'Commander John Grimes, Federation Survey Service, should have been happy but he was not.' Although recently promoted, much to his surprise, Grimes finds himself consigned once again to being captain of a non-war ship. It doesn't help that his new vessel, Discovery (another Census ship) is a badly neglected rust-bucket. Worse still is the crew - a bunch of malcontents comprising the worse the Survey Service has to offer.
Before long a mutinous atmosphere begins to pervade the ship, with the situation spiraling downhill after Grimes is forced to cite the leader of the ship's marines, Major 'Mad' Swinton with the court-martial offence of murdering citizens from another planet. Grime's own misgivings about the voyage also manifest themselves through snatches of memory relating to the 'Wild Colonial Boy' and the ill-fated Bounty.
When the Commander and a few of his faithful crew are eventually dispatched into space aboard a tiny escape craft, he begins to understand how Captain William Bligh must have felt. Not only about the big black mark against his service record, but also about surviving against impossible odds.
Having finished The Way Back, his follow-up to The Dark Dimensions, Chandler considers his next project. Topics include an earlier Rim Worlds novel, The Big Black Mark, and the lack of authenticity in many stories and films either set at sea or which use sea settings within the plot. In offering his opinion on the significant differences between the Poseidon Adventure novel and its film adaptation, along with Lawrence of Arabia (film), Chandler suggests that only authors of the calibre of Conrad and C. S. Forester were capable of writing truly authentic seafaring stories.
Having finished The Way Back, his follow-up to The Dark Dimensions, Chandler considers his next project. Topics include an earlier Rim Worlds novel, The Big Black Mark, and the lack of authenticity in many stories and films either set at sea or which use sea settings within the plot. In offering his opinion on the significant differences between the Poseidon Adventure novel and its film adaptation, along with Lawrence of Arabia (film), Chandler suggests that only authors of the calibre of Conrad and C. S. Forester were capable of writing truly authentic seafaring stories.
