The Brain & Brawn Ship Books in Order: How to read Anne McCaffrey’s series?
Created by sci-fi/fantasy writer Anne McCaffrey, The Brain & Brawn Ship book – also known as “The Ship Who…“, tells the various adventures of brainships, meaning human beings with severe birth defects that are placed in self-contained life-support shells in which they will spend their entire lives, and are trained to become the “brain” of a starship. Most brainships are partnered with humans, dubbed as “brawns.”
Anne McCaffrey wrote five short stories, published between 1961 to 1969, and later collected in the first book of the series. During the ’90s, the series was revived, and she wrote the other novels in collaboration with four co-authors, two of whom each later completed another novel in the series alone. Also, The Brain and Brawn ship series takes place in the same universe as the Crystal Singer books.
How to read The Brain & Brawn Ship Books in Order?
- The Ship Who Sang – A short story collection. Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved-saved to be schooled, programed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner-male or female-to share her exhilarating escapades in space!
- Honeymoon – Short story and follow-up to the story of Helva and Niall. reprinted in Get Off the Unicorn.
- The Ship Who Returned – Novella. Published in Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction and Federations.
- PartnerShip – with Margaret Ball. Nancia, a new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds and the brain of one of the most advanced stellar ships, finds her innocent vision of human nature shattered when she is paired up with brutish partner Forister.
- The Ship Who Searched – with Mercedes Lackey. Tia Cade is a headstrong, smart, and very normal girl until she contracts a terrible illness that leaves her with the bare semblance of life. Tia’s only hope: to become the oldest person ever to train to be one of the legendary star travelers, the brainships. But now that Tia is free of her ravaged body, there still remains the task of finding the right partner to be her Brawn, the human element every brainship requires.
- The City Who Fought – with S. M. Stirling. The arrival of an out-of-control refugee ship pursued by space barbarians wakes Simeon, a “shellperson” attached to a mining station, out of his boredom and involves him in a fight for the ship’s survival.
- The Ship Who Won – with Jody Lynn Nye. Searching the galaxy for intelligent life, brainship Carialle and her Brawn, Keff, believe that they have found a world populated by nice, polite, fuzzy little aliens but discover that nothing there is as it seems.
- The Ship Errant – by Jody Lynn Nye. Targeted by a humorless Inspector General who believes she has been damaged by a past trauma, brainship Carialle finds support from her brawn partner Keff and the globe-frog race they discovered together.
- The Ship Avenged – by S. M. Stirling. A sequel to The City Who Fough. Joat, one of the youngest commercial ship owners in space, is commissioned to transport a deadly breakout disease by Belazair of the Kolnari.
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