The Rim of Space (Commander Grimes, #2) by A. Bertram Chandler

The Rim of Space (Commander Grimes, #2) Reviews

• 
  Mark

  A (Arthur) Bertram Chandler is a name that has pretty much disappeared from contemporary SF history, although in the 1950’s and 60’s he was an extremely popular author. Baen Books have recently begun to release his John Grimes novels in omnibus editions, although his most famous stories are those from The Rim World.
  
  The Rim of Space is the first of these. Admittedly rather short, they are great fun, if a little dated.
  
  They are very much based on Chandler's life at sea, (not too surprisingly, as Chandler’s own background was that of a seaman), and cover the issues caused by long distance travel, the loneliness of the seaman space-traveller, the monotony of the different ports relieved only by the fleeting relationships he (or she) has from port to port.
  
  If all of this sounds a little like ‘the Titanic in space’, to some extent you’d be right: Derek Calver, recently disembarked from the Galactic equivalent of the UK Royal Navy, ups and joins the rather less rigid Rim Runners, a space version of the UK Merchant Navy, looking for adventure. Here, as part of the crew of the Lorn Lady, Calver finds himself one of a ragtag bunch. Captain Engels is an old Spacer, as creaky as his spaceship. There’s also Levine, a Psionic Radio officer; Arlen, the only woman on the ship, a rather remote personality; Bendix the Interstellar Drive Engineer; Renault, the Rocket King; Brentano in charge of Electronic Radio; Maclean the Purser; and Old Doc Malone, the Bones of the operation.
  
  Once the key characters are set up (admittedly rather sketchily on the most part) the book focuses on two of them. It’s not long before we find Calver quickly involved with ‘Calamity Jane’ Arlen and saving her from a hostage situation on the planet Tharn. Calver himself is held as a hostage by spies determined to work against the Federation on Grollor and also involved in a dalliance with espionage operative Sonya Verrill. He then meets lizard-like dinosaur aliens with a liking of tea on Stree to then endure a hurricane whilst having repairs on the marine planet of Mellise. Finally, the Lorn Lady and its crew have a challenge saving the spaceliner Thermopylae off the planet Eblis out on the Rim. It’s all good pulp stuff, and all rather 1950’s British Colonial, in its quaintly old-fashioned manner.
  
  On the not so good front, the reader should be warned that the book has typical 1950’s values towards women, although not as explicit as some books of that time. There are times when the only female of the crew goes off to make coffee and sandwiches for the rest of the crew on the bridge. There’s even a bit of slapping going on – nothing sexual, but some rather unfortunate rough handling of the female natives and the odd slap to and from women. (I‘m not condoning this, btw, but it would be wrong of me not to point it out.) These are rather typical of 1950’s & 60’s SF, but some readers may find such stereotypes rather irritating.
  
  Whilst the general plot is typical pulp, as ever on these things, though, it’s the comments along the way that fill out this tale. There’s death, exciting adventure and a fair degree of contemplation over the result of bringing trinkets to natives, nearly a decade before the evolution of Star Trek’s Prime Directive. Life out on the edge of the galaxy, at the Rim, is quite odd and the crew’s encounter with a ‘Rim Ghost’ is quite memorable, suggesting that life out on the Rim may be subject to alternate variations – a theme Chandler was to return to in later stories.
  
  This was a book that rose above its rather low expectations. Expecting fast-paced, low quality pulp fiction, I was surprised how contemplative and well thought out the book was. It’s a great read, which, although typically 1950’s pulp and thus unlikely to blaze a trail through SF fiction, is entertaining enough to hold interest and make me want me to read more. Surprisingly reminiscent of early Poul Anderson for its literacy and often melancholic mood, this is an old gem that’s worth a read.
• 
  Philip

  Classic Space Opera, with very much a transposed nautical theme (as much as STAR TREK is Horatio Hornblower with photon torpedoes...). Worth reading to understand from whence sprung SF (much of which employs similar tropes in a slightly shame-faced paean to the genre) and at only 130 odd pages a slim enough volume requiring no great commitment of whatever remains of your lifespan. Enough critical smarts - it's a jolly good read requiring no great intellectual input to heartily enjoy!
• 
  Kevin

  Most of A. Bertram Chandler's science fiction takes place within his "Rim Worlds" universe. Most Rim Worlds stories feature John Grimes, as he progresses through a brief career with the Federation and then the Rim Runners, and finally with the Rim Worlds Navy after they break from the Federation. The Rim of Space takes place Rim Worlds as they prepare to leave the Federation, but the main character is Derek Calver -- otherwise, the storyline is pretty familiar "Rim Worlds" material.
  
  I loved the Rim Worlds stories in the 60s, in my early teen years, and I still enjoy them. The sense of adventure and discovery holds up, but now there are other aspects of the stories that make them interesting. In the 60s as many people accepted the Steady State theory of the universe as the Big Bang, and Chandlers' Rim Worlds are definitely set in a Steady State universe -- there is the constant threat that a new star system will be made of anti-matter. It's also fascinating to see what the far future looked like back then. Computers were occasionally mentioned in reference to the power plants and navigational systems, but reports were still typed out on typewriters, music was played on phonographs or tape players, spaceports had public hard-wired telephone booths, etc. It's more telling of our (recent) past than our far future.
  
  The story itself consists of several distinct "episodes." There are encounters with spies from a suspicious Federation central government, entanglements with native populations involved in civil wars, etc. It's a good book, but doesn't really add anything new to the Rim Worlds story arc.
  
  I'd say this is best for Rim World completists -- but they're better off with the original Avalon edition. This Ace edition had two chapters cut so that it would fit in the "Ace Double" format.
• 
  Shannon Lewis

  
  Just loved this book - good old fashion star trader tale
• 
  Roddy Williams

  'FROM THE OUTER REACHES OF THE RIM WORLDS – INTO THE UNKNOWN
  
  When Derek Calver touched down on Lorn, industrial hub of the Rim Worlds, he was determined to join the Rim Runners, to explore the desolate Rim planets.
  
  So it was that Calver joined the crew of Lorn Lady and set forth for Mellise, inhabited by a race of intelligent amphibians; for Groller, where the natives just qualified as humanoids and had the beginnings of space travel; for Stree with its tea-loving philosophical lizards; and Tharn, home of a pre-industrial civilisation. And as Calver journeyed to the edge of the Rim he encountered the lure of the life beyond, the warped unknown infinity ‘Outside’.'
  
  
  Derek is an unlikely name for a hero of the galactic rim, but Derek Calver is indeed the name of the central character in the first of Chandler’s Rim World series.
  The Rim Worlds are attempting to break away from the Centralist grip of The Federation which rules the worlds of the inner galaxy. The settled human worlds of the Rim are bleak, industrial frontier settlements, but beyond these lie other worlds; alien worlds where traders can establish agreements with other races before the Federation do.
  Chandler, a British born Australian writer, produces a readable if episodic product in which the embittered Calver, once an officer in the Federation Fleet, has signed up with one of the Rim Runners, an act equivalent, one imagines, to joining the French Foreign Legion. Having helped to destabilise an anachronistic feudal system (and in the process rescuing his love interest from the dungeons of an alien castle) Calver travels on in the ‘Lorn Lady’ quickly rising through the ranks (as superiors conveniently die) to become Captain of the Ship.
  It’s a very cosy and somewhat juvenile book and is interesting in that it avoids the extreme polarisation of the sexes and hyper-masculinity of some of the US novels of the time. It’s also interesting to note that at least one of the alien races is not only benign (None of the alien races are overtly hostile to Humanity) but is scientifically and philosophically far in advance of our culture.
  Having said that however, the aliens are somewhat simplistic and can be considered no more than ‘Johnny Foreigners’ appearing in the form of tea-drinking lizards and green-skinned warlords.
  One of the more interesting and surreal aspects of the novel is the Psionic Radio Officer, Leaven, who amplifies his telepathic powers by the use of the living brain tissue of a dog, somehow kept alive in a glass container.
• 
  Karen-Leigh

  Not much Grimes. This is a Calver and Calamity Jane book. It takes place after Grimes discovers the Eastern circuit on the Faraway Quest and before he married Sonya. They lose their ship saving the Thermopylae and are grounded.
• 
  David

  It's a nice old SF light reading. So, maybe a bit more than 3 stars. Not noteworthy. A bit of a "travelogue" between a few planets.
• 
  Foxtower

  A bit corney but entertaining!
• 
  SciFiOne

  Ace Double Novel F133
  grade C
• 
  Brenda

  Part one of Derek Calver story, which if you have read the entire John Grimes series, you already know part of the story. Here's your chance to see it from a POV other than Grimes.