Copyright 1974.
A MATTER OF SOVEREIGNTY
A corporation works with the small government of Tonga to get back a ship hijacked by Fiji. The ship has a cargo of plutonium. They steal back the ship and then come up with an agreement to have their cargo ships armed by using the authority of the sovereign government of Tonga.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
In the nation of Namibia an agricultural and mining operation is threatened by a faction of the government. An expat Black American has control of the military and threatening to nationalize the operation. The corporation manages to arm the opposition with enough submachine guns to stop him.
ENFORCER
A coup in Argentina threatens the undersea mining operations of a major corporation. This corporation sends an enforcer to make sure the coup leaders honor their contract.
HIGH JUSTICE
Aeneas MacKenzie was the idealistic attorney who exposed criminal corruption in the current U.S. Presidential administration. With no other prospects he heads to his old girlfriend who runs a powerful corporation in Baja. She owns a space station that manufactures materials that can only be made in zero gravity. The corrupt U.S. government is staging a takeover of the station. MacKenzie agrees to go to the station and restore order. Even if it means carrying out some capital punishment on his own.
EXTREME PREJUDICE
A CIA agent goes to a research facility in the middle of the ocean to assassinate someone who betrayed the Presidential administration. The assassin forms a friendship with his victim and helps him fake his death.
CONSORT
MacKenzie working for his girlfriend uses knowledge of criminal malfeasance to bribe the U.S. President into helping them get a colony ship launched to the Moon.
TINKER
A husband and wife who run a space freight hauling operation in the asteroid belt get hired by a small colony. The colony of Jefferson retains their services and right after that a space liner is in trouble. The colony stands to make million from the insurance company for rescuing the liner. Only they caused the accident, and the corporate interests take their revenge.
This was a series of stories written for magazines in the early seventies. They are basically interconnected in this unstated future but probably the late nineties to early 21st century. It deals with powerful extraterritorial corporations that seem outside government control. Against this backdrop is a corrupt and decaying United States. I loved this series that felt very realistic with its corporate intrigue.
I was surprised how not dated the stories felt for being written fifty years ago. The author even accurately predicted the Falklands War. I could see this as happening in a potential future. The stuff about space travel, asteroid colonies and undersea mining could be something that would be in our future. Some people might find it a bit dry but if you like some intelligent fiction I would recommend this.
THE BOOKS THAT TIME FORGOT. 