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Med Service #3
Doctor To The Stars
2nd Pyramid Books edition.
Contents:
7 - The Grandfather's War
75 - Med Ship Man
120 - Tallien Three (aka The Hate Disease)
Contents:
7 - The Grandfather's War
75 - Med Ship Man
120 - Tallien Three (aka The Hate Disease)
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1964
3 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Murray Leinster
902 books121 followerssee also:
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 17, 2025
This is a collection of three novellas that are part of Leinster's Med Service series, the continuing adventures of Dr. Calhoun who travels the cosmos solving medical crises on many different and unique planets with only his tormal, Murgatroyd, for company. They're fun adventures, with challenging problems and clever solutions. They're among the very best in classic medical science fiction stories, right up there with Hubbard's Old Doc Methuselah, James White, and Dr. Bones McCoy. The stories include The Grandfathers' War (from a 1957 issue of Astounding SF), Med Ship Man (which originally appeared in Galaxy in 1963), and Tallien Three (which originally appeared under the title The Hate Disease in Analog in 1963, shortly after the name was changed from Astounding.) The last one was my favorite, though all three are good stories. Murgatroyd rules!
November 22, 2024
The second collection of pulp medical science fiction stories by famed author Murray Leinster gets even better with some prescient themes and ideas.
For those who are not familiar with the series, all of these stories center around lonely Dr. Calhoun, who travels the galaxy in his little ship in the name of public health. He is very much a prototype for another famous doctor in science fiction, Doctor Who, and these stories started just a few years before the debut of that program and even ran contemporaneously for a few years. Calhoun is definitely a madman in a box, albeit less manic and more stoic, but the point is that he uses his intelligence and knowledge of science rather than brawn to solve mysteries, defeat the bad guys, cure diseases, and save lives everywhere he travels. He detests violence and weapons. He was certainly a different kind of golden age hero for youngsters to admire, and if I'd been a kid when I first read these adventures, Calhoun would have definitely been one of my inspirations.
The backdrop of this literary universe is that humans have colonized the farthest reaches of the galaxy, but traveling light years still takes a long time, so the further they spread, the more isolated they get, and not all colonies are equipped with the best medical staff. The Med Service is a group of dedicated young physicians who make patrols to these outlying colonies and make house calls when needed. The world building is much more rich and complicated than that, but you get the picture.
This book consists of three stories, one of which is "Med Ship Man," and back when I was much younger, this was my first introduction to this saga when I read it in another sci-fi compilation. I already covered it a few years ago on Goodreads.
For modern audiences, the story "Tallien Three" will seem most familiar, as it involves a disease that turns people into rageful zombies with a hankering for unusual sustenance. The setup may be familiar to zombie fans, but written earlier than even the first Romero film. However, it is the solution that makes this most interesting, and serves as a warning that we do not yet know all the consequences of abandoning our natural environment for a more technological lifestyle.
"The Grandfather's War" is a lot less scary and much more childish. Literally. When the inhabitants of the planet Phaedra discover that their sun will supernova in 5 years, they send a fleet of their more robust young ones to set up a colony on another solar system. Once work in their new home is underway, the elders send even younger children to prioritize saving the new generations. This makes the teenage colonists resentful, so by the time the old folks want to come on over, they refuse. After all, THEY did all the hard work; why should they let the grown-ups take over and continue to boss them around? So Calhoun finds himself in the middle of a brewing generational war.
What makes this story really interesting is how the situation impacts the health of the new colony. Because the surrogate teenage parents are still immature, and are very busy building farms and cities, they tend to keep the really young children entertained by a constant flood of passive technological entertainments. This means the plugged-in kids start having developmental delays. They aren't getting hugs and cuddles, or physical activity, or good food, or even anyone talking to them and looking them in the eye. Murray Leinster predicts the impact of absent parenting in an age of television, smart phones, and social media on child health all through brilliant sci-fi allegory.
Overall, this has been the best of the three books of the series I've read so far. One more to go. But I do have to warn you that it is written for young adults, so don't expect the prose to knock your socks off. In fact, the writing is pretty darn clunky at times. That's all right--go with the flow. I think you'll find the ideas here quite thrilling, and will be surprised at how relevant these stories are for the 21st Century.
SCORE: Four rage zombies out of Five
For those who are not familiar with the series, all of these stories center around lonely Dr. Calhoun, who travels the galaxy in his little ship in the name of public health. He is very much a prototype for another famous doctor in science fiction, Doctor Who, and these stories started just a few years before the debut of that program and even ran contemporaneously for a few years. Calhoun is definitely a madman in a box, albeit less manic and more stoic, but the point is that he uses his intelligence and knowledge of science rather than brawn to solve mysteries, defeat the bad guys, cure diseases, and save lives everywhere he travels. He detests violence and weapons. He was certainly a different kind of golden age hero for youngsters to admire, and if I'd been a kid when I first read these adventures, Calhoun would have definitely been one of my inspirations.
The backdrop of this literary universe is that humans have colonized the farthest reaches of the galaxy, but traveling light years still takes a long time, so the further they spread, the more isolated they get, and not all colonies are equipped with the best medical staff. The Med Service is a group of dedicated young physicians who make patrols to these outlying colonies and make house calls when needed. The world building is much more rich and complicated than that, but you get the picture.
This book consists of three stories, one of which is "Med Ship Man," and back when I was much younger, this was my first introduction to this saga when I read it in another sci-fi compilation. I already covered it a few years ago on Goodreads.
For modern audiences, the story "Tallien Three" will seem most familiar, as it involves a disease that turns people into rageful zombies with a hankering for unusual sustenance. The setup may be familiar to zombie fans, but written earlier than even the first Romero film. However, it is the solution that makes this most interesting, and serves as a warning that we do not yet know all the consequences of abandoning our natural environment for a more technological lifestyle.
"The Grandfather's War" is a lot less scary and much more childish. Literally. When the inhabitants of the planet Phaedra discover that their sun will supernova in 5 years, they send a fleet of their more robust young ones to set up a colony on another solar system. Once work in their new home is underway, the elders send even younger children to prioritize saving the new generations. This makes the teenage colonists resentful, so by the time the old folks want to come on over, they refuse. After all, THEY did all the hard work; why should they let the grown-ups take over and continue to boss them around? So Calhoun finds himself in the middle of a brewing generational war.
What makes this story really interesting is how the situation impacts the health of the new colony. Because the surrogate teenage parents are still immature, and are very busy building farms and cities, they tend to keep the really young children entertained by a constant flood of passive technological entertainments. This means the plugged-in kids start having developmental delays. They aren't getting hugs and cuddles, or physical activity, or good food, or even anyone talking to them and looking them in the eye. Murray Leinster predicts the impact of absent parenting in an age of television, smart phones, and social media on child health all through brilliant sci-fi allegory.
Overall, this has been the best of the three books of the series I've read so far. One more to go. But I do have to warn you that it is written for young adults, so don't expect the prose to knock your socks off. In fact, the writing is pretty darn clunky at times. That's all right--go with the flow. I think you'll find the ideas here quite thrilling, and will be surprised at how relevant these stories are for the 21st Century.
SCORE: Four rage zombies out of Five
August 7, 2018
This collection of three thoroughly enjoyable novellas by William Fitzgerald Jenkins (aka Murray Leinster) focuses on the characters of Calhoun, from the Interstellar Medical Service, and his diminutive furry companion Murgatroyd, a tormal. Together, they travel in the medical ship, Esclipus Twenty, to perform routine planetary health inspections—but the various crises they encounter are anything but routine.
Stories include "The Grandfathers' War", "Med Ship Man", and "Tallien Three."
In responding to an emergency call for medical assistance, Calhoun and Murgatroyd find themselves caught in the middle of an interplanetary war between generations. After their sun was predicted to explode in the near future, the Phaedrans sent their children to the Canis system to begin colonizing its third world. Afterward, the elders continued to ship out children and grandchildren until the new colony become overburdened and could no longer adequately feed or care for them, resulting in an outbreak of disease—and rebellion. As Calhoun works to manufacture a cure in his med ship, he must also stop a pending invasion by the elder Phaedrans in "The Grandfathers' War."
In "Med Ship Man," Calhoun and Murgatroyd land in what appears to be an abandoned spaceport on the planet Maya and are later joined by an arrogant, wealthy businessman from an orbiting cargo vessel. As Calhoun pieces together the reason for the abrupt disappearance of the citizens of Maya City, he realizes that a technology imported from another planet might have frightened the people into abandoning their lands—and that the businessman knows more about the scheme than he's willing to admit.
While attempting to land on the planet, "Tallien Three," to perform a long overdue health inspection, Calhoun learns that an uprising is in progress committed by a growing group of mentally ill citizens called "paras." While the government works to find a vaccine for this pathogen, Calhoun learns that the planet's chief scientist might himself be a para. Can Calhoun make his way back to his ship and find a cure before he, too, succumbs to insanity?
Stories include "The Grandfathers' War", "Med Ship Man", and "Tallien Three."
In responding to an emergency call for medical assistance, Calhoun and Murgatroyd find themselves caught in the middle of an interplanetary war between generations. After their sun was predicted to explode in the near future, the Phaedrans sent their children to the Canis system to begin colonizing its third world. Afterward, the elders continued to ship out children and grandchildren until the new colony become overburdened and could no longer adequately feed or care for them, resulting in an outbreak of disease—and rebellion. As Calhoun works to manufacture a cure in his med ship, he must also stop a pending invasion by the elder Phaedrans in "The Grandfathers' War."
In "Med Ship Man," Calhoun and Murgatroyd land in what appears to be an abandoned spaceport on the planet Maya and are later joined by an arrogant, wealthy businessman from an orbiting cargo vessel. As Calhoun pieces together the reason for the abrupt disappearance of the citizens of Maya City, he realizes that a technology imported from another planet might have frightened the people into abandoning their lands—and that the businessman knows more about the scheme than he's willing to admit.
While attempting to land on the planet, "Tallien Three," to perform a long overdue health inspection, Calhoun learns that an uprising is in progress committed by a growing group of mentally ill citizens called "paras." While the government works to find a vaccine for this pathogen, Calhoun learns that the planet's chief scientist might himself be a para. Can Calhoun make his way back to his ship and find a cure before he, too, succumbs to insanity?
June 5, 2021
Fun read. In fact, after rereading my Dad's paperback, the book was lost and I had to search (pre-internet) for another. Enjoyed reading it all over again. I'm not fastidious about matching early works with today's social expectations, so I simply enjoyed the independence and humor of Calhoun, and his affection for his useful companion, Murgatroyd. I recommend for kick-back-and-enjoy scifi reading.
November 18, 2022
Doctor To The Stars is another entry into Murray Leinster's Med Service series, it consists of three short novellas: The Grandfather's War, Med Ship Man, and Tallien Three. None of these stories stand out as memorable, in fact, they probably are as formulaic as anything SF has produced.
Calhoun, the Med Ship man, and his tormal, a small furry animal with the amazing gift of having a constitution that is invulnerable to any poison. All Calhoun needs do is inject a small dose of poison and the tormal gets mildly ill and then is cured. Now his blood will hold the antidote for what is ailing whomever. Each story sends Calhoun on a routine health check to far-away planets, but each time he's met with a worldwide emergency and it's Med Ship to the rescue. The stories though different do become repetitive if read back to back.
Calhoun, the Med Ship man, and his tormal, a small furry animal with the amazing gift of having a constitution that is invulnerable to any poison. All Calhoun needs do is inject a small dose of poison and the tormal gets mildly ill and then is cured. Now his blood will hold the antidote for what is ailing whomever. Each story sends Calhoun on a routine health check to far-away planets, but each time he's met with a worldwide emergency and it's Med Ship to the rescue. The stories though different do become repetitive if read back to back.
July 18, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"I am fascinated by medical-themed science fiction. While my tendencies gravitate towards the more meta-fictional/experimental version of this theme, for example William Kotzwinkle’s Doctor Rat (1976) and Elizabeth Baines’ The Birth Machine (1983), I wanted expand my horizons by reading earlier incarnations of the subgenre.
Murray Leinster’s Doctor to the Stars (1964) gathers three stories published in the late 50s and early 60s in the Med Series sequence. As a whole, the stories are positivist, pro-peace, anti-big business, and pro-service. Our hero Calhoun, with his small [...]"
"I am fascinated by medical-themed science fiction. While my tendencies gravitate towards the more meta-fictional/experimental version of this theme, for example William Kotzwinkle’s Doctor Rat (1976) and Elizabeth Baines’ The Birth Machine (1983), I wanted expand my horizons by reading earlier incarnations of the subgenre.
Murray Leinster’s Doctor to the Stars (1964) gathers three stories published in the late 50s and early 60s in the Med Series sequence. As a whole, the stories are positivist, pro-peace, anti-big business, and pro-service. Our hero Calhoun, with his small [...]"
October 13, 2021
I frequently pick up classic SF books with low price tags when I’m browsing through the shelves of a used books store. It’s not always rewarding, but sometimes I come up with something that’s really worth reading. Having read some of Mr. Leinster’s (or maybe I should say Mr. Jenkins’) short work in the past, I hoped this would be one of those times.
Published between 1957 and 1963, the three Interstellar Medical Service stories gathered here call back to mind a much pulpier era of SF. Action and adventure with minimal plotting and less character development. It’s fairly easy to see the market he thought he was writing for: the young teenage boy market that was probably the lion’s share of his audience at the time. A lot of the short SF in this time period written for that audience was mediocre first-draft quality at best and this fits snuggly into that category to my much older eyes.
While each of the three tales presents an interesting situation, the main character is your classic square-jawed hero who never really screws anything up and is never in any real danger of things going wrong. There’s no character growth for him or anyone else in the stories and while it’s hard for me to hold the lack of female characters against most authors in the time period, I’m struggling to remember a single woman in any of these three tales with a name, much less a line. Other authors of the time at least included women now and then.
And remembering that the same general time frame gave us things like “The Last Question” and “Flowers for Algernon”, with the first of the Dragonriders of Pern coming only a couple of years later.
Leinster completists will probably want to read this and anyone with a taste for 1960s pulp, and your mileage may vary but most folks can probably give this a pass. It was okay at times, but I’m rounding up to two stars.
Published between 1957 and 1963, the three Interstellar Medical Service stories gathered here call back to mind a much pulpier era of SF. Action and adventure with minimal plotting and less character development. It’s fairly easy to see the market he thought he was writing for: the young teenage boy market that was probably the lion’s share of his audience at the time. A lot of the short SF in this time period written for that audience was mediocre first-draft quality at best and this fits snuggly into that category to my much older eyes.
While each of the three tales presents an interesting situation, the main character is your classic square-jawed hero who never really screws anything up and is never in any real danger of things going wrong. There’s no character growth for him or anyone else in the stories and while it’s hard for me to hold the lack of female characters against most authors in the time period, I’m struggling to remember a single woman in any of these three tales with a name, much less a line. Other authors of the time at least included women now and then.
And remembering that the same general time frame gave us things like “The Last Question” and “Flowers for Algernon”, with the first of the Dragonriders of Pern coming only a couple of years later.
Leinster completists will probably want to read this and anyone with a taste for 1960s pulp, and your mileage may vary but most folks can probably give this a pass. It was okay at times, but I’m rounding up to two stars.
September 21, 2025
Doctor to the Stars by Murray Leinster.
Three novelletes of the exploits of Dr Calhoun of the Interstellar Medical Service and his small felinoid alien pet/laboratory.
Going on his rounds around the galaxy to check up on the health of colonies, he finds himself involved in interplanetary war between children and their parents, a deserted colony with a hidden corporate real estate scheme and a plague of madness sweeping a planet.
I found these to be fun little stories but not particularly deep or exciting. Frequent repetition of the same phrases were mildly annoying and drew things out, possibly left over when it was originally serialised in magazines. Good enough for me to order the others in the series.
Three novelletes of the exploits of Dr Calhoun of the Interstellar Medical Service and his small felinoid alien pet/laboratory.
Going on his rounds around the galaxy to check up on the health of colonies, he finds himself involved in interplanetary war between children and their parents, a deserted colony with a hidden corporate real estate scheme and a plague of madness sweeping a planet.
I found these to be fun little stories but not particularly deep or exciting. Frequent repetition of the same phrases were mildly annoying and drew things out, possibly left over when it was originally serialised in magazines. Good enough for me to order the others in the series.
July 16, 2024
It was an enjoyable read! I liked the MedShip man Calhoun, he reminded me a bit of Doctor McCoy from Star Trek. Makes sense, since the book was written in the same time period. Out of the three short stories in this book, the second "Med Ship Man" was my favorite. I liked the mystery to it and how it unraveled throughout the story. My second favorite was "The Grandfather's War", followed by "Tallien Three." There was a lack of female characters, only "The Grandfather's War" had any, and even they only took care of the children.
February 2, 2024
Classic early pulp sci fi
July 7, 2020
This is a book of three novellas about wandering space medic, Calhoun, and his magical space lab animal, Murgatroyd. They go to a world and inevitably solve a non-medical crisis along with whatever medical one brought them here. They were enjoyable stories, marred by the old-timey attitudes to women (which are less than good) in one story and the complete absence of women in the other two. If you can get past those bits without dislocating your eyes with rolling them, then these are short, fun little mysteries.
June 27, 2018
Little gems like this is why I keep coming back to Project Gutenberg. Published in Galaxy magazine in February 1961, before I was born, this little story reminded me a bit of works like "The Andromeda Strain" and the like where a virus threatens all of mankind.
The bug in this story is called a "chlorophage" which struck me as a likely as not name for such a critter. Especially when he explains that it attacks plants as well as animals since it has an affinity for both chlorophyll and hemoglobin which are similar chemically.
The action takes place on an interstellar ship and the hero of the story is the ship's doctor. Leinster also has a series of books, "The Med Service" also about doctors in space, unfortunately the main character in those seems to be different from Dr. Nordenfeld of this story.
I won't spoil it any further, but I did find the story to be of a higher quality than a lot of science fiction of the period.
The bug in this story is called a "chlorophage" which struck me as a likely as not name for such a critter. Especially when he explains that it attacks plants as well as animals since it has an affinity for both chlorophyll and hemoglobin which are similar chemically.
The action takes place on an interstellar ship and the hero of the story is the ship's doctor. Leinster also has a series of books, "The Med Service" also about doctors in space, unfortunately the main character in those seems to be different from Dr. Nordenfeld of this story.
I won't spoil it any further, but I did find the story to be of a higher quality than a lot of science fiction of the period.
February 4, 2021
This story was published in Galaxy Magazine February 1961.
We discover that there is a bacteria, chlorophage, that attacks both plants and hemoglobin, and it plagues the world. It may have found its way on board the Space Queen, via a young child, and it is up to Doctor Nordenfeld to figure out how to deal with it.
This most of all, is a story of humanity and how well people can sanely deal with a deadly issue. There is no hyperbole, nor crazed egos. Only sanity.
I very much enjoyed this story, because although it is science fiction, there is reality in much of the story to make the reader see that this is a quite different take. I found a copy through Project Gutenberg.
🪐 🚀 Recommended.
🟪
We discover that there is a bacteria, chlorophage, that attacks both plants and hemoglobin, and it plagues the world. It may have found its way on board the Space Queen, via a young child, and it is up to Doctor Nordenfeld to figure out how to deal with it.
This most of all, is a story of humanity and how well people can sanely deal with a deadly issue. There is no hyperbole, nor crazed egos. Only sanity.
I very much enjoyed this story, because although it is science fiction, there is reality in much of the story to make the reader see that this is a quite different take. I found a copy through Project Gutenberg.
🪐 🚀 Recommended.
🟪
March 27, 2024
3 Episoden aus dem Berufsleben eines galaktischen Mediziners, der allein im Auftrag eines galaktischen Gesundheitsdienstes von Sonne zu Sonne düst.
Er heilt nicht nur Krankheiten sondern rettet gleich ganze Zivilisationen.
Zuviele unglaubwürdige Zufälle und zu einfache Lösungen für große Probleme. Bereits vor dem Ende der 2. Episode hatte ich darum keine Lust mehr.
Die sehr gute Bewertung hier verwundert mich.
Er heilt nicht nur Krankheiten sondern rettet gleich ganze Zivilisationen.
Zuviele unglaubwürdige Zufälle und zu einfache Lösungen für große Probleme. Bereits vor dem Ende der 2. Episode hatte ich darum keine Lust mehr.
Die sehr gute Bewertung hier verwundert mich.
November 2, 2020
Doctor is a classic Golden Age SF story; a scientifically plausible menace is proposed and a scientifically plausible solution is discovered in the nick of time due to the efforts of one person who will accept the negative outcome only after all possible positive attempts fail.
And of course, that one person becomes a better human being by doing so.
Replete with cute, vulnerable child who is the cause of it all.
And it's well written, to boot. Well worth a read, folks.
And of course, that one person becomes a better human being by doing so.
Replete with cute, vulnerable child who is the cause of it all.
And it's well written, to boot. Well worth a read, folks.
October 10, 2008
Abandoned at p. 14. Which should tell you most of what you need to know.
What I'm wondering is how they could have marketed this to begin with. Generally, I excuse poorly-written 'classic' science-fiction by telling myself that it must have been popular with young boys. But what young boy would pick up off the shelf a book called DOCTOR to the stars?
What I'm wondering is how they could have marketed this to begin with. Generally, I excuse poorly-written 'classic' science-fiction by telling myself that it must have been popular with young boys. But what young boy would pick up off the shelf a book called DOCTOR to the stars?
September 17, 2014
Classic SF. Unfortunately, that probably means it's a bit dated for younger readers. But I loved it in the 60s...
February 21, 2015
1981 grade B
series book MD3
series book MD3
November 5, 2018
How do you defeat a humanity-ending plague?
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews