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John Grimes: Survey Service #4-7 included
First Command
The #2 omni edition of the classic science fiction of A. Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes books, with eight legendary adventure novels in one volume. Pipe-smoking, action-loving spaceship commander John Grimes (think Captain Kirk with more of a navy, salty attitude) retires from heroic days in Earth’s space navy only to be immediately thrown into adventures on the remote edge of the galaxy.
The second in a three-volume collection of the legendary John Grimes books! Classic Star Trek meets the high seas. If space travel is going to be anything like sailing the oceans, then A. Bertram Chandler has surely caught its absolute essence in his Grimes novels. Here it is, the entire “Captain John Grimes – Far Traveller Courier” saga, collected in one volume. These are the tales of John Grimes’ action-packed merchantman and courier years. After moving on from the Terran Navy, Grimes tries his hand at leading a private life, and finds he likes being his own man. The only problem is, his ship The Far Traveller has a (very stubborn and very feminine) mind of its own -- and a penchant for getting Grimes into the worse sort of interplanetary pickles!
The Far Traveller (with the classic John Grimes stories that started it all), Star Courier , To Keep the Ship , Matilda’s Stepchildren , Star Loot , The Anarch Lords , The Last Amazon , and The Wild Ones.
About A. Bertram
“He writes his stories in the middle of a hurricane with his typewriter lashed to his desk.” – John W. Campbell, legendary editor of Astounding Science Fiction
The second in a three-volume collection of the legendary John Grimes books! Classic Star Trek meets the high seas. If space travel is going to be anything like sailing the oceans, then A. Bertram Chandler has surely caught its absolute essence in his Grimes novels. Here it is, the entire “Captain John Grimes – Far Traveller Courier” saga, collected in one volume. These are the tales of John Grimes’ action-packed merchantman and courier years. After moving on from the Terran Navy, Grimes tries his hand at leading a private life, and finds he likes being his own man. The only problem is, his ship The Far Traveller has a (very stubborn and very feminine) mind of its own -- and a penchant for getting Grimes into the worse sort of interplanetary pickles!
The Far Traveller (with the classic John Grimes stories that started it all), Star Courier , To Keep the Ship , Matilda’s Stepchildren , Star Loot , The Anarch Lords , The Last Amazon , and The Wild Ones.
About A. Bertram
“He writes his stories in the middle of a hurricane with his typewriter lashed to his desk.” – John W. Campbell, legendary editor of Astounding Science Fiction
- GenresScience Fiction
736 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2011
7 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
A. Bertram Chandler
358 books53 followersArthur Bertram Chandler (28 March 1912–6 June 1984) was an Australian science fiction author. He also wrote under the pseudonyms George Whitley, George Whitely, Paul T. Sherman, Andrew Dunstan, and S.H.M.
He was born in Aldershot, England. He was a merchant marine officer, sailing the world in everything from tramp steamers to troopships. He emigrated to Australia in 1956 and became an Australian citizen. He commanded various ships in the Australian and New Zealand merchant navies, and was the last master of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne as the law required that it have an officer on board while it was laid up waiting to be towed to China to be broken up.
He was born in Aldershot, England. He was a merchant marine officer, sailing the world in everything from tramp steamers to troopships. He emigrated to Australia in 1956 and became an Australian citizen. He commanded various ships in the Australian and New Zealand merchant navies, and was the last master of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne as the law required that it have an officer on board while it was laid up waiting to be towed to China to be broken up.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 6, 2015
The first novelette in this book shows how bad a concept that Bujold did well in Ethan of Athos can be done.
May 29, 2012
This book was very similar to the first one in the Grimes Saga. It was fun to read due to its old-fashioned style and archaic “future” technology. However, one would have expected Grimes to get a bit more skin on his nose and become (quite) a bit less naive as the story goes on but that did not happen.
Worse is that a band of useless slackers, one of them even a downright murdering bastard, are actually allowed, not only to ruin Grimes future career, but also to get away.
Sure it’s a combination of these people being assholes and Grimes superiors being political dicks but still. A marine officer writing such crap makes me wonder what kind of navy career this guy had himself. It’s one star off just for that.
In all, this book was still ok but not as fun as the previous one.
Worse is that a band of useless slackers, one of them even a downright murdering bastard, are actually allowed, not only to ruin Grimes future career, but also to get away.
Sure it’s a combination of these people being assholes and Grimes superiors being political dicks but still. A marine officer writing such crap makes me wonder what kind of navy career this guy had himself. It’s one star off just for that.
In all, this book was still ok but not as fun as the previous one.
December 14, 2013
This book, "First Command", is the second omnibus in a series of books about John Grimes by A. Bertram Chandler. I have read many of the novels and short stories about John Grimes but many are hard to find and long out of print. With these collections I will finally be able to read them all. Each story is very entertaining and shows how Grimes develops in his career in the Federation Survey Service, the space fleet of the Federation. This is classic Space Opera and very entertaining. It is not for children however. I would rate it as PG 13. A must read for fans of Grimes and A. Bertram Chandler.
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March 1, 2013I love chandler's worlds especially the rim worlds, but I do get a little tired of his plot lines ( Grimes starts out happy - Grimes runs into trouble - things go bad for Grimes - Grimes gets lucky and wins a little/loses a little more; and the obligatory smoking and sex). It's worth it for the Rim Stars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews