Phule's Company [Paperback] - Softcover

ROBERT ASPRIN

Softcover

ISBN 10: 009992370X ISBN 13: 9780099923701

Publisher: LEGEND PAPERBACKS, 1992

Synopsis

After being court-martialed by the Space Legion for ordering the strafing of a treaty-signing ceremony, multimillionaire Willard Phule receives his punishment: He must command the misfit Omega Company on Haskin’s Planet, a mining settlement on the edge of settled space. At his duty station, he leverages his personal money and a knack for managing people to get the company to come together as a unit. Phule convinces the governor to leave the contract for an honorary duty up for competition between the Space Legionnaires and the Regular Army. The Army sends some of their most elite troops to take part in the competition, but Phule’s company operates with their own unique tactics….

About this title

About the Author

Robert Lynn Asprin was an American science fiction and fantasy author, best known for his MythAdventures and Phule’s Company series. As an active fan of the genres, he was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a co-founder of the Great Dark Horde, and founder of the Dorsai Irregulars. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramtic Presentation for The Capture in 1976. Asprin died in 2008 at the age of 61 having published over fifty novels and several short stories.

Reviews

Behind the puerile punning names and extraterrestrial setting stands a modest, winning story about a commander who builds a company of misfits, rejects and even a few aliens into a disciplined military outfit. Tricked into taking on the worst detachment in a far outpost of the Space Legion, Captain Willard Phule uses every resource in his control, particularly his immense wealth and his knowledge of how to motivate and lead people, to whip his skeptical crew of strays into shape and make them feel that they have, at last, found a home. This lighthearted tale is part science fiction, part spoof, part heart-warmer, its farcical elements pitted against the proper, stuffy voice of Phule's butler, Beeker, whose wry commentary precedes each section of narrative. Phule rings true as an astute entrepreneur of the human (and nonhuman) spirit. The psychological acumen that colors Asprin's characterizations, Phule in particular, gives the book the verisimilitude that is the essence of successful science fiction. Asprin wrote the Myth series.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: LEGEND PAPERBACKS
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 009992370X
• ISBN 13: 9780099923701
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232