The Flying Saucer Gambit (Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #1

Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #1

by Larry Maddock

THE ALIEN SHAPE-CHANGER AND THE TIME-TRAVELING SECRET AGENT! Meet Hannibal Fortune, the classic time traveling secret agent for the Temporal Entropy Restructure and Repair Agency (T.E.R.R.A.) whose James Bondian adventures are back in print for the first time in 30 years! Aided by his sneering, superior, shape-changing, 15-pound fellow agent, Webley (an irascible alien whose comments on Earth people and their customs are incendiary), Hannibal Fortune, granted the special "License to Tamper," tries to foil the plots of Gregor Malik, who seeks to control the future by changing the past. In The Flying Saucer Gambit, Hannibal and Webley travel from the year 2572 to Kansas in the year 1966 to investigate the death of a fellow T.E.R.R.A.'s Resident Agent. Soon they discover he had been killed by the sinister legions of Gregor Malik's E.M.P.I.R.E. to keep him from reporting their new secret weapon, a device that turns people into babbling lunatics. With this weapon, Malik could conquer Earth and changer history – overnight! It was up to Fortune and Webley to foil E.M.P.I.R.E. so that the time-lines would remain intact and Earth unconquered. It was a tough assignment, and Gregor Malik's plans were already far advanced and well protected. But E.M.P.I.R.E. is about to find why Hannibal and his fifteen-pound playmate were ranked the most dangerous of T.E.R.R.A. agents of all. "Speedy time operas, creative." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ... Larry Maddock is the pen name under which science fiction author Jack Owen Jardine wrote the Agent of TERRA series. Mia Jennings

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Used As Alternate Name By: Jack Owen Jardine

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please allow me to give this Man From U.N.C.L.E. rip off 4 stars. I read them back in my youth (the dark ages of the) 1960s. I remember them fondly and have often wished I still had them. In each book Hannibal (Fortune) and his partner Webley (a shape changing alien made up of 15 pounds of protoplasm) would save the world from domination (or worse). Hannibal had a "License to Tamper", with time that is. A rip off of 007's license to Kill? They would move back and forth in time to stop E.M.P.I.R.E. in their attempts to change history and rule the world...or more (cue dramatic music).

In the first one they went back in time to investigate the death of a resident agent.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun to read. The "agent" in the title is basically a secret agent, defending time itself from serious alterations that would lead to disaster. Much like the fictional British agent Bond, he has to stop a maniac from taking control of the Earth. But neither the agent, his partner, nor the maniac and his minions are from this planet. The stakes are high for the people of Earth, but marauders in time would create chaos and destruction throughout the universe. Armed with a vehicle that travels through time, a mind-reading partner, and some very high-tech weapons, he must fight for his life, for planet Earth, and for the flow of time itself. A good adventure, well-written, and the science is plausible.

[Jb Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fusion of Dr. Who and Bond James Bond is scarcely deathless literature, but for a kid of 11 or 12, it was quite a romp.

[David B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A time-traveling agent and his alien partner strive to foil the plan of an evil mastermind who intends to use a device that drives people mad to change the past. The four-book series Agent of TERRA was one example of the 60s tsunami of secret agent storytelling that followed the immense success of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Hannibal Fortune, who has been granted a “license to tamper,” works to preserve the integrity of the timeline for the Temporal Entropy Restructure and Repair Agency. Webley, his partner, is a ball of wisecracking sentient protoplasm that has the ability to inhabit a functional replica of a human being when needed. Gregor Malik of EMPIRE is the evil mastermind. This is a light fun adventure with some timey-wimey nonsense thrown in for spice. You could do worse for a quick read.

https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com

[Gregory Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was 14 and it was a new book (spoiler alert: I'm ancient). It was so entertaining that I was hooked on Maddock's series and just gobbled up all four of these gems. Yes, they're dated. Yes, they reflect the sexual attitudes of the period. But they're also just breezy, fun reads.

[Eric]

Full Review: https://monsterbookclub.com/2023/02/2...

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to try the first volume in these older SF series and after this one I won't read any further. Pretty dull work.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Webley is my favorite sidekick. Great satire of the spy genre that was popular in the sixties.

[Yvensong]

Autographed

[Jamie Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of this series.. I read them as a teenager

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Agenten der Galaxis