A. Bertram Chandler's John Grimes Saga Books

The John Grimes books, by A. Bertram Chandler are great fun, and were very well regarded back in the day. They are well worth exploring, and while they are light and perhaps without speculative or thoughtful depth compared with some SF, they are very inventive and enjoyable space opera. The reading order of the original volumes are shown below. Baen have recently published them all in 4-book omnibus editions.

1.    The Road to the Rim, 1967
2.    To Prime The Pump, 1971
3.    The Hard Way Up, 1972 - short story collection
4.    The Broken Cycle, 1975
           Books 1-4 collected in Baen omnibus I  To the Galactic Rim

5.    False Fatherland (aka Spartan Planet), 1968
6.    The Inheritors, 1972
7.    The Big Black Mark, 1975
8.    The Far Traveller, 1977
           Books 5-8 collected in Baen omnibus II  First Command

9.    Star Courier, 1977
10.  To Keep The Ship, 1978
11.  Matilda's Stepchildren, 1979
12.  Star Loot, 1980
           Books 9-12 collected in Baen omnibus III  G alactic Courier

13.  The Anarch Lords, 1981
14.  The Last Amazon, 1984
15.  The Wild Ones, 1984
16.  Catch the Star Winds, 1969
           Books 13-16 and additional short stories collected in Baen omnibus IV  Ride the Star Winds

17.  Into the Alternate Universe, 1964
18.  Contraband from Other Space, 1967 
19.  The Rim Gods, 1969 - short story collection
20.  Alternate Orbits, 1971 - short story collection
           Books 17-20 and additional short stories collected in Baen omnibus V  Upon a Sea of Stars

21.  The Gateway to Never, 1972
22.  The Dark Dimensions, 1971
23.  The Way Back, 1976
           Books 21-23 and additional short stories collected in Baen omnibus VI  Gateway to Never