Entry tags:
Omnibus Review
Hi,
So when not stealing cars, taking out mobsters or having hot dates with women I met on the simulated internet, I did actually manage to get some reading done.
In this case, it was The Complete Dumarest of Terra Saga Volume 1 by E. C. Tubb. The Dumarest saga is a collection of 30+ books that Mr. Tubb has been writing fairly steadily since 1969. The series had a huge impact on the development of the Traveller RPG and that's how I found out about it/got interested in it.
The stories follow one Earl Dumarest (Earl! What a great name for a space hero!). Earl is a traveler, he bums around from world to world usually traveling in Low Passage (i.e. frozen) and staying just long enough to build up the money to go somewhere else. When he was young, he stowed away from his homeworld and wandered deep into the center of the galaxy and the heart of human civilizations. Now he's trying to find his way back home -- a world considered largely mythical called Earth.
So the stories are pretty formulaic. Earl arrives, gets into a scrape, and emerges triumphant to a greater or lesser degree with the means to go on to the next world. There's usually a beautiful woman to save and the like. Dumarest is also usually menaced by the Cyclan -- humans stripped of their emotions to become living computers. None of them have lasted beyond their individual encounter with Earl.
This book collects the first four Dumarest stories Gath, Derai, Toyman, and Kalin. Despite the fact that it's set up like any other "men's adventure" type series of books, the writing was serviceable and Tubb certainly had a vivid imagination for the planets and situations that he thrust onto his characters. I certainly wouldn't object to reading some additional collections of his stuff, but it's not clear if there will be sufficient interest to generate future volumes. I should probably check with the publisher....
Anyway, the set is recommended if you want some fun sci-fi adventure.
later
Tom
So when not stealing cars, taking out mobsters or having hot dates with women I met on the simulated internet, I did actually manage to get some reading done.
In this case, it was The Complete Dumarest of Terra Saga Volume 1 by E. C. Tubb. The Dumarest saga is a collection of 30+ books that Mr. Tubb has been writing fairly steadily since 1969. The series had a huge impact on the development of the Traveller RPG and that's how I found out about it/got interested in it.
The stories follow one Earl Dumarest (Earl! What a great name for a space hero!). Earl is a traveler, he bums around from world to world usually traveling in Low Passage (i.e. frozen) and staying just long enough to build up the money to go somewhere else. When he was young, he stowed away from his homeworld and wandered deep into the center of the galaxy and the heart of human civilizations. Now he's trying to find his way back home -- a world considered largely mythical called Earth.
So the stories are pretty formulaic. Earl arrives, gets into a scrape, and emerges triumphant to a greater or lesser degree with the means to go on to the next world. There's usually a beautiful woman to save and the like. Dumarest is also usually menaced by the Cyclan -- humans stripped of their emotions to become living computers. None of them have lasted beyond their individual encounter with Earl.
This book collects the first four Dumarest stories Gath, Derai, Toyman, and Kalin. Despite the fact that it's set up like any other "men's adventure" type series of books, the writing was serviceable and Tubb certainly had a vivid imagination for the planets and situations that he thrust onto his characters. I certainly wouldn't object to reading some additional collections of his stuff, but it's not clear if there will be sufficient interest to generate future volumes. I should probably check with the publisher....
Anyway, the set is recommended if you want some fun sci-fi adventure.
later
Tom