The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the schemes of social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the Royal Legions from a distant star kingdom. Things went better than they could have hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized--and then the real Royal flagship showed up.

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. . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "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." ¾David Weber "[Anvil is] insistently readable!" ¾The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

"And much more, including such lethal alien wildlife as banjo birds with rapier-like beaks, alien caterpillars with flaming dragonlike exhalations, and a cast of thousands of biting, stinging, bloodsucking insects from a host of colony worlds who think humans are the tastiest things they've ever come across."--BOOK JACKET.

An in-depth history of science, primarily covering the 1930s, from Superman to Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker. The book examines science fiction literature, art, cinema, and comics, and the impact of culture, philosophy, science, technology, and futures studies on the development of science fiction. Further, the book describes the influence of science fiction on human society and the evolution of future consciousness. Other key figures discussed include apek, Hamilton, “Doc” Smith, Campbell, Lovecraft, C. A. Smith, and Williamson.

'Spaceships in their thousands, and they're attacking us! They've come from somewhere toward our galaxy - have come out of intergalactic space itself to attack our universe!' The Interstellar Patrol, that fabulous fleet manned by all the assorted races of our galaxy, faced its greatest struggle when that alarm came through. For this was an attack from OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSE, a vast migration from another galaxy, and it had to be stopped if a thousand worlds were to survive! This terrific classic space novel on the grandest scale involves three giant galaxies in an all-out conflict.

The best-ever anthology of one of science fiction's most vigorous subgenres

The second volume within this series presents more than fifty series characters within pulp fiction, selected to represent four popular story types from the 1907-1939 pulps--scientific detectives, occult and psychic investigators, jungle men, and adventurers in interplanetary romance. Some characters--Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Craig Kennedy, Anthony (Buck) Rogers--became internationally known. Others are now almost forgotten, except by collectors and specialists.