealistically entertaining and it already had a one 1-star rating, and oops, while goofing around, I accidentally rated it as 1-star as well. Turns out that once you vote, you can change the score, but you can’t undo having voted. What a lousy reason for me to check out this book, but I’ll give it a try.
Turns out it’s a set of loosely connected short stories. It starts off with a crew on a broken spaceship marooned on an unknown planet and their adventures trying to get their ship fixed so they can leave. This planet had been founded by a group of idealists, populated (by them) with criminals, to give them access to a better life, and ruled by a ridiculously rule-bound computer. While working on their ship, the crew discovers a machine that enables automatic social programming. They use this machine to control the populace and “hilarity ensues.” Ugh. Of course, this premise could be executed with irony. It isn’t. I quit early on.
I endlessly wonder what governs hoopla’s decision making for selecting which books to add. I wish they added books that are in my TBR list on GR.
Turns out it’s a set of loosely connected short stories. It starts off with a crew on a broken spaceship marooned on an unknown planet and their adventures trying to get their ship fixed so they can leave. This planet had been founded by a group of idealists, populated (by them) with criminals, to give them access to a better life, and ruled by a ridiculously rule-bound computer. While working on their ship, the crew discovers a machine that enables automatic social programming. They use this machine to control the populace and “hilarity ensues.” Ugh. Of course, this premise could be executed with irony. It isn’t. I quit early on.
I endlessly wonder what governs hoopla’s decision making for selecting which books to add. I wish they added books that are in my TBR list on GR.
April 28, 2015
Interstellar Patrol is an anthology of loosely-related short stories taking place primarily in space or on alien planets. There isn’t much back story provided but, from a few little snippets, I was able to at least glean that the stories were set around the 2200’s and the characters are humans who either are from Earth or descendants of people from Earth.
In these stories there are a few different organizations. Interstellar Patrol appears to be the more elite military force that can get things done when nobody else can. Space Force is the main military-type organization that handles the normal day-to-day stuff, and there’s also a Planetary Development Authority which consists of scientists who are responsible for exploring and colonizing newly discovered planets. Despite the name of the anthology, several of the stories don't focus on the Interstellar Patrol very much although many of them do.
The stories ranged from dealing with problems on planets, to training new recruits, to dealing with political conflicts between the various organizations. In the first story, one of the characters invents a “want generator” that can make other people, on a small or large scale, feel different desires depending on how the device is set. The author sort of lost me at this point, because this amazing device was invented by altering the flow of electrical current in a standard communications device. And of course this current could be further altered to generate dozens (or more) different and very precise emotions such as “desire to work” and "desire to obey authority", and it could be directed precisely toward specific groups of people. This was just a little too ridiculous for me to swallow, and the first three stories in the book (about 35% of the book) centered on this theme.
However, there were some decent themes in the book. One thing I really liked about those first few stories was how, when the main characters used the want generator on a group of people to try to make them behave a certain way, it never had the intended effect because those people had their own beliefs and goals and world-view so any desires they were forced to have were focused on the things they already cared about. I thought that aspect of things was very true-to-life because people don’t react to things the same way and it’s unrealistic to expect that they will. Everybody has different backgrounds, motivations, and experiences that can lead them to see things differently. Attempting to influence somebody when you haven’t taken the time to understand them can have the exact opposite result that you hoped for.
I also liked the theme, especially through the latter half of the book when we start seeing some technology run amok, about the importance of testing new things thoroughly and implementing mission-critical changes cautiously and in phases. There was also a slight theme throughout the book of the importance of simply thinking, whether it was thinking about life in general or thinking through how to handle a situation versus just jumping in feet first without planning.
So this anthology wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It had some good messages that I liked, and the stories were mildly entertaining, but they never really held my interest well. About six months ago, I had read another anthology of stories by Christopher Anvil -- Pandora’s Legions. I thought that anthology ranged between horribly dull and quite good. I averaged that out to three stars and decided I would try one of the author’s other anthologies someday. This anthology, on the other hand, is getting three stars because it holds pretty steady at “average” in terms of my own interest in the stories.
There’s at least one more book in this series, Interstellar Patrol II: Federation of Humanity. The afterward by Eric Flint seemed to imply there would be a third anthology, but I didn’t see one when I briefly looked. I already had a copy of the second book that I had downloaded from the Baen Free Library, but I’ve decided not to read it.
In these stories there are a few different organizations. Interstellar Patrol appears to be the more elite military force that can get things done when nobody else can. Space Force is the main military-type organization that handles the normal day-to-day stuff, and there’s also a Planetary Development Authority which consists of scientists who are responsible for exploring and colonizing newly discovered planets. Despite the name of the anthology, several of the stories don't focus on the Interstellar Patrol very much although many of them do.
The stories ranged from dealing with problems on planets, to training new recruits, to dealing with political conflicts between the various organizations. In the first story, one of the characters invents a “want generator” that can make other people, on a small or large scale, feel different desires depending on how the device is set. The author sort of lost me at this point, because this amazing device was invented by altering the flow of electrical current in a standard communications device. And of course this current could be further altered to generate dozens (or more) different and very precise emotions such as “desire to work” and "desire to obey authority", and it could be directed precisely toward specific groups of people. This was just a little too ridiculous for me to swallow, and the first three stories in the book (about 35% of the book) centered on this theme.
However, there were some decent themes in the book. One thing I really liked about those first few stories was how, when the main characters used the want generator on a group of people to try to make them behave a certain way, it never had the intended effect because those people had their own beliefs and goals and world-view so any desires they were forced to have were focused on the things they already cared about. I thought that aspect of things was very true-to-life because people don’t react to things the same way and it’s unrealistic to expect that they will. Everybody has different backgrounds, motivations, and experiences that can lead them to see things differently. Attempting to influence somebody when you haven’t taken the time to understand them can have the exact opposite result that you hoped for.
I also liked the theme, especially through the latter half of the book when we start seeing some technology run amok, about the importance of testing new things thoroughly and implementing mission-critical changes cautiously and in phases. There was also a slight theme throughout the book of the importance of simply thinking, whether it was thinking about life in general or thinking through how to handle a situation versus just jumping in feet first without planning.
So this anthology wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It had some good messages that I liked, and the stories were mildly entertaining, but they never really held my interest well. About six months ago, I had read another anthology of stories by Christopher Anvil -- Pandora’s Legions. I thought that anthology ranged between horribly dull and quite good. I averaged that out to three stars and decided I would try one of the author’s other anthologies someday. This anthology, on the other hand, is getting three stars because it holds pretty steady at “average” in terms of my own interest in the stories.
There’s at least one more book in this series, Interstellar Patrol II: Federation of Humanity. The afterward by Eric Flint seemed to imply there would be a third anthology, but I didn’t see one when I briefly looked. I already had a copy of the second book that I had downloaded from the Baen Free Library, but I’ve decided not to read it.
September 23, 2017
"Interstellar Patrol is a fair collection of short stories about humans living on planets other than earth.
Read
June 7, 2023I didn't get as far as the protagonists joining the Interstellar Patrol. I may have read some of the stories when they came out, but I was much younger then. I'll skip the second book in the series.
Mildly amusing with the good guys controlling emotions of populations on a planet with accidentally invented ray, and fooling people to achieve their ends.
Mildly amusing with the good guys controlling emotions of populations on a planet with accidentally invented ray, and fooling people to achieve their ends.
October 2, 2020
About a number of organizations set in the future, with a wry sense of deadpan humor: The Interstellar Patrol that has ships that kidnap pirates for recruiting, the Space Force, the PDA for colony development
July 13, 2024
Couldn't finish it. It just didn't hold my attention.
December 3, 2020
I loved this book, however, I would recommend reading this one second before reading part 2. Yes, read this one last... the next book just feels like it fits better and I read them back to back.
It just gave more insight on the ship to me and some other key details that just fit better with the charters.
It just gave more insight on the ship to me and some other key details that just fit better with the charters.
January 6, 2008
Baen Free Library Book
==========================
A FEW GOOD CON MEN....
The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the well-meaning schemes of ivory tower social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the "Royal Legions" from a distant star kingdom in hot pursuit of an unspeakably evil and nearly all-powerful villain who was hiding somewhere on the planet.
Things went even better than they had hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal Flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed, but instead the new arrivals (who also weren't quite what they claimed to be) thought the crew had shown just the sort of initiative and ingenuity that the Interstellar Patrol was looking for. So they were inducted into the Patrol.
And that was just the beginning. . . .
Publisher's Note: A short portion of Interstellar Patrol was previously published Strangers in Paradise. This is the first unified publication of t| Interstellar Patrol saga.
"I am delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. I've always loved Anvil's . . . peculiar sense of humor."
—David Weber
"[Anvil is] insistently readable!"
—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Published 4/1/2003
SKU: 0743436008
==========================
A FEW GOOD CON MEN....
The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the well-meaning schemes of ivory tower social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the "Royal Legions" from a distant star kingdom in hot pursuit of an unspeakably evil and nearly all-powerful villain who was hiding somewhere on the planet.
Things went even better than they had hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal Flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed, but instead the new arrivals (who also weren't quite what they claimed to be) thought the crew had shown just the sort of initiative and ingenuity that the Interstellar Patrol was looking for. So they were inducted into the Patrol.
And that was just the beginning. . . .
Publisher's Note: A short portion of Interstellar Patrol was previously published Strangers in Paradise. This is the first unified publication of t| Interstellar Patrol saga.
"I am delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. I've always loved Anvil's . . . peculiar sense of humor."
—David Weber
"[Anvil is] insistently readable!"
—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Published 4/1/2003
SKU: 0743436008
March 2, 2014
Product Description
The crew of the ship were marooned on a planet with no ship repair facilities, where the well-meaning schemes of social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. They had their own invention with them-an emotional amplifier, which could cause anyone to feel a heightened emotion, but this wasn't useful at first. If they heightened the locals' sense of pride, they took pride in becoming better criminals. So they pretended to be the Royal Legions, sent by a distant star kingdom in pursuit of an all-powerful villain who was hiding on the planet. Things were going better than they could have hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed-but instead they were told they had shown just the type of initiative and intelligence that the new arrivals were looking for. So they were inducted into the Interstellar Patrol. And that was just the beginning. . . .
October 27, 2011
This is a good collection of short stories that introduce you to Roberts, Hammell and Morrisey.
It starts with our three intrepid heroes landing on a planet to find a way to repair their ship. They find a society in ruin and no way to conduct repairs or get parts. Through a very odd invention, which was a bit of a stretch for me honestly, they manage to find what they need. The wish to head back and repair the damage they inflicted on the planets society carries us through the rest of the stories.
While I did not consider this a fantastic series or set of stories they were entertaining and worth a read.
It starts with our three intrepid heroes landing on a planet to find a way to repair their ship. They find a society in ruin and no way to conduct repairs or get parts. Through a very odd invention, which was a bit of a stretch for me honestly, they manage to find what they need. The wish to head back and repair the damage they inflicted on the planets society carries us through the rest of the stories.
While I did not consider this a fantastic series or set of stories they were entertaining and worth a read.
June 17, 2022
Author Christopher Anvil (pseudonym of Harry Crosby) has a theory about unintended consequences. To blast it out to the world, he thinly wrapped it in a meaningless SF story about a robot-controlled world. I'm not sure what the theory was because the story was dry as a bone with bland, identical characters. I gave it up.
Not even an intro by editor Eric Flint promising hilarity and hi-jinx could save it. (Neither the hilarity nor hi-jinx ever showed up.)
Not even an intro by editor Eric Flint promising hilarity and hi-jinx could save it. (Neither the hilarity nor hi-jinx ever showed up.)
September 21, 2011
Very hit or miss. The third story, though, we a nicely older version of Bujold's The Vor Game, and I giggled through most of it.
Overall, though, not the best Anvil compilation.
Overall, though, not the best Anvil compilation.
October 17, 2011
Good old fashioned junky space opera. Charming as much for what it says about the period in which it was written as for its underlying literary merit.
Freely available as an e-book from Baen's free library.
Freely available as an e-book from Baen's free library.
March 27, 2017
Not opening well, with the compulsion-broadcaster stories. Pretty crude with a distasteful premise (Strangers to Paradise), and a weird followup (Dukes of Desire).
I'll skip ahead to the next series in the book.
I'll skip ahead to the next series in the book.
June 14, 2008
An enjoyable read, as long as you don't worry too much about the morality of what's going on!
August 3, 2008
I loved reading these stories in Analog magazine when I was a kid. When I saw it at the bookstore I had to purchase it. Reading these stories again after so many years was a real pleasure.
Read
August 22, 2008Interstellar Patrol (The Interstellar Patrol Series) by Christopher Anvil (2004)
Read
January 9, 2010baen ebook
books-with-go-references
June 13, 2010Brief go reference in the short story "Revolt!". Christopher Anvil is the pseudonym of Henry C. Crosby.
August 1, 2011
Zany 60's science fiction in the classic tradition. Stories have a good mix of humor and eccentric characters.
March 5, 2011
Very good book. Collection of short stories. My first reading of Christopher Anvil's works. I will read more of his now.
September 3, 2011
Great stories, with some nifty and screwy technology and concepts. Mostly solid stories about people and how organizations and people don’t always think the way one would expect.
May 11, 2012
To many plot inconsistencies in what is otherwise a fun story
June 22, 2012
I read the first volume of this many times as a kid. Glad to see Baen is making it all available free.
September 23, 2013
Like all books containing multiple stories, this one contains those of varying quality: some are extremely good, while others are only mediocre.
April 20, 2014
Good collection of short stories about the interstellar patrol from the golden age of scifi. Enjoyable if a bit dated.
August 11, 2016
Seems dated, is dated. Not my cup of tea. Sorry for no significant review. Just too many other books to review right now. Recommended for fans of the author, otherwise probably not.
March 12, 2012
Great fun and a wonderful look at science fiction published in the 1960's.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews