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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 26, 2008 8:34:32 GMT
1 The Winds Of Gath 1967 Publisher ACE 2 Derai 1968 3 Toyman 1969 4 Kalin 1969 5 The Jester At Scar 1970 6 Lallia 1971 7 Technos 1972 8 Veruchia 1973 9 Mayenne 1973 Publisher DAW 10 Jondelle 1973 11 Zenya 1974 12 Eloise 1975 13 Eye Of The Zodiac 1975 14 Jack Of Swords 1976 15 Spectrum Of A Forgotten Sun 1976 16 Haven Of Darkness 1977 17 Prison Of Night 1977 18 Incident On Ath 1978 19 The Quillian Sector 1978 20 Web Of Sand 1979 21 Iduna's Universe 1979 22 The Terra Data 1980 23 World Of Promise 1980 24 Nectar Of Heaven 1981 25 The Terridae 1981 26 The Coming Event 1982 27 Earth Is Heaven 1982 28 Melome 1983 29 Angado 1984 30 Symbol Of Terra 1984 31 The Temple Of Truth 1985 32 The Return 1997 publisher Gryphon 33 Child of Earth 2008 publisher Homeworld Press
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 26, 2008 8:40:02 GMT
1 The Winds Of Gath 1967
We are introduced to our hero Earl Dumarest a stranded traveller from earth. Dumarest is a tough loner,seemingly about 30 years old but in subjective terms he is ancient.) Dumarest has awakened from traveling "low" - a form of suspended animation, with a high risk of death) Instead of his intended destination his ship was diverted to Gath, apparently at the whim of the powerful Matriarch of Kund.
Dumarest is out of money and Gath offers no good prospect of making any for passage to another world. His attempts to get that needed cash form the plot.
The first book is fairly standard space opera giving the reader few hints of the saga to come. The themes which make up the elements of the series are inchoate and underdeveloped. Its not a particularly great book but is a simple throwaway adventure.
However, even then there is something appealing about Dumarest
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 26, 2008 9:26:58 GMT
2 Derai 1968
Dumarest is commissioned as bodyguard and escort to Derai, a daughter of Calder, one of the ruling families of the planet Hive, the source of mutated bees. Dumarest hopes the job will help him to find a clue to the location of Earth. This, the central theme of Dumarest, his search for Earth, now begins in earnest.
The Calder family has engaged a cyber of the Cyclan to advise them, but the Cyclan have ulterior motives. Their true objective is Derai. She is a telepath and telepathy could be of great benefit to the emotionless and ruthless cybers.
Tubb is a nihilist. Humanity has spread throughout the galaxy and yet remains driven by cruelty, greed and lust. This is a constant and attractive backdrop to the Tubb universe: Dumarest is often the single ray of humanity - tough, apparently cruel but driven by ethics superior to those around him. Dumarest's appearance - the grey clad traveller - and his speed are both established.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 26, 2008 14:14:51 GMT
3 Toyman 1969
Toyman begins with a classic Tubb scenario. A fire fed by bone to fight the freezing night air; two men a dying boy. Dumarest saving the last of treasured water as they wait death at the hands of the victorious mercenary regiment.
The prose is terse, no wasted words and throughout, the vicious and bleak morality of an embittered humanity holds sway.
The plot develops in a familiar sixties manner, reminiscent of Star Trek and Space 1999 with the Toy Games where Dumarest is pitted against the planet tyrant - Toyman
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Post by Calenture on Nov 26, 2008 15:38:05 GMT
Any excuse for a few covers. No excuse at all needed for E C Tubb, who (you all know this stuff) was writing and Editing Authentic Science Fiction magazine before some of us were born, wrote as 'Vargo Statten' in the magazine of that name, and had over 50 pseudonyms. I found these recently. Veruchia first edition Ace, 1973 Toyman First published 1969; this Arrow edition 1976 First published 1971; this arrow edition 1977 First published 1973; this Arrow edition 1977 First published 1976; this Arrow edition 1980
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 26, 2008 17:47:30 GMT
And 'Jondelle' could well be a candidate for 'covers by people who had lost interest in the subject or mislaid their crayons'
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 4, 2008 11:44:36 GMT
4. Kalin 1969
Now the template, the initiator, the seminal work. Everything before has been rather fun in a pulpy sort of way. In Kalin, Dumarest meets the love of his life only to lose her and the series takes on a new grandeur.
The book is tightly plotted, from the planet Logos with its legal 'bloodtime' where the beautiful Kalin is nearly destroyed as a witch, to the final denouement on Solis. She has prescient powers as Dumarest quickly discovers but there are deeper layers to her being which will torture Dumarest for another 29 books. This is simply a must read as a stand alone volume or as a means of understanding the reflections in the rest of the series.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 11, 2008 7:24:25 GMT
5 The Jester At Scar 1970
The opening sequence is drawn by a master hand. Dumarest asleep in Lowtown, wakened by a girl who hears laughter and voices - 'an ugly sound'. The lamplight reveals her face - once beautiful but destroyed by acid and parasitical spores. From the first moment the reader is drawn into the bleak landscape of poverty and struggle. Dumarest the single bright point of hope but lost himself in a vast uncaring universe.
More confrontations with the cybers balanced by the Jester of Scar a man who believes only in Chance.
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