Retief! By Keith Laumer
 

How did I miss this Sci-Fi writer all of these years? I guess when I started reading in Sci-Fi in the 70's, he was already in decline (physically and writing). But these are hilarious!

Retief of the CDT, Diplomatic Corps of the Confederation.

Always saves the day, gets the girl, etc. Like a bureaucratic James Bond in space. Always having to overcome his superiors as well as the adversary.

Keith Laumer was a diplomatic Aid after WW2 in the South Central Asia.

Sounds a little like Charles Stross' series "Laundry" except that it's not in space.

https://www.tor.com/2013/09/24/equoid/

https://www.tor.com/2009/12/22/overtime/

https://www.tor.com/2008/07/20/down-on-the-farm/

I'm curious what you think about this, which is an excerpt from a book series by Peter Watts

https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9781466881150

My friends and I were big Retief fans in college. It seemed that everyone who liked Retief also like The Stainless Steel Rat series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat You might want to look into that as well. They make nice companions. Retief is written more for adults but are accessible to younger audiences while The Stainless Steel Rat series is lighter and can be enjoyed by younger audiences as well as adults.

Harry Harrison had a big hit with the Stainless Steel Rat. And I liked his books, until he tried to do the young version.

"Bill the Galactic Hero" was also fantastic. And I also loved the ridiculous "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers"

In the later year, Harry definitely used the fame from the earlier novels to try to cash in with poor quality sequels. I didn't agree with this on the 3 main SSR sequels. But Bill the Galactic Hero - awful sequels.

For anyone that's curious, here's a way to read "Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain" in any number of ways.
Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain by Keith Laumer - Free Ebook
as well as 20 other Keith Laumer stories.

I read one of the Bolo books a long time ago and liked it but never read anything else from him. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to the used book store and see what they have on the shelf.

Rogue Bolo?