Takeoff!

The collection includes Garret's novelette Despoilers of the Golden Empire, a pulp magazine yarn mixing space travel and classic swashbuckling themes to the point where the space-travelling characters fight with swords, bringing to mind the adventures of Flash Gordon, or the Barsoom stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story is later revealed to be a mistelling of the history of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. First published in March 1959, the story was designed as an early April Fools' Day prank. It was re-published in collections such as Takeoff! and in a later anthology entitled Analog's Lighter Side edited by Stanley Schmidt.

Thrust called Garrett "one of the more under-rated writers in the field" of science fiction, noting that the collection features "Most of the odd little bits of his humorous writing".{{cite journal|last=Brown|first=Steve |date=Summer 1980|title=Reviews books, etc.|journal=Thrust|issue=15|pages=44–45}}

Spider Robinson reviewed Takeoff! for Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, and commented that "If you are a newcomer to or a very casual reader of SF, you may miss a lot of the jokes [...] but the well-read fan will find a lot of laughs here," and further noted that the illustrations by Kelly Freas are "as always, a joy."{{cite journal|last=Robinson|first=Spider|author-link=Spider Robinson|date=August 1980|title=The Reference Library|journal=Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact|pages=169–170}}

Tom Easton likewise reviewed Takeoff! for Analog, praising it as "a collection of parodies, pastiches, reviews in verse, and groaners guaranteed to rouse at least a grin."{{cite journal|last=Easton|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Easton|date=October 1980|title=The Reference Library|journal=Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact|pages=168}}

In Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Baird Searles noted that although "there are moments when Garrett descends to that level between freshman and junior, a lot of it is amusing even if I didn't do a lot of thigh slapping and gut busting."{{cite journal|last=Searles|first=Baird|date=November 1980|title=On Books|journal=Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine|pages=17}}

Amazing Stories lauded it as "a delightful collection which people who know Randall Garrett have awaited for years,"{{cite journal|last=Staicar|first=Tom|date=May 1981|title=The Interstellar Connection|journal=Amazing Stories|pages=7}} while Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer stated that it "provide(s) an entertaining chance to enjoy some more works of a writer whose works are beginning to gain well deserved recognition as classics."{{cite journal|last=Bryant |first=Lynn |date=October–November 1988|title=Book Reviews|journal=Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer|publisher=World Wide Wargames|issue=83|pages=44–45}}

• Review by Donald M. Hassler (1986) in Fantasy Review, October 1986

{{reflist}}

{{Gutenberg | no=24091 | name=Despoilers of the Golden Empire}}

Category:1980 short story collections

Category:Science fiction short story collections