The Yillian Way

The Yillian Way is a razor-sharp SF comedy that skewers diplomatic protocol and bureaucratic inertia with gleeful abandon. Jame Retief is a vice-consul who simply refuses to play the game and his refusal is magnificent. When humanity sends a diplomatic mission to the Yill homeworld, the expected fawning deference never materializes. Instead, the human delegation is insulted at every turn, fed dog food at banquets, and treated like interstellar peasants. The career diplomats wring their hands and whisper about proper procedure while Retief watches, his patience wearing thin. When enough is enough, he acts in a way no proper diplomat should: he upends the banquet table and walks out. This is not proper. This is not diplomatic. But it works. What follows is a gleeful inversion of everything conventional diplomacy stands for. Retief's 'improper' behavior inexplicably earns the respect of the Yill leadership, who recognize in him a creature after their own hearts. A satirical space adventure that proves sometimes the only way to deal with aliens is to stop acting like a bureaucrat and start acting like a human being.