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Red Dwarf #0.5
Red Dwarf: Titan
Before the beginning...
The mining ship Red Dwarf is in orbit around Saturnian moon Titan, and the bulk of the crew is heading down for their shore leave A strangely reluctant hen party; a relaxing cheaty golfing break; a terminally-boring cultural Odessey; a marathon drinking and fighting binge; a stomach-challenging culinary beanfeast and an invigoratingly violent tour of Shore Patrol...
Menial chicken soup machine repairmen Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer have slightly less noble ambitions.
Rimmer is in search of some illicit exam-cheating tech, to land a much-lusted-for promotion, and Lister plans to acquire a cat to smuggle back on board as part of a nefarious scheme to return to Earth. Mainly they just want to get as far away from each other as possible. However, their objectives are scuppered when they receive a cryptic message... from the future.
The two feuding crewmen are catapulted into a breakneck race to save not only this, but every other Reality.
Along the way, they'll find themselves united again, for the first time, with some new, but somehow old friends, as they embark on a labyrinthian quest through the seediest, most dangerous underbelly of humankind's furthest outpost, where lurk bizarre off-worldly dangers and one mysterious hidden nemesis with an obscure, yet clearly lethal agenda.
So strap yourself into your Holly Hop Drive, and set your bazookoids to "thrill" - the Dwarfers are taking on TITAN.
'Don't tell my mother I died with my arm up a gorilla's bottom.'
'But sir - it will be on the death certificate.'
The mining ship Red Dwarf is in orbit around Saturnian moon Titan, and the bulk of the crew is heading down for their shore leave A strangely reluctant hen party; a relaxing cheaty golfing break; a terminally-boring cultural Odessey; a marathon drinking and fighting binge; a stomach-challenging culinary beanfeast and an invigoratingly violent tour of Shore Patrol...
Menial chicken soup machine repairmen Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer have slightly less noble ambitions.
Rimmer is in search of some illicit exam-cheating tech, to land a much-lusted-for promotion, and Lister plans to acquire a cat to smuggle back on board as part of a nefarious scheme to return to Earth. Mainly they just want to get as far away from each other as possible. However, their objectives are scuppered when they receive a cryptic message... from the future.
The two feuding crewmen are catapulted into a breakneck race to save not only this, but every other Reality.
Along the way, they'll find themselves united again, for the first time, with some new, but somehow old friends, as they embark on a labyrinthian quest through the seediest, most dangerous underbelly of humankind's furthest outpost, where lurk bizarre off-worldly dangers and one mysterious hidden nemesis with an obscure, yet clearly lethal agenda.
So strap yourself into your Holly Hop Drive, and set your bazookoids to "thrill" - the Dwarfers are taking on TITAN.
'Don't tell my mother I died with my arm up a gorilla's bottom.'
'But sir - it will be on the death certificate.'
406 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 16, 2026
About the author
Rob Grant
25 books163 followershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Grant
Writes under the name Grant Naylor when collaborating with Doug Naylor
Writes under the name Grant Naylor when collaborating with Doug Naylor
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July 16, 2026My boys are meant to be together and this book did nothing to dissuade that sentiment
July 16, 2026
NON-SPOILER REVIEW FOLLOWED BY SPOILERS! I do say when, but I don't think the HTML spoiler function works in-app, so look out.
I'm a Red Dwarf fan to an embarrassing degree. It's one of those sitcoms, along with Bottom, that I can't remember my first time watching, because they've been part of my life from such an early age. I'll spare you my spiel on how you can say any random quote and I'll give you the exact episode, my DVD collection extends even to The Bodysnatcher Collection, despite mostly despising Naylor's solo work on the show I'm a strong defender of Chloë Annett and THAT scene in Blue and the Jane Austen parts of Beyond A Joke, and that I was the brand of teenage girl that took to Wattpad to read and no less write fanfiction regarding THAT scene in Blue, and just tell you that I was very excited upon the announcement of this book.
I've read all the Red Dwarf books a few times, strongly disliking Last Human, wishing Grant would do another solo. And he did!
And then he went and died.
I remember exactly where I was when I found out, I remember crying on the bus home, I remember watching his favourite episodes and raising a cocktail to him when I got home . . .
We miss you, Rob.
My pre-order of Titan arrives (with its hideous cover that I so hoped was a prototype!) as planned on publication day, and I get stuck in.
The dedication to Paul Jackson made me aww.
This is Rob Grant's Red Dwarf at its best. I'm not familiar with Marshall's work so I'm afraid I can't extend much specific credit to him, but I took every delight in Craig Charles and Chris Barrie's mannerisms of Lister and Rimmer being down to a T here. I could really see and hear every conversation.
Little changes are made, like Hollister's first name being Randy, and Krissie coming from Yorkshire (not that I'm complaining!), which may well be to distinguish this book's reality from the show's, or it may well have been this way in the original books that I haven't read for a long time.
This book is essentially a Red Dwarf special, but with a decent writer finally behind it.
Of course this is a prequel, so you're going to grieve that Cat and Kryten are absent - but then you're going to AWWWWWW at the appearance of our beloved Frankenstein, and accept that mechanoid Carzon is essentially what Kryten would have been before his trauma, aging, corrupted files, and humanisation.
Just brace yourself for the fact that they can namedrop things like Amazon now, because Red Dwarf was already set beyond us, before the three-million-year timeskip.
Enjoy!
*
SPOILERY REVIEW:
Thank you, Rob Grant.
I'm a Red Dwarf fan to an embarrassing degree. It's one of those sitcoms, along with Bottom, that I can't remember my first time watching, because they've been part of my life from such an early age. I'll spare you my spiel on how you can say any random quote and I'll give you the exact episode, my DVD collection extends even to The Bodysnatcher Collection, despite mostly despising Naylor's solo work on the show I'm a strong defender of Chloë Annett and THAT scene in Blue and the Jane Austen parts of Beyond A Joke, and that I was the brand of teenage girl that took to Wattpad to read and no less write fanfiction regarding THAT scene in Blue, and just tell you that I was very excited upon the announcement of this book.
I've read all the Red Dwarf books a few times, strongly disliking Last Human, wishing Grant would do another solo. And he did!
And then he went and died.
I remember exactly where I was when I found out, I remember crying on the bus home, I remember watching his favourite episodes and raising a cocktail to him when I got home . . .
We miss you, Rob.
My pre-order of Titan arrives (with its hideous cover that I so hoped was a prototype!) as planned on publication day, and I get stuck in.
The dedication to Paul Jackson made me aww.
This is Rob Grant's Red Dwarf at its best. I'm not familiar with Marshall's work so I'm afraid I can't extend much specific credit to him, but I took every delight in Craig Charles and Chris Barrie's mannerisms of Lister and Rimmer being down to a T here. I could really see and hear every conversation.
Little changes are made, like Hollister's first name being Randy, and Krissie coming from Yorkshire (not that I'm complaining!), which may well be to distinguish this book's reality from the show's, or it may well have been this way in the original books that I haven't read for a long time.
This book is essentially a Red Dwarf special, but with a decent writer finally behind it.
Of course this is a prequel, so you're going to grieve that Cat and Kryten are absent - but then you're going to AWWWWWW at the appearance of our beloved Frankenstein, and accept that mechanoid Carzon is essentially what Kryten would have been before his trauma, aging, corrupted files, and humanisation.
Just brace yourself for the fact that they can namedrop things like Amazon now, because Red Dwarf was already set beyond us, before the three-million-year timeskip.
Enjoy!
*
SPOILERY REVIEW:
Thank you, Rob Grant.
July 22, 2026
With Rob Grant sadly past, this book offers a tantalising look at what a Red Dwarf reboot would have looked like, set in a universe left of the TV shows to explain the modern references, that the Charictors don't look like the cast and why, Chris Barrie, who provided the audio for all the great Red Dwarf novels makes Lister sound like he's from Byker Grove instead of Coronation Street we set off on a new adventure aided by the universe we do know about. No spoilers and its often confusing as the narrative swings between nostalgia references and new things that designed appeal to a new audience will leave you wanting a TV movie to launch the reboot and to dig out your old paperbacks.
July 21, 2026
There is a brilliant prequel to RED DWARF hiding in here, which answers so many questions that lead to the first episode of the series and has buckets of wit and even some of the action of a thriller. I’m not quite sure, then, why so much of TITAN expends its energy trying to give us more links to the modern Dwarf, instead of just embracing what and when it is. Nevertheless, Chris Barrie reading this is an absolute treat, and Rob Grant is so missed. We’ll smoke you a kipper, Rob. Thanks for this last swan song.
July 23, 2026
Bursting with ideas and full of familiar (ish) characters, this is an excellent two-steps-to-the-left prequel to the television version of Red Dwarf. Kochanski finally gets more of a character, and an arc to go with it, and is in some ways the main character of this excellently entertaining story.
It would make a great TV show : )
It would make a great TV show : )
July 23, 2026
I liked this, although it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The cover establishes that this is a prequel in an alternate reality:
"Three million and thirty-nine years ago. And one universe to the side ..."
The premise of the TV series was that Lister got frozen in stasis for 3 million years. This book was published in 2026, so 39 years ago was 1987. The first episode was broadcast in Feb 1998, so the idea is that this story takes place about 1 year earlier.
That reminds me of the "Kelvin timeline" Star Trek movies (starting in 2009), where the basic idea was to keep the existing characters but re-cast them with younger actors. I wonder whether this was originally pitched as a TV series, before it became a book.
There are some reboots where I think that I'm no longer in the target audience. For instance, I recently watched the Smurfs movie from 2025 (where the main selling point seemed to be "Rihanna is Smurfette"). I wasn't very impressed, but it's a kids' movie and so the real question is whether it appeals to modern kids; the "middle aged blokes" demographic is irrelevant.
By contrast, I think that this book is very much aimed at the existing fanbase, and I fall squarely into that category: I started watching the TV series round about season 3 or 4, then caught up on the early series in repeats. I've watched every episode since, and I've bought all the previous tie-in books (as well as Rob Grant's other novels). I bought this book a couple of days after it was published, and read it cover to cover in a single evening, so it definitely held my attention.
The TV series was a comedy, and the early episodes had a lot of genuinely funny scenes. By contrast, I don't think there was anything in this book that made me laugh. There's a light-hearted tone, and the bickering feels familiar (e.g. people referring to each other as "gimboids"), so I'd describe it as comfortable comedy that made me smile.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to be aware of. In this case, I'm already invested in the characters, and I'm happy to focus on the plot. Most of this is new (rather than adaptations of TV episodes), although there are a few bits that will feel familiar, e.g. .
The early episodes of Red Dwarf were very much a boys club, i.e. all the characters were male. Kristine Kochanski popped up a couple of times, but she was mainly referred to as Lister's ex-girlfriend. The first two novels did a slightly better job of fleshing out her character, but she mainly stayed "offscreen". Similarly, Backwards wrote her out before the novel started. She had a bigger role in Last Human, but that book adapted plots from TV episodes that she hadn't been in, so she was given lines that were originally spoken by other characters, which made her characterisation a bit of a mess.
This book has 3 prominent female characters: Kochanski, Themis Du Plessis, and Ingrid Byle. That's a nice change. The book establishes that this version of Kochanski is from Yorkshire, and I assume that's a way of "splitting the difference" between the 2 actors who portrayed her: CP Grogan had a Scottish accent, and Chloe Annett had a southern (home counties) accent. Interestingly, the book never describes her physical appearance; there are comments about what she's wearing (e.g. a hoodie or a dressing gown) but not about her body. So, Rob Grant doesn't fall into the cliched pattern of "male writer lusting after female character".
Despite my grumbles, I did like the book. When all's said and done, it was nice to spend time with these characters again.
"Three million and thirty-nine years ago. And one universe to the side ..."
The premise of the TV series was that Lister got frozen in stasis for 3 million years. This book was published in 2026, so 39 years ago was 1987. The first episode was broadcast in Feb 1998, so the idea is that this story takes place about 1 year earlier.
That reminds me of the "Kelvin timeline" Star Trek movies (starting in 2009), where the basic idea was to keep the existing characters but re-cast them with younger actors. I wonder whether this was originally pitched as a TV series, before it became a book.
There are some reboots where I think that I'm no longer in the target audience. For instance, I recently watched the Smurfs movie from 2025 (where the main selling point seemed to be "Rihanna is Smurfette"). I wasn't very impressed, but it's a kids' movie and so the real question is whether it appeals to modern kids; the "middle aged blokes" demographic is irrelevant.
By contrast, I think that this book is very much aimed at the existing fanbase, and I fall squarely into that category: I started watching the TV series round about season 3 or 4, then caught up on the early series in repeats. I've watched every episode since, and I've bought all the previous tie-in books (as well as Rob Grant's other novels). I bought this book a couple of days after it was published, and read it cover to cover in a single evening, so it definitely held my attention.
The TV series was a comedy, and the early episodes had a lot of genuinely funny scenes. By contrast, I don't think there was anything in this book that made me laugh. There's a light-hearted tone, and the bickering feels familiar (e.g. people referring to each other as "gimboids"), so I'd describe it as comfortable comedy that made me smile.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to be aware of. In this case, I'm already invested in the characters, and I'm happy to focus on the plot. Most of this is new (rather than adaptations of TV episodes), although there are a few bits that will feel familiar, e.g. .
The early episodes of Red Dwarf were very much a boys club, i.e. all the characters were male. Kristine Kochanski popped up a couple of times, but she was mainly referred to as Lister's ex-girlfriend. The first two novels did a slightly better job of fleshing out her character, but she mainly stayed "offscreen". Similarly, Backwards wrote her out before the novel started. She had a bigger role in Last Human, but that book adapted plots from TV episodes that she hadn't been in, so she was given lines that were originally spoken by other characters, which made her characterisation a bit of a mess.
This book has 3 prominent female characters: Kochanski, Themis Du Plessis, and Ingrid Byle. That's a nice change. The book establishes that this version of Kochanski is from Yorkshire, and I assume that's a way of "splitting the difference" between the 2 actors who portrayed her: CP Grogan had a Scottish accent, and Chloe Annett had a southern (home counties) accent. Interestingly, the book never describes her physical appearance; there are comments about what she's wearing (e.g. a hoodie or a dressing gown) but not about her body. So, Rob Grant doesn't fall into the cliched pattern of "male writer lusting after female character".
Despite my grumbles, I did like the book. When all's said and done, it was nice to spend time with these characters again.
July 23, 2026
Rob grant and Doug naylor sadly had a falling out years ago, and despite all the legal issues, finally sorted things out enough to get another red dwarf book. Back in the 90s they both had a try - there was Doug’s last human - a much more unique and original story (which I liked better) and backwards by Rob, which stayed in the similar vibe of the tv show. No doubt people enjoyed that one more.
While Doug continues with the show, Rob decided to make a prequel - or is it? Not long starting the book there’s little differences that pop up. You know Rob knows these characters and it doesn’t take long to figure out this is a parallel universe. Enough the same but still different.
I think modern technology gives this future setting a much more interesting take - from human body modification to dna resequencing - this universe is far more out there compared to the tv show. There’s no introduction between lister and rimmer - that’s already happened before - but more a shore leave adventure on one of saturns moons that will change their lives forever. Plus kochanski is no longer just “listers ex”, she gets her own story which ties into lister and rimmers and nearly steals the book.
Probably due to legal issues, everything in this book is original. There’s no bits taken from episodes, and I think that’s good. Rob’s very creative and I like the ideas. I feel the world and the ship and all its people pretty quickly and Rob’s writing style is easy to get into. It’s a fun rollicking yarn you just smile and go along for the ride.
The issues? Well, probably the sad death of Rob himself. The last section seems unusually rushed, you get to a certain point and it could have gone on for ages with the conclusion. I can’t say yes or no but I feel that he may have passed away during the end stages and the co writer finished it off. It’s still a decent ending, but it could have been more. Plus the book ends on a big “more adventures to come!” That we will sadly never see.
Worth a read, but out of all of the books, last human is still my fave.
While Doug continues with the show, Rob decided to make a prequel - or is it? Not long starting the book there’s little differences that pop up. You know Rob knows these characters and it doesn’t take long to figure out this is a parallel universe. Enough the same but still different.
I think modern technology gives this future setting a much more interesting take - from human body modification to dna resequencing - this universe is far more out there compared to the tv show. There’s no introduction between lister and rimmer - that’s already happened before - but more a shore leave adventure on one of saturns moons that will change their lives forever. Plus kochanski is no longer just “listers ex”, she gets her own story which ties into lister and rimmers and nearly steals the book.
Probably due to legal issues, everything in this book is original. There’s no bits taken from episodes, and I think that’s good. Rob’s very creative and I like the ideas. I feel the world and the ship and all its people pretty quickly and Rob’s writing style is easy to get into. It’s a fun rollicking yarn you just smile and go along for the ride.
The issues? Well, probably the sad death of Rob himself. The last section seems unusually rushed, you get to a certain point and it could have gone on for ages with the conclusion. I can’t say yes or no but I feel that he may have passed away during the end stages and the co writer finished it off. It’s still a decent ending, but it could have been more. Plus the book ends on a big “more adventures to come!” That we will sadly never see.
Worth a read, but out of all of the books, last human is still my fave.
July 24, 2026
Spoiler Free
After nearly three decades of dreariness and disappointment with the franchise, "Titan" nails exactly what I loved in early Red Dwarf when it was still a grubby, lo-fi character-led thing that just happened to take place in a science fiction universe. It added more meat to the bones of characters we knew before - and ones we just met - and makes them all fully realised in a comic prequel that becomes equal parts crime thriller and buddy comedy.
As you can tell, I loved this and with Rob Grant's death it makes me sad the story might stop here, although Andrew Marshall's addition to the world of the large rouge one should not be overlooked. Fans of "2 Point 4 Children" will remember how good he was at tricksy yet satisfying plotting and there are some great surprises and turns in here.
Despite my apprehension, Chris Barrie's narration on the audiobook is like an old friend so I recommend it hugely as he cycles through his full array of voices. Although I'm sure the Esperanto version is coming any day now...
After nearly three decades of dreariness and disappointment with the franchise, "Titan" nails exactly what I loved in early Red Dwarf when it was still a grubby, lo-fi character-led thing that just happened to take place in a science fiction universe. It added more meat to the bones of characters we knew before - and ones we just met - and makes them all fully realised in a comic prequel that becomes equal parts crime thriller and buddy comedy.
As you can tell, I loved this and with Rob Grant's death it makes me sad the story might stop here, although Andrew Marshall's addition to the world of the large rouge one should not be overlooked. Fans of "2 Point 4 Children" will remember how good he was at tricksy yet satisfying plotting and there are some great surprises and turns in here.
Despite my apprehension, Chris Barrie's narration on the audiobook is like an old friend so I recommend it hugely as he cycles through his full array of voices. Although I'm sure the Esperanto version is coming any day now...
Review of advance copy received from Author
I had the pleasure of reading an early edition of this, and as I lifelong fan I was not disappointed. No spoilers from me but Red Dwarf fans are in for a treat.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I can’t really review this now - just know that it’s funny but also kind of broke my shipper heart a little, and now I need to go rewatch The Promised Land and cry.
July 19, 2026
Mostly liked it but disliked part of the plot towards the end which I can't reveal because of spoilers.
July 23, 2026
Rob Grant does a grand job as always!
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