Alien Worlds

John Grimes first appeared in print as long ago as 1959; he was a comparatively minor character in a Novelette, "To Run the Rim", published in Astounding Science Fiction. A Bertram Chandler came to realise that Grimes was a popular character, and so he wrote Into the Alternate Universe (Ace Books, 1964 and 1979), in which Grimes has his own novel to play around in. But Grimes had no past, and so, in The Road to the Rim (Ace Books, 1967 and 1978), the story was told of Grimes' first deep space voyage as a newly commisioned Ensign in the Federation Survey Service. In The Big Black Mark (Daw Books, 1975 and 1978) - Chandler's personal favourite - Grimes was captain of FSS Discovery, when his crew mutinied. He resigned his commission rather than face a court-martial, and entered the employ of the Baroness Michelle d'Estang of El Dorado as Captain of her space yacht in The Far Traveller (Robert Hale, 1978, and Daw Books, 1979). Matilda's Stepchildren is the final book in the "Star Courier" Series.