Galactic Convoy: this second novel in Bill Baldwin's Helmsman Saga is a Military-Science-Fiction novel about intra-galactic competition and conflict. First published in 1987, it chronicles the adventures of StarSailor and extraordinary Helmsman Wilf Brim during an epoch of discord and outright war among various star-nations-within a galaxy that could be a far-future version of the one in which we live.
This special, "Director's Cut" Edition is heavily re-written, a la George Lucas' rewrite of the Star Wars Trilogy, to bring it more in line with later novels in the series, as well as existing "Director's Cut" Editions of The Helmsman, The Trophy; the five other "Director's Cut" editions to come-as well as the continuation novel now in the works: The Turning Tide.
Galactic Convoy opens as Brim-now a Lieutenant in the Imperial Fleet-is assigned to the military team monitoring the construction and outfitting of I.F.S. Defiant, first starship in a whole new class of light cruisers. Many of the characters from Brim's first ship, I.F.S. Truculent, carry over into the new adventure.
Fans of space opera and military sci-fi may enjoy this production, a hybrid narration/full-cast dramatization with sound effects in which Wilf Brim becomes the hero of the Imperial Fleet, winning the heart of a princess. Others will find the writing lackluster and adolescent. (The sex scenes seem especially sophomoric.) Steve Cumming is an enjoyable narrator (despite some mispronunciations), but the sound effects lose power when softened to allow him to be heard. Scarlett McAlister is fine as Princess Margot; the rest of the acting is disappointing. W.M. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Bill Baldwin is the author of the Best-Selling Helmsman series and Canby's Legion. He is a graduate of The Mercersburg Academy and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a B.A. in Journalism and a Master of Letters degree. He served as a Lieutenant at the U.S. Air Force Missile Test Center, Foreign Technology Division, Cape Canaveral, Florida, supporting Project Mercury as Chief of the Reports Division. Later, Baldwin served as a contractor for the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, where he contributed to as well as managed the writing group handling Astronaut public relations and technical presentations throughout the Gemini and early Apollo programs. Baldwin later worked as a Senior (lead) Presentations Writer for Burroughs Corporation (now UNISYS), and as a computer programmer at the Defense and Space Division of Burroughs.
Originally published in the 1980s, The Helmsman Saga is Bill Baldwin's epic, eight-part militaristic space opera. The series uses actual histories of World Wars I and II as template for its action-packed story and well-developed characters.
