John Grimes: Lieutenant of the Survey Service

This is the first book from the SFBC John Grimes collections, and includes 5 separate "stories", written around the time that Star Trek (The Original Series) first appeared on television, and readers will notice a lot of similarities between the two. However, in many ways John Grimes' universe is more diverse than James Kirk's, with stranger worlds and faster women. *** The Road to the Rim - Decent kick off to the series... Grimes is an Ensign, just out of the Federation Survey Service Academy. ** To Prime the Pump - Not a boring read, but I found the final outcome to be too unbelievable... also, some of the predictions of technology from this story written in the very early 70's are somewhat feeble. ***** The Hard Way Up - This is actually a collection of related short stories that was published in the late 60's/early 70's. Excellent reading, very entertaining. **** Spartan Planet - Grimes is now a Lt. Cmdr in the Survey Service, and his adventures continue in this well-written story about a seemingly all-male culture that has developed on this lost colony. ***** The Inheritors - More top notch stuff... written in 1972, and the predicted technology doesn't seem as feeble as that from the earliest stories. This is another "lost colony" story, and includes cat-like humans and provides and introduction to Grime's arch-enemy Drongo Kane.