A prolific author of hundreds of stories in the fields of SF, fantasy and westerns, E. C. Tubb, was best-known for his epic 33-volume Dumarest saga, a galaxy-spanning adventure series. Also active for many years in Fandom, he was both a founder member of the British Science Fiction Association and the first editor of its critical journal VECTOR. This omnibus collects two of his out of print classics, THE EXTRA MAN and THE SPACE-BORN, and posthumous novel, FIRES OF SATAN, completed before his death and published now for the first time.
EDWIN CHARLES TUBB is one of the most popular and prolific British writers of science fiction. Born between World War I and II, he became an avid reader of the American pulp magazines, but the second World War thwarted his writing ambitions. Post-war he was in the vanguard of an emerging group of talented British writers. They included Brian Aldiss, Sydney J. Bounds, John Brunner, Ken Bulmer, John Christopher, John Russell Fearn, Philip E. High and John Wyndham, who collectively helped lay the foundations for British science fiction as it exists today. Tubb's first professional sale, a short story, was published in 1951, in the leading British science fiction magazine New Worlds, where he quickly became established as a star contributor. The first of his many novels appeared as a paperback original shortly thereafter, and he was soon featuring in all of the other British SF magazines, most notably Authentic Science Fiction, Nebula Science Fiction, and Science Fantasy. Over the next decade, Tubb also became established in the leading American SF magazines, selling outstanding stories to Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy, If, and Planet Stories. He also became established in the United States as a novelist, and is today best known as the creator of the long-running "Dumarest of Terra" series. Here then are hand-picked stories, the cream of the crop, making The Best Science Fiction of E.C. Tubb the publishing event of the year
Still driven by his search for Man's fabled birthplace, Earl Dumrest accepts a commission to guard the Lady Derai, heiress to the proud House of Caldor, on the feudal world of Hive. On Derai's home planet, Dumarest had hoped to meet a living witness to Earth. But instead he finds himself in the lists of the deadly Contest on Folgone - with the Lady of Caldor as prize. And on Folgone, for the first time, Dumarest confronts the Cybers: ruthless, emotionless tools of a great Gestalt which holds the mighty of the universe in its grip - a power which may yet provide him with the key to his quest for Earth.
A prolific author of hundreds of stories in the fields of SF, fantasy and westerns, E. C. Tubb, was best-known for his epic 33-volume Dumarest saga, a galaxy-spanning adventure series. Also active for many years in Fandom, he was both a founder member of the British Science Fiction Association and the first editor of its critical journal VECTOR. This omnibus collects two of his out of print classics, THE EXTRA MAN and THE SPACE-BORN, and posthumous novel, FIRES OF SATAN, completed before his death and published now for the first time.
Britain, years after the Debacle, and a new London has risen phoenix-like from near the ashes. Though Londoners have retained their physical purity through the ruthless destruction of generations of mutants, man is no longer the same, and society crueller. Cynicism and a whole-hearted recognition of the absolute power of money has replaced humanism, and a belief in reincarnation has replaced religion and the old moral code of 'doing unto others . . .' The individual can exist, has a right to exist, only if he is selfish. Death is a Dream is the story of three survivors from the twentieth century who awake from suspended animation in The Cradle to find themselves unemployable, and unfit to live by virtue of their commitments to out-dated ideals. As well as being an investigation of the form society may take after an atomic war, it is, by association, an indictment of society as it is now.
The ship rose on a column of invisible, super-heated steam ejected at incredible velocity. The spread of the blast flattened everything in the immediate vicinity. The surrounding town was wiped out. Immediately on blast off the automatic pilot engaged hi-drive to avoid the attacking missile. This put the ship into negative mass with relation to the normal universe. It was now in M-space. The ship was self-contained. It could keep going till all her occupants died of old age. But where to? Proxima Centauri? Or maybe Alpha Centauri, Riga, perhaps, or Sirius! The universe is a big space. They hurtled on through space and time until they saw the planet, a cloud-hidden ball, as it hung in space a hundred thousand miles below the orbiting vessel. It had seas and clouds, mountains and ice-caps, islands and continents, It had a moon and a yellow G-type sun. Home? Was this their second chance?
The Kaltich invaders sell their Earthman serfs a rejuvenation process that cruelly prolongs life. They also promise to share their secret for instantaneous space travel desperately needed by a barbaric, over-populated Earth. But decades pass and Earth is no closer to the stars. The Kaltichs continue to strip Earth of its riches and its pride. Only the Secret Terran Armed Resistance Movement opposes the Kaltichs tyranny. And only Martin Preston S.T.A.R. agent, can possibly steal their secrets. If he fails, Earth will become a planet of billions of starving people - with no place to go except to the graves.
Dumarest had learned in the hard school of experience and he came equipped with certain attributes. He had very fast reflexes, he carried a knife and knew how to use it, he wore travellers garb which, because of the metal mesh buried within the thermal plastic, gave him protection against the lash of a claw, the rip of thorns, the cut and thrust of edged weapons. Most important of all, he had an overriding determination to survive no matter what the cost. On Gath this wasn't easy... (First published 1997)
There should have been soft breezes scented with entrancing perfumes, the soothing warmth of a golden sun, lakes of wine and mountains of grain, trees adorned with fruit and bud and flower, shrubs bearing a profusion of glittering gems. Herbs and spices to provide freedom from pain, a return to youthful zest, an end of aging and decay. Salves and ointments and natural fungi to cure all physical ills. . . For this was Earth, that planet of legend, the paradise for which all yearned and hungered to find. The world of joy and beauty and riches beyond the wildest dreams. Instead Earl Dumarest found a landscape of unremitting hostility. Could this really be the fabled home world for which he had spent his entire life searching . . . ? (First published 2008)
Captain Baron, space pilot, is forced to abandon his ship, waiting for a rescue that does not come. Eventually he dies in space, his body frozen and perfectly preserved. Five years later, he is found, and two doctors, Le Maitre and Whitney, restore him to life using an experimental surgical technique. Returning to Earth, Baron finds that he has been declared legally dead, his commission rescinded, and all his possessions reverted to the State. His only asset is the novelty and notoriety of being a Resurrected Man, and when this is ruthlessly exploited by others, he commits murder and becomes a fugitive from the police. Inspector McMillan enlists the help of Dr. Whitney to track him down, but their task is complicated by the fact that Baron is no longer quite human . . .
Written under the working title of "The Spore Menace" in 1954, Pandora's Box was not actually published until 1996. Many of the ideas in this novel are seminal, even prophetic. Tubb was one of the very first sf writers to realize the potential danger to Earth from alien organisms. He appreciated that whilst technology may change, Man's nature remains the same and Pandora's Box spins a fascinating tale based on that most basic human emotion - greed!
Atomic war! Men had started the war, overriding the desires of their women and plunging the world into an orgy of destruction. Finally, when the vast armies of men had finally been shattered, women took over as rulers. Under successive Matriarchs, the world was slowly recovering, diverting the vast war potential to peaceful purposes. To keep the world free of war, the Matriarch employed official assassins under the chief of Security Police. It was felt that the death of one person was an acceptable price to preserve the lives of many. But when the Matriarch ordered the assassination of Don Burgarde, an apparently harmless young man, her personal secretary, Lyra, decided to intervene. The seeds of rebellion had been sown...
Empire builder Max Feyman had ruthlessly gained control of an invention called the 'zipdrive', a system of ultra-fast space travel. But his world is shattered when his daughter Celia, vacationing on the moon, is suddenly rendered unable to walk or speak - dependent on others to remain alive. Then, across the solar system, others are also struck down. Feyman must find a cure for the mysterious affliction that threatens not only the life of his only daughter - but also humanity itself.
Many times, Dumarest's dream of Earth has almost cost him his life. As he journeys from world to world, restlessly moving outwards towards the edge of the galaxy where his goal lies, Dumarest must be alert, watchful. For there are new dangers - forces more powerful than man - which threaten his dream. On a planet where violence and superstition hold sway, Dumarest forges a bond with the prophetess Kalin. And now, more than ever, he needs her. Kalin. The mutant girl whose mysterious talent for seeing into the future has already saved him from Bloodtime on Logis, from space-disaster, from slavery on desolate Chron. Kalin. Who can foretell the terrors yet to come. (First published 1969)
Marcus King, ruthless entrepreneur and commercial giant, was a man obsessed. His obsession-staying alive! He used his millions to buy life from the bodies of others. Then someone devised a highly scientific plan to kill him-only for King to survive the attack, and plan his revenge. But who was the mastermind behind the assassination attempt? Dale Markham, chief of local police, is quickly on the crime scene. But the case is so bizarre, with far-reaching international implications, that Security is also called in and special agent Steve Delmonte is assigned to work with the police. Delmonte's investigations uncover a tangled web of sadistic intrigue and he has to follows a trail of further murders all the way to the moon before the incredible truth behind the attack is revealed.
Ships occasionally disappeared in hyperspace, regrettable sacrifices to the luxury of faster than light travel. But now one of the lost ships has been found and the wreckage is enough to terrify even the most cold-blooded witness. The lucky ones on the lost ship are dead. The others have been turned inside-out in gruesome parody of human beings and they are still alive. Disgraced Captain Kurt Varl is chosen to command a suicide mission to discover the cause of these disasters. The enemy is unknown and the only way Varl can solve the mystery is to use himself as bait!
There were two: Rosslyn, the pilot, and Comain, the dreamer. Rosslyn died in space, frozen, preserved for two centuries until found and resurrected by a miracle of future surgery. Comain . . . ? Comain remained on Earth and crystallised his dreams, and when Rosslyn returned he found a civilisation beyond his wildest imaginings. Women ruled the planet, guided solely by the automatic and relentless predictions of a tremendous and frightening machine. A machine that foretold the future and determined the actions of an entire world with devastating accuracy. Into this assured and new civilisation Rosslyn came - and the impact of his presence brought near chaos. He had to be assimilated - or eliminated.
For ten years, Colin sweated, slaved, and eventually built-up a nice business on a dusty world called Mars. Ten more years and he'd have been able to retire a rich man. Five more years and he'd have put all worry behind him. He didn't get those five years. During a sandstorm, he blundered accidentally into the forbidden zone, where the temple of Dra Vheera waited and rested, an area guarded zealously to the death by a fanatical faith. The Martians complained, and he lost all, stripped of everything he owned, fined, and sent back to Earth on a one-way ticket. And who was to blame? The Dra Vheera, the priesthood of Mars, the temple, the religion. One name for all three, but all three really one. A man named Barhart offered vengeance, sweet, pure vengeance. With his help and money, Colin put together a force of eager men determined to strike back at the Martians, but he found more than they bargained for. The safety of Earth was now at stake, and Colin had to race against time and Death to save mankind.
For ten years, Colin sweated, slaved, and eventually built-up a nice business on a dusty world called Mars. Ten more years and he'd have been able to retire a rich man. Five more years and he'd have put all worry behind him. He didn't get those five years. During a sandstorm, he blundered accidentally into the forbidden zone, where the temple of Dra Vheera waited and rested, an area guarded zealously to the death by a fanatical faith. The Martians complained, and he lost all, stripped of everything he owned, fined, and sent back to Earth on a one-way ticket. And who was to blame? The Dra Vheera, the priesthood of Mars, the temple, the religion. One name for all three, but all three really one. A man named Barhart offered vengeance, sweet, pure vengeance. With his help and money, Colin put together a force of eager men determined to strike back at the Martians, but he found more than they bargained for. The safety of Earth was now at stake, and Colin had to race against time and Death to save mankind.
In the far future, humanity has split into two groups: Folk and People. The Folk man the star ships, spending their entire lives in space. The People dwell on planets, only using the ships for travel between the worlds. A freak accident in No-Space causes a ship to drop out of faster-than-light mode into normal space, to be stranded between the stars. The Captain is able to jury-rig the damaged engines, but only to shift half of the ship’s mass back into No-Space to continue the journey. After throwing out all nonessential structures, cargo, and fitments, both passengers and crew alike come to realize more mass--some of the humans themselves--must be ejected into space so that the rest may survive. But how to chose who lives or dies? And then a murderer strikes.... A chilling psychological tale of crime and passion.
This colorful, action-packed space opera tells of rival factions, including Earthmen and an enigmatic and fanatical Venusian, who voyage through space in a race to find the derelict ship of an ancient civilization, a Venusian Elder Race.
Earl Dumarest continues his desperate search for his birthplace, and seems to be coming close to the mythical planet Earth. But his attention is temporarily diverted, as he is unexpectedly involved in a hunt for a nebulous ghost world in another galaxy. It is rumoured that in this fabulous land lies the mysterious Castle of Heart's Desire, where every wish is fulfilled. If Dumarest can find it, then maybe - just maybe - he will be able to return to the planet of his birth. (First published 1976)
As a young boy Atilus Cindras had been taken from Britain to Rome as a slave, and trained in the gruesome arts of the gladiators. Fueled by his hatred for Rome, he'd risen to the top of his killing trade with his fierce and deadly skill, and won the coveted Rudis, the wooden sword that gave him his freedom. But he wants more from Rome than this, and gambles all of his money on a commercial venture that fails. Now deeply in debt, he's pulled into a partnership with wealthy patricians who want to use his knowledge as a lanista--a manager of gladiators--to make them all rich. When one of his backers betrays him, and when Rome erupts in fire in the summer heat, Atilus must use every skill, every bit of knowledge, to save himself and his new British wife from the all-engulfing flames, and then somehow find a way to return to his native land. The stunning, action-filled conclusion to the Atilus Trilogy!
Kerron and his business associates, Chang and Forrest, were three of the richest men on Earth. Now old and approaching the end of their days, they were desperate to prolong their lives. And there was one man who seemed to possess the secret of immortality-the mysterious Brett, a tall adventurer who had apparently lived for centuries. So the three men paid a fortune to the one man they believed could help them, But Brett had a dark secret, and he in turn made a bargain with them, They had to accompany him on the strangest and most dangerous journey ever undertaken - to the very centre of the Galaxy - beyond the Wall!
Space-wanderer Earl Dumarest is on the planet Toy to consult the giant computer which may contain information on the whereabouts of Earth, his lost home-world. But soon he realises Toy is a place that gives away nothing for free. Before Dumarest can gain the information he needs, he must take part in the Toy Games - must fight like a tin soldier in a vast nursery. And there is nothing playful about the Games on Toy. The pain is real enough; the wounds, the blood - and death. (First published 1969)
Somewhere on Venus lies the wreck of Space Patrol XX15, which holds a secret vital to Earth's security. Only one man knows where the wreck lies: Rex Carson. But he has been unjustly banished to a terrible Jovian penal colony, where he organizes a revolt of the prisoners and the overthrowing of a corrupt regime.
As an officer in the United Nations Law Enforcement Agency Ralph Mancini was dedicated to the worldwide War on Drugs, employing all the resources of the U.N., whilst working with the national and international police forces. But now an insidious new drug was being developed, one in which the people taking it experienced a trip like no other. They became, in effect, God-like beings, and once they had experienced 'heaven' they could think of nothing but their next trip - whatever the cost. Ralph and Inspector Frere follow a tangled trail of murder and intrigues to try and find the source of the peril-but will they be too late to stop it spreading across the world...?
Fighting for Mars means a battle with the Lobants, a formidable enemy, robot yet human, whose origins are shrouded in a terrifying Martian mystery. Ace rocketship pilot John Delmar, on a dangerous and unlicensed space light to the fabulous planet, solves the answer to the swarming scourge of Mars in a story that possesses all the compulsion of a three-dimensional horrific...
Stanson's scheme was audacious in its scope: highjack a space liner, kill the passengers and crew, and then live off the rich pickings for years to come. They won't even have to leave the well-stocked craft--and the security forces can never locate them in the void between the worlds. But Leahry, another ex-con, knows that everything has to go "just right" for the plan to succeed; and when things begin to go awry, the only option is to flee the ship in a rescue pod. The pair still have enough loot to live well--but if two can live comfortably, why, just one can live very well indeed! Here are four of Tubb's finest future crime stories--logical, relentless, and utterly without mercy! Plus, the author's never-before-published Guest of Honor speech at the 1970 World Science Fiction Convention!
The Cradle was the starting point of the strange alien race that had colonised the galaxy while Man was still a cell floating in a warm primeval sea, From here must have surged the expanding tide of life that had built the enigmatic ruins, the constructions of rare and priceless materials. Beings who had left their mark for the new and curious race of Man to stare at, and to wonder at the mystery of the Cradle-the golden hoard of undreamed wealth for the first men to discover it. To Rex Tendris and his two friends came the coordinates that could lead them to the legendary treasure. They set out on a voyage to find it-but it was a voyage into hell!
Starships are grounded, interrupting vital inter-stellar commerce, all the highly-developed industries have stopped, man turns to the primitive sources of animal fat and wood for light and heat. With civilization waning, the young scientist Kleon, sentenced to death for using precious conserves of power in an attempt to generate vast energy from dead matter, makes a spectacular bid for the freedom of the whole universe.
The Brewster genealogy, 1566-1907 a record of the descendants of William Brewster of the Mayflower. ruling elder of the Pilgrim church which founded Plymouth colony in 1620
Sam Falkirk, Captain of the World Police and stationed at the World Council building in New York, has a special interest in investigating the sudden and inexplicable death of Angelo Augustine, the brother of his girl friend. A messenger employed by the Council, Augustine was also a spy in the pay of Senator Rayburn, a fanatical Nationalist who is fighting both to retain his power and to destroy the Orient before they, as he believes, turn against the Occident. Augustine had died while delivering a parcel containing a statue of a Buddha for an employee of Senator Sucamari of the Japanese Legation, and who, in his own way, is as fanatical as Rayburn himself. Sucamari wants to gain living room for the teeming millions of the Orient, and his secret plan involves the releasing of a deadly bacterial plague across the Americas. The bacteria is contained in a special coating on the Buddha statue, but when the statue is stolen by a petty criminal, millions of people hover on the brink of agonizing death, unless Falkirk can find the criminal in time . . .
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