Into the Alternate Universe / Contraband from Otherspace by A. Bertram Chandler


Into the Alternate Universe / Contraband from Otherspace
Title : Into the Alternate Universe / Contraband from Otherspace
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0441371094
ISBN-10 : 9780441371099
Language : English
Format Type : Mass Market Paperback
Number of Pages : 309
Publication : First published January 1, 1964

Into the Alternate Universe (1964)Others called their expedition a "wild goose chase." But for Space Commodore John Grimes and the beautiful Sonya Verrill who had initiated the project, it was strictly scientific research. Their trip along the rim of the galaxy in search of two men - two dead men - was also an investigation of the long-puzzling phenomenon of the Rim Ghosts. They would do this by penetrating into alternate universes.There was only one real problem involved in this study - how to report its results. For once the break-through to an alternate world was achieved, there was no known way of getting out...Contraband From Otherspace (1967)Out there, along the outer edge of the galaxy, many strange things can happen, for there time and space undergo strange distortions and "space ghosts" may appear where no ship ought to be.Where Commodore Grimes of the Rim Mamelute was concerned the derelict vessel, so strangely named Distriyir, was no space ghost. It was solid, it was real, and it was very disturbing. For one thing, it had been manned by desperate men and women clad in rags. For another, everything was curiously misplaced, misspelled, somehow wrong, even to the adjustment of seats as if people had tails!All too soon Grimes realized that the truth would be too dreadful to contemplate and that, whatever were the facts, he would have to act at once to blot out both the strange ship and its entire historical continuum, at whatever the cost!

Into the Alternate Universe / Contraband from Otherspace Reviews

  • Kevin

    Into the Alternate Universe -- I'm a big fan of A. Bertram Chandler, but I don't think this is one of his best books. I first read this in high school, as an original "Ace Double" in 1966, and found it a bit disjointed. On a second reading I was able to follow it better, but my impression hasn't improved much. It's okay, and worth a read if you're a fan, but things are a bit too convenient and resolve them,selves too easily (in my opinion).

    Contraband from Otherspace -- Like "Alternate Universe," this isn't one of Chandler's best. This story is another story that's more about alternate universes than about space travel and adventure. The action proceeds too neatly from point A to B to C to resolution without many setbacks, even though the characters are apparently breaking new ground and saving at least one universe from a terrible fate.

    It can be especially fun to read Chandler's Rim World stories with the benefit of 50 years or more of hindsight. His ships are on 3rd generation star drives, but they still use binoculars for observation, reports are typed up on typewriters, people use wired telephones to communicate in ports, etc. In the early 1960s the Steady State theory of the universe was still a viable alternative to the Big Bang, and Chandler's view of the universe fits much more neatly into the Steady State model. He also has some unusual ideas about anti-matter, which figure prominently in these two stories. I'm not trying to be condescending, but this really does add an "extra dimension" to these stories that added to my enjoyment.

  • Karen-Leigh

    Commodore Griimes Rim Worlds Naval Reserve on Lorn. Widower with grown childen (does not name wife or how many children). Calver in The Outsider is on his way to the Outsider. Listowel on Aerial/Flying Cloud lightjammer. Grimes and Sonya take the Faraway Quest to look for Rim Ghosts and end up trapped between dimensions where they find Earth ocean going ships, planes and people floating dead in the darkness. They find one of the early ships with people in cryovac and wake one of the Captains and with the help of one of his frozen/dreaming dowsing passengers his ship is led out of the crack in space. Grimes takes one of his dowsers onto his ship and has Mr. Mayhew his psionic officer direct the dreams and his ship also escapes but first ends up in an alternate universe because Mayhew was directing the dreamer to an idealized Lorn (this must be the universe where Captain Mitchell and his generation ship ended up) and quickly escapes and makes Mayhew do it again with another set of directions and they get back to their universe. Grimes and Sonya have paired up.

  • Norman Howe

    Into the Alternate Universe is one of the best of Chandler's Grimes novels. The Faraway Quest suffers a Manschenn drive accident and must find its way home again."Contraband from Otherspace" finds Grimes trying to change the past"," to prevent an alternate history from overwhelming his own.

  • Brenda

    Why would anyone want to travel to another dimension if getting back was not promised? I read both books, I know they did it for research and all, but I would be terrified and they were, you literally feel that.