Required reading....

[BlackBat242]

Andre Norton's The Stars are Ours (1954*) is also interesting, as it has the use of "cold sleep" - freezing and reviving humans & animals through the use of chemicals and refrigeration berths.

In the story, of 59 persons aboard the improvised ship escaping from Terra (controlled by an anti-science dictatorship), 6 die during the trip - some through hibernation equipment failure during the voyage, and some not surviving revival.

Sound familiar?


* 13 years before publication of the first book in Edwin Charles Tubb's Dumarest series - who many credit with "inventing" the "low berth" and its ~10% fatality rate.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Suggestions for reading Dumarest?

I know it may sound heretical here, but I've never read any of the Dumarest books. I see that there are a lot of them. Would someone who is familiar with these books please suggest the best 2 or 3 to get started with to see if I like them? Are they best read in order of publication, or are later ones better than the beginnings, or ???

 

[Old School]

The Dumarest books are quick reads. I’d recommend starting with the first, The Winds of Gath, and see if it is your cup of tea. The paperback is only about 120 pages.

I only read the first two, as I found the stories less than compelling and the protagonist unlikeable, but the influence on traveller is obvious.

 

[whulorigan]

I know it may sound heretical here, but I've never read any of the Dumarest books. I see that there are a lot of them. Would someone who is familiar with these books please suggest the best 2 or 3 to get started with to see if I like them? Are they best read in order of publication, or are later ones better than the beginnings, or ???

The stories are fairly formulaic. Dumarest is living hand-to-mouth trying to get back to his home (Earth) which by his time everyone thinks is a myth like Atlantis or El Dorado (but he of course knows that it is a real world).

Try the first several (I believe you can get the first 6 as a set for Kindle from Amazon or Project Gutenberg, IIRC).

Travellerisms introduced:

Small private Free Traders (Crew of 5):
- Captain/Pilot
- Navigator/1st Mate
- Engineer
- Steward/Medic
- (Cargo) Handler

High/Middle/Low Passage
Low Berth
Fast/Slow Drug
Mesh Armor
"Raft" (Air/Raft)
​

 

[agorski]

I know it may sound heretical here, but I've never read any of the Dumarest books. I see that there are a lot of them. Would someone who is familiar with these books please suggest the best 2 or 3 to get started with to see if I like them? Are they best read in order of publication, or are later ones better than the beginnings, or ???

Apple's Books app has a free 90ish page excerpt of "Gath" that I read awhile back. Made me want to read more but I haven't yet.

 

[Tiikeri]

Id read about h beam pipers terro-human future history.

His stories are all good, and they can all be found for free on project gutenberg as previously mentioned, but im bringing it up because reading articles about his future history might be a good way to see an example of a fictional history spanning centuries without having to parse it from disparate stories set in different time periods of that history.

Also look for the books Planet Construction Kit and Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder for detailed step by step world building for stories and games.

 

[robject]

Andre Norton - one of the Solar Queen books would do. I'd even suggest one of the newer ones in the series: Derelict for Trade.

Tubb - three of the Dumarest books.

H. Beam Piper - probably Space Viking, but Cosmic Computer is good too.

The Mote in God's Eye for that High Guard feel.

NOTES:

The stories are fairly formulaic. Dumarest is living hand-to-mouth trying to get back to his home (Earth) which by his time everyone thinks is a myth like Atlantis or El Dorado (but he of course knows that it is a real world).

Try the first several (I believe you can get the first 6 as a set for Kindle from Amazon or Project Gutenberg, IIRC).

Highly formulaic and sometimes boring. The ones I would recommend are:

#1 - The Winds of Gath
#2 - Derai (probably)
#4 - Kalin
#5 - The Jester at Scar (maybe)
#8 - Veruchia (maybe)
#12 - Eliose (maybe)
#13 - Eye of the Zodiac (probably)
#31 - The Temple of Truth

ref: http://travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=30071&highlight=dumarest

 

[Tiikeri]

Yes, highly formulaic, as if each book is intended for a first time reader. Now im going to have my cup of Basic, which can keep a space crewman going for a day.

 

[SpaceBadger]

I've mentioned elsewhere, but this thread seems like a good place to post again, that Amazon has really cheap (59 or 99 cents!) Kindle "Megapacks" available for many Golden Age SF authors with multiple novels and short stories all combined into one volume. The one for H. Beam Piper has all of his works that are in the public domain, which is almost all of his short stories, plus I think all of his novels except Lord Kalvan and the 2nd and 3rd Fuzzy books. Unfortunately there is no Megapack for E.C. Tubb.

Thank you for all of the replies about Dumarest.

 

[Timerover51]

For those into psionics, you might want to take a look at James Schmitz books in the Telzey Amberdon series, and also his Agent of Vega collection. I really enjoy the Agent of Vega collection, Telzey Amberdon not so much, but that is just me I suspect. They are good stories.

 

[Condottiere]

The first Telzey Amberdon story was interesting, who knew Raja was telepathic? Also found out about peaches and cream complexions.

The rest were formulaic.

On the other hand, Witches of Karres is a fun romp, and delves into the mercantile aspect of the genre.

 

[ShapeShifter]

Andre Norton's The Stars are Ours (1954*) is also interesting, as it has the use of "cold sleep" - freezing and reviving humans & animals through the use of chemicals and refrigeration berths.

In the story, of 59 persons aboard the improvised ship escaping from Terra (controlled by an anti-science dictatorship), 6 die during the trip - some through hibernation equipment failure during the voyage, and some not surviving revival.

Sound familiar?


* 13 years before publication of the first book in Edwin Charles Tubb's Dumarest series - who many credit with "inventing" the "low berth" and its ~10% fatality rate.

Hmm. *scratches chin pensively* Sounds very interesting. I'll have to look at getting a copy. I always though that Tubb invented the low berth stuff.

----------------------
I've been a big fan of the Dumarest books for over a decade and have every single volume (I'm currently about 1/2-way through them). Very fun reads bursting at the seams with inspiration for a ripping-good CT campaign (I take detailed notes as I read). They are repetitive, some things are recycled a good bit, but they're still worth it. Start with #1 The Winds of Gath and the two or three after that.

Dumarest is something of a cypher: we never really get any insight into his mental-emotional life. He is a man of action, a gritty survivalist, tough and resouceful and never, ever succumbing to despair. Even in the harshest, most unforgiving environments he somehow has the cojones to pull through -- if only by the skin of his teeth. I have known a few people like that.

 

[SpaceBadger]

The Dumarest books are quick reads. I’d recommend starting with the first, The Winds of Gath, and see if it is your cup of tea. The paperback is only about 120 pages.

I only read the first two, as I found the stories less than compelling and the protagonist unlikeable, but the influence on traveller is obvious.

I =finally= bought a copy of "Winds of Gath" (it isn't included in my Kindle Unlimited subscription) and, just on the first page, am already enjoying it immensely. Waking up from cold sleep in a low berth, told from the viewpoint of the sleeper waking up... yeah, sounds like Traveller to me!

 

[creativehum]

Travellerisms introduced:

Small private Free Traders (Crew of 5):
- Captain/Pilot
- Navigator/1st Mate
- Engineer
- Steward/Medic
- (Cargo) Handler

High/Middle/Low Passage
Low Berth
Fast/Slow Drug
Mesh Armor
"Raft" (Air/Raft)
​

Good list so far.

Also:

• Betting on low passage
• The "Blade" weapon
• Psionics (people, animals, plants)
• There is an encounter with a terrible Animals of one kind or another that Dumarest has to fight every other book or so
• An interstellar noble class that transcend local world politics
• Isolated worlds with unique, exotic cultures (almost no exchange of culture or tech)
• A small ship universe
• An extended sequence involving the hijacking of a starship
• Working passage (along with the other passages already listed)
• One major starport per world
• Each starport stands outside the local planet's laws
• Mix of advanced and archaic weaponry
• Plots usually involve Dumarest getting a new Patron every book
• Merc units and merc tickets
• Traveller with two ll's (Tubb is a Brit)

Not saying these things don't exist in other books. Only that the original Traveller rules had all these elements, which also exist in the Dumarest books.

There might be more stuff. This is only from the books I have read... and I haven't read that deep.

 

[creativehum]

Going back to the original post...

So what did Miller et al have on their bookshelves when they were thinking of slapping some rules together?

Here is part of an interview Miller did with White Dwarf magazine in 1981, focused on the origins and design of the original Traveller rules: