AustLit
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Contents
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The Road to the Rim,
single work
novella
Ensign John Grimes of the Federation Survey Service is fresh out of the Academy and as green as they come. After boarding the Interstellar Transport Commission's merchant spaceship Delta Orionis as a passenger bound for deep space, Grimes finds himself involved, reluctantly, in salvaging another ship which has been attacked by space pirates. It doesn't help that his decision-making process has been influenced by the more than attractive Jane Pentecost (and Grimes is as green with women as his he is as a spaceman), or as a consequence of having been put under guard as a mutineer. As much as the odds will be stacked against him, Grimes soon begins to earn his infamous reputation as a 'lucky bastard.'
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To Prime the Pump,
single work
novel
By now a Lieutenant in the Federation Survey Service, Grimes, finds himself serving aboard the cruiser Aries bound for the planet El Dorado. Abundantly wealthy, and inhabited only by the super-rich and their android servants, the population nevertheless has an increasingly urgent problem. The men are infertile, cause unknown, and the women want someone to do something about it. After crash-landing the advance party rocket boat on a lake, Grimes meets the beautiful but haughty Princess Marlene von Stolzberg. Once again out of his depths Grimes will need every ounce of his famous luck to get him back in the good books and hopefully salvage his career prospects.
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The Broken Cycle,
single work
novel
science fiction
Newly promoted to Lieutenant Commander, John Grimes find himself assisting sky marshall Una Freeman in the attempted recovery of Delta Geminorum. Things go haywire, however, when they find temselves lost in the colossal alien spacecraft. Complicating matters is there discovery that the universe they thought they were in is not their own but an alternate and that they've been captured by the omnipotent force of that entire other cosmos. Grimes and the comely policewoman soon find out theat they have been selected as the only inhabitants of a Garden of Eden. But there were two serpents in this one—both of them bicycles!'
[Source: www.baenbooks.com] -
The Inheritors,
single work
novel
'Drongo Kane never broke the law.... He was a cunning, ruthless opportunist who paid when he had to and stole when he could -- but never when there was the slightest chance of getting caught. That's what had John Grimes worried: here was Kane directly under the watchful eyes -- and guns -- of a Federation Survey vessel, openly engaging in kidnapping and trafficking in human flesh! Despite the fact that the beautiful inhabitants of this Lost Colony faced a fate worse than death, a more cautious -- or less gallant -- officer would do nothing -- secure in the knowledge that regardless of appearances there would be some loophole that placed the Law squarely on Kane's side. But Grimes, being Grimes, would have to act -- knowing full well that to "interfere with a merchantman on her lawful occasions" meant a blasted career... and knowing too that Drongo Kane never broke the law..'
[Source: www.fictionwise.com] -
The Big Black Mark,
single work
novella
'Commander John Grimes, Federation Survey Service, should have been happy but he was not.' Although recently promoted, much to his surprise, Grimes finds himself consigned once again to being captain of a non-war ship. It doesn't help that his new vessel, Discovery (another Census ship) is a badly neglected rust-bucket. Worse still is the crew - a bunch of malcontents comprising the worse the Survey Service has to offer.
Before long a mutinous atmosphere begins to pervade the ship, with the situation spiraling downhill after Grimes is forced to cite the leader of the ship's marines, Major 'Mad' Swinton with the court-martial offence of murdering citizens from another planet. Grime's own misgivings about the voyage also manifest themselves through snatches of memory relating to the 'Wild Colonial Boy' and the ill-fated Bounty.
When the Commander and a few of his faithful crew are eventually dispatched into space aboard a tiny escape craft, he begins to understand how Captain William Bligh must have felt. Not only about the big black mark against his service record, but also about surviving against impossible odds.
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Spartan Planet,
single work
novel
science fiction
Lt Commander Grimes arrives on the forgotten planet Sparta where humans had long ago settled and have since modelled their society on the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Indeed, Sparta, originally an early Federation colony, has been out of touch for so long the people have forgotten they’re a colony. Over time a civilisation based on war and violence and crude pleasures has developed. It is also a planet where human beings (all men) are produced by birth machines and women are unknown.
The story is told from the perspective of Brasidus, one of the small planet's policemen. Never having laid eyes on a woman, or imagined that such strange beings exist, he and most other residents of the planet Sparta think that the female crew of Grime's ship, including Margaret Lazenby (Grime's sometimes sex partner) are deformed men, and they can’t fathom what the peculiar bumps on their chests are.
Although Grimes and his crew have the best intentions during their stay on the planet they eventually manage to turn the whole society on its head. Horrific events unfurl and truths become known, setting in motion changes that have a profound effect on the Spartan society.
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The Hard Way Up,
selected work
short story
science fiction
A short story collection comprising: 'With Good Intentions,' 'The Subtracter' (aka 'The Minus Effect'), 'The Tin Messiah' (aka 'The Soul Machine'), 'The Sleeping Beauty,' 'The Wandering Buoy,' 'The Mountain Movers' and 'What You Know.' The collection was first published in 1972 as one half of an Ace Doubles edition (with Robert Lory's The Veiled World).
