Quote:
Originally Posted by Critteranne
Locus magazine is reporting that SF/space opera author E. C. Tubb has died... at the age of 90:
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/09/e-c-tubb-1919-2010
He was best known for his Dumarest of Terra series, about a hero who searched the galaxy for the planet of his birth -- Earth. However, no one has heard of it, or those who have think it's a myth.
I searched InkMesh and realized a few of his books are available as e-books, including a couple of Dumarest books. Does anyone have any E. C. Tubb recommendations, either Dumarest books or some of his other books? |
The Dumarest series is his magnum opus. He started doing them as halves of the old Ace Double novel line. When hhen Ace editor Donald A. Wollheim left Ace to found his own imprint, DAW Books, Tubb followed and turned them out for DAW. There are 33 Dumarest books all told, and I believe the last couple got issued by Golden Gryphon after Don's daughter Betsy took over DAW Books upon his death and declined to continue publication. (Book 31 got issued in 1985. Book 32 didn't see publication till 1997, and book 33 appeared on 2008.)
Earl Dumarest is born on Earth, but stows aware on an interstellar freighter as a boy, and travels farther and farther into the galaxy. When he decides he'd like to see home again, he's so far away that people have either never heard of Earth or consider it a myth. In the course of his attempts to find Earth, Dumarest repeatedly tangles with the Cyclan. The Cyclan are a quasi-religious order who voluntarily undergo surgery that cuts them off from emotion, and dream of being selected to have their brain removed from their body and hooked in parallel with other disembodied brains in a great organic computer that is answering all the questions of the universe.
Tubb was a master at providing that background in each book in a minimum of space (a paragraph or so) without obviously repeating himself. He also maintained a steady level of invention, coming up with new and different human cultures for Dumarest to interact with as he searched for Earth.
In addition to the Dumarest books, he did the "Cap Kennedy" series, some Space:1999 novelizations, and a variety of other things, under his own name an an assortment of pseudonyms. A bibliography is here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/e-c-tubb/
Tubb was an old fashioned pro who could write to order and always turned out well crafted and readable books. I wish the SF field had more like him.
I have no idea how much of his output might be available in electronic form, but the Dumarest books are a good starting point.
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[b]Dennis[/b