Dumarest -- one of the inspirations for Basic Traveller Boxed Set

[Brian Smaller]

It's helpful to think of the Dumarest books as novelisations of a bygone science-fiction/space opera television programme: very episodic, and, yes, not the most scintillating and eye-opening prose in the history of literature, but a great, entertaining time. It's not on par with the classics of the genre, and I'm always surprised that people expect so much from their leisure reading. It's not Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, etc. Just enjoy it for what it is.

So true - they are books that you can read in an hour or so. Think Perry Rhodan space opera novellas.

 

[JimMarn]

Well, there are some sf stories from the 1950s and 1960s that are well written.

Of course, I don't remember titles right off, but early Heinlein and early Asimov are good.

Then there are the Harlan Ellison stories, some of which gave me nightmares.

Some years ago I read some of the Gernsback paperbacks monthly issues. 1920s and 1930s sf. Some of them are very good, and some incredibly lousy.

 

[Frankymole]

Well, there are some sf stories from the 1950s and 1960s that are well written.

Quite a few of the good literary stories were adapted and used in the BBC's 1965 (onwards) "Out of the Unknown" anthology series. Recently I enjoyed watching "Thirteen to Centaurus", especially.

 

[Frankymole]

An article about the inspirations for Traveller:

http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10119

 

[mike wightman]

That is a really interesting article - I may quibble over some points but most of it is spot on in my humble opinion.

 

[Condottiere]

I tend to think that the core of classic Traveller would be Tubb, Piper and Anderson specifically, but pulp magazines from the thirties to the sixties in general. Campbellian.

 

[creativehum]

I'm currently reading Kalin, the fourth book in the Dumarest series.

I can see the repetitive bits in the books. And yet...

He creates these wonderful characters sometimes. People really driven by passion and avarice. And interesting societies, one after another. His observations about his characters and society often strike me as quite observant about people in general.

He has a light touch in many of these moments about his characters. For example, Kalin is a clairvoyant. Dumarest observes her problem with recalling her past, and realizes she is a person (unlike most of us) peering at the images in her future and trying to sort them out. She isn't used to looking backward. (All the psionic powers take their turn showing up and being interesting in the series.)

How he describes many details that got ported into Traveller are really interesting. The details about Fast Drug, which travellers use to quicken the apparent journey on starships (and thus cut down the boredom of being trapped in the confined quarters for weeks on end) got some nice moments already.

A hijacking on a free trader is about to take place. Looking forward to it.

 

[BwapTED]

http://robertrijnders.nl/docs/DumarestCompanion.pdf

FULL OF SPOILERS

So it seems.

 

[nobby-w]

I tend to think that the core of classic Traveller would be Tubb, Piper and Anderson specifically, but pulp magazines from the thirties to the sixties in general. Campbellian.

I like that term: 'Campbellian' (and not just because I share a surname with the late JC). It's quite a good way to classify space opera of a particular vintage. I shall remember it.

 

[sfchbryan]

Marc may have gotten the Ancients from another Tubb series.

In the Cap Kennedy series, there is a mysterious, incredibly high tech race that went missing. Artifacts are found throughout the series.

 

[creativehum]

http://robertrijnders.nl/docs/DumarestCompanion.pdf

FULL OF SPOILERS

So it seems.

Yeah... I glanced down the page and stopped cold.

What I didn't realize, but could glean quickly, is that though each book is some sort of stand alone adventure, the entire series keeps growing and expanding with several meta-strands that (it seems) span the series.

 

[ShapeShifter]

One of the few things I dislike about Tubb's writing in the Dumarest series is his habit of dropping a name, an idea, a technological idea and not elaborating much -- if at all- upon it.

For example, the main motive tech for starships is called the Erhaft Drive/Erhaft Field, but Tubb thus far (that is, up to Book 15) hasn't given us much to go on. I'm not big on books that go hog-wild on faux-tech gearheadiness (Zahn's Star Wars books stray a little too far in that direction, IMHO), but a little bit of detail would be welcomed. All I know is that it envelops a ship in a blueish halo, which both protects and motivates the vessel, and that the Drive is powered by crystals of some sort. There is also a passage that states (or implies?) that a ship's take-off and landing are silent -- quite a nice idea if you don't want the local dirtside spaceport to keep the neighborhood up at night. Having lived as a kid right next to the runway of a major airport, I would have appreciated a few more moments of shut-eye.

 

[nobby-w]

It's helpful to think of the Dumarest books as novelisations of a bygone science-fiction/space opera television programme: very episodic, and, yes, not the most scintillating and eye-opening prose in the history of literature, but a great, entertaining time. It's not on par with the classics of the genre, and I'm always surprised that people expect so much from their leisure reading. It's not Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, etc. Just enjoy it for what it is.

I don't know if that was the intention, but (interestingly) E.C. Tubb also did several novelisations of Space:1999 episodes. Perhaps the episodic nature of the Dumarest Saga (I've only read a handful) made him a good candidate to land the gig.

 

[JimMarn]

My feeling is the sf Grand Masters turned out excellent literature. Some of their works aren't good, and some outstanding. I get the same feel from my reading of old Shakyspear.