Unorthodox Engineers

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The Unorthodox Engineers were the subject of a series of science fiction short stories by Colin Kapp. They were a misfit bunch of engineers who solved problems of alien technology/weird planets in the future. The stories had a very large grain of salt-type humor.

The Unorthodox Engineers appeared in various stories including:

  • "The Railways Up on Cannis" (New Worlds October, 1959)
  • "The Subways of Tazoo" (New Writings in SF 3)
  • "The Pen and the Dark" (New Writings in SF 8)
  • "Getaway from Getawehi" (New Writings in SF 16)
  • "The Black Hole of Negrav" (New Writings in SF 25).

They were commanded by Fritz van Noon and included, amongst others, a convicted bank robber as quartermaster (on the entirely-sound grounds that he was likely to be the most capable person for the job).

Dobson Books published a collection of the stories as The Unorthodox Engineers {ISBN 0-234-72072-7} in November 1979.