thumb|First edition<br>cover art by Richard Weaver 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 great deal of grain-of-salt-type humor.
They were commanded by maverick engineer '''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).
The Unorthodox Engineers originally appeared in various British SF magazines and anthologies: * "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'').
Dobson Books published a collection of the stories as ''The Unorthodox Engineers'' {{ISBN|0-234-72072-7}} in November 1979. A 2013 Kindle reprint is available from Gateway, {{ISBN|0234720727}}.
The short story "The Pen and the Dark" was adapted into a text-based computer adventure game by Keith Campbell, with text by Colin Kapp. It was published in 1984 by Mosaic Publishing with the packaging for the game including a book copy of the original story.
== References == * {{cite book | title=Science fact and science fiction: an encyclopedia | first=Brian M. | last=Stableford | publisher=CRC Press | year=2006 | isbn=0-415-97460-7 | page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencefactscien0000stab/page/156 156] | url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefactscien0000stab/page/156 }}
Category:1979 short story collections Category:Science fiction short story collections Category:Fictional engineers
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