Jun 22
Click for full imageSarah Comments: This cover raises a lot of questions. Are those pointed shoes? What’s up with his hands? Do all “galactic Machiavellis” keep the souls of deceased dinosaurs in their cloaks? Why does he look as though a slight breeze would knock him over?
Published 1973
Leggings and a dinner suit. Good look!
Many thanks to Sarah!
(Average: 8.00 out of 10)
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(9.25 out of 10)
Lastest Tweet
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Oh whatever happened to the mens cape. There was a day when a gentlemans suit was not complete without one.
That one above seems to have suffered slightly from daemonic possession!
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 am
If he’s underwater, then he’s farting up a typhoon behind him.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:00 am
Now you mention it, that pose does look completely unstable.
But forget that — I want his cape SO BADLY. The whole ensemble, in fact, if the suit is available in a colour that’s less Father Christmas and more Space Machiavelli: The Sequel.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
WARNING: book may or may not contain vampires.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
Since when did the Wizard of Oz have a Buck Rogers ray gun?
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Do you see those “planets” up in the sky? They’re actually balloons. FILLED WITH METHANE. I think that explains a fair bit of the picture, don’t you?
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I’d be more interested in NASAs space program if they made the astronauts wear capes which imprison the souls of the teeming undead.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Choose a caption:
A) “Whoa-whoa-whoa…” *BONK* “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”
B) “Ed Wood Jr. presents… CRISWELL AND THE AMAZING BLACK-AND-WHITE DREAMCOAT!”
C) “I almost caught a ravenous bugblatter beast, and it was THIS big…!”
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:57 pm
“Hey, pssssst, wanna buy some fogmonsters? … Or we can play with my tiny spaceship.”
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
‘The Galactic Machiavelli’ looks like a children’s tea-party entertainer
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
On closer examination, it’s Christopher Plummer during panto season!
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:33 pm
>>e.lee a children’s tea-party entertainer
Holy crap if that guy showed up at my kid’s party I’d call the cops. Or put a web cam on him and make a few bucks.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:24 pm
‘And our envoy is … the phantom raspberry-blower of old London town!’
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:48 pm
that font is really really bad
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:02 pm
In all the Retief books I’ve read, not once did Laumer mention that he was a flamboyant zombie with grey-green skin.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:43 pm
@ DeadRobot ‘Hey kiddies! With the help of his wispy cloak underlings, The Great Retief will inflate all the balloon animals!”
June 23rd, 2010 at 2:08 am
Fingers is hard to draw
June 30th, 2010 at 9:08 am
He’s thrusting his groin forward in a way that makes a swift punch to it almost compulsory.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Amazing that they had a George Clooney look-alike back in ’73.
January 22nd, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Alternate cover blurbs to match the “stunning” artwork:
A) “Retief – the galactic Halloween party crasher!”
B) “Retief – the galactic Confuse-A-Cat!”
C) “Retief – the galactic WTF??”
July 17th, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Retief – The Galactic Liberace
August 27th, 2015 at 1:24 am
You know, given that the souls of the damned are concealed in that cloak, RED is really not the right colour for it. Also, no self-respecting Galactic Wizard Machiavelli stands in a pose that both leaves him likely to be knocked over by a slight breeze but leaves his crotch thrust forward and easily kneed by passerby. But then this man clearly isn’t a self-respecting Galactic Wizard Machiavelli.
July 22nd, 2016 at 12:01 pm
@TW: we might need a ‘strange creatures’ tag and a ‘skulls-a-poppin’ tag for the cape. And there’s an un-tagged rocket in the background, stage left.
July 22nd, 2016 at 12:04 pm
Doesn’t the codpiece go on OVER the tights?
July 22nd, 2016 at 1:11 pm
That embarrassing moment when you realize you should have had that old cape dry cleaned before wearing it to the party.
July 22nd, 2016 at 1:14 pm
I can’t decide whether he’s dressed for Halloween or St Patrick’s Day.
July 22nd, 2016 at 2:06 pm
@fred Well, I’m told Halloween was created in Ireland, so it makes sense to be dressed for both, right?
July 22nd, 2016 at 3:02 pm
@Juan Paul: 104 more days till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, 104 more days till Halloween, Silver Shamrock!
July 22nd, 2016 at 3:03 pm
I just hope Paul Daniels didn’t see this before he left us.
July 23rd, 2016 at 2:22 am
I’ll bet he’ll Machiavelli nice cloak for a good price. His needle fingers are perfect for detail work.
January 18th, 2017 at 5:09 am
This must be a Retief story I never read, wherein he becomes one of the undead.
August 17th, 2020 at 11:32 pm
“God damn these cheap gloves!”