Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire : PSmIth

This one is all one connected story - with a _lot_ of branches and interconnected twists. Oddly enough, Psmith, though he/they start both the whole thing and the end, are largely an annoyance and a side issue throughout. Actually - until the last chapter, the whole story is composed of side issues. Psmith, Tal, Grispfat, Buck's contract - they intertwine but don't really relate until the end. And when you get to the end, there's two strands that don't really relate except that one is used to solve the other... good riddance. Lateral thinking again, and a beautiful display of doubletalk - lies and truth intertwined to produce exactly the effect Buck wants. I suspect he takes advantage of assumptions about him - from humans, at least - show more such a big guy must be slow-thinking...mustn't he? It also shows how Buck is capable of dealing directly with very powerful beings - referenced in the fourth story in Zap Gun and a rather major element in Gallimaufry. As a whole, this is a richer story than any in Zap Gun, but I don't like any chapter of it nearly as much as I do most or all of the Zap Gun stories. Still fun, though. show less