Cap Kennedy Books In Order

Publication Order of Cap Kennedy Books

Cap Kennedy is a series of space opera books by an English author of fantasy, western, and science fiction books, E.C. Tubb under the penname Gregory Kern. The series is written in a similar style of Perry Rhodan. Rhodan is the hero of a German Sci-Fi series which has been in publication since 1961.
The series was published under the title F.A.T.E in the United Kingdom where only the first six novels have ever been published. The main character is Captain Kennedy, with the license to act as a judge and executioner and with the power to intercede any situation which threatens the peace and tranquility of Terran Sphere, an interstellar space federation headquartered on Earth. Independently wealthy and working from his personal spaceship known as the Mordain, Kennedy is often assisted on his assignments by scientist Jarl Luden, engineer Penza Saratov, and an alien navigator and a humanoid chameleon who insists that he’s a descendant of the Zheltyana, an ancient race which dominated the space before vanishing in the thin air without a trace.

The discovery of strange artifacts left behind by the dominant race Zheltyana in different worlds often provided the basis of stories in this series. According to Lester del Rey, one of the American famous sci-fi authors, Captain Kennedy series avoided the primitiveness and the basic formula that always spoiled many other similar series. Tubb authored all 17 Captain Kennedy novels under the penname, Gregory Kern. All these novels formed the basis of the Commander Scott series which included all Cap Kennedy books as well as several other books written under pennames by different German authors.

Galaxy of the Lost

Galaxy of the Lost is the first book in Cap Kennedy series by Gregory Kern. The book was first published in the 1970s and bears some similarity with Doc Savage, a fictional character who originally appeared in American pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Originally, Cap Kennedy series books were first published under the penname Gregory Kern, but the books are now published under the writer’s real name, E.C. Tubb. The avid science fiction readers will quickly recognize Tubb as the writer who wrote Dumarest of Terra book, which became popular in the pop culture. As weird as it might seem, Tubb was an English author, but there were more Cap Kennedy books published in the United States than in Britain.

The Dumarest books are hard-edged stories, while The Cap Kennedy books are meant and highly successful as that. Cap Kennedy swaggers between stories like a mix of James Bond and Doc Savage. Savage would have never swaggered but possess the physical prowess and intelligence that Bond lacks, and so he is a mash-up. Kennedy also has a group that echoes Doc’s team to some extent.

Galaxy of the Lost kicks off interestingly enough, with ships disappearing into some space anomaly and then breaks down into a trek across a dangerous world. Captain Kennedy goes undercover on one of the ships travelling through the Bermuda Triangle of space and then the ship disappears. Gregory Kern has created a fictional world that’s both interesting and challenging to the reader and will suck you in the right from the first page. The characters both the main and the supporting ones are detailed and richly crafted to resonate even with the average reader. Overall this is a quick fun read and an interesting introduction to pulp-style science fiction.

F.A.T.E. No. 2: Slave Ship from Sergan

The second book in the series is the story about humans versus inhuman. To the reptilian mind, especially the intelligent reptiles of planets like Obrac and Sergan, the lives of other people where nothing compared to their need of status. On the other hand, to the feline mind more so the knowledgeable advisor of the master of Sergan, the cries of others was not only of no consequences and they could be even a source of joy.

So when these two types of inhuman minds join together and defy Terran orders against interplanetary abductions, human slavery, and space hijacking, it becomes a case of a well trained secret agent because Earth couldn’t accommodate a showdown involving more than a single alien species at a time. The undercover agent was Cap Kennedy. He goes undercover to solve a mystery and fights his way through very tough spots to get to the bottom of the matter. Gregory Kern does a fantastic job in capturing vivid details of the atmosphere of the noir space opera, and these two genres make for a perfect combination. Part of the noir genre in the story is the mystery that the main character is trying to solve. While the reader is quite confident that the main character will emerge a winner, the author does give the reader an impression that the protagonist is in danger.

Monster of Metelaze

Monster of Metelaze is the third book in the series. As the world is trying to escape from the Galactic Empire, Kennedy and his team embark on their investigative journey to find out what’s happening. The story is narrated from different perspectives, mainly through the different main characters, and this ensures parallel storylines that cross in between and coincide at the end.

This also provides a lot of action and a very quick story but requires that you keep up with your thoughts. Otherwise, you will miss one or more points of interest, and you will be further down the story with a disturbing hole in your knowledge so that you have to scroll back and reread a piece. The final solution at the end does leave a number of questions that might be answered in a different story in another world. Well, it’s never enough. Overall this is a well-crafted space opera that provides the reader with a rich and detailed background and back story of Kennedy’s crew which is an excellent addition to the story. If you’ve enjoyed space opera books with plenty of human and inhuman interactions as well action plenty of action, Cap Kennedy series is highly recommended.