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Dumarest of Terra #4
Dumarest 4: Kalin
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)
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)
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
16 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
E.C. Tubb
382 books85 followersEdwin Charles Tubb was a writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels. He published over 140 novels and 230 short stories and novellas, and is best known for The Dumarest Saga (US collective title: Dumarest of Terra) an epic science-fiction saga set in the far future.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 16, 2020
ACE DOUBLE E. C. Tubb "Kalin" / Alex Dain "The Bane of Kanthos"
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.
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.
January 28, 2022
gosh gosh gosh! Earl Dumarest hurtles forward - searching for long-lost Earth! he's the manliest of men and deadly too! he's just as deadly with the ladies and in this one his heart belongs to the witch Kalin! he hurtles from the planet Logis during its annual bloodbath holiday that predates the Purge films! to a spaceship hijacked by a gloomy mercenary and a woman desperate to regain her youth! to the planet Chronos where broken men lead broken lives and no one gets out alive! Earl sticks by Kalin's side no matter what nonsense she gets into! he always champions the underdog! he fights and he kills but he doesn't like it! plus there's a missing heiress! and a nobleman whose vendettas have turned him into a cyborg! and a planet of medieval redheads! and a sorta Christian cult but they're heroes not villains! and a Spock-like brotherhood of logical counselors but they're villains not heroes! there's so much in this book and boy it sure moves fast fast fast!
this was a lot of fun and a big part of that fun was that it rarely paused to take a breath. I was pretty impressed by how well-developed each episode was - especially the disastrous attempted takeover of a starship - and how Tubb juggled all of his moving parts while still remaining interested in all of his characters, even the most minor. it does slow down in its second half, a bit, but the jerky, helter-skelter quality of the narrative remained. Tubb's clearly in favor of the smash cut. overall the book was a real treat. the title character provides the reason for the galaxy-wide hunt for Earl that comes to dominate the series, so this is a key novel in the saga.
this was a lot of fun and a big part of that fun was that it rarely paused to take a breath. I was pretty impressed by how well-developed each episode was - especially the disastrous attempted takeover of a starship - and how Tubb juggled all of his moving parts while still remaining interested in all of his characters, even the most minor. it does slow down in its second half, a bit, but the jerky, helter-skelter quality of the narrative remained. Tubb's clearly in favor of the smash cut. overall the book was a real treat. the title character provides the reason for the galaxy-wide hunt for Earl that comes to dominate the series, so this is a key novel in the saga.
November 11, 2020
E.C Tubb's 33 Dumarest of Terra books, published over the span of more than 40 years (1967 - 2008) has got to be just about the longest sci-fi series ever written by a single author. That's an impressive run, and after reading Kalin, my first book by Tubb, I can see the appeal.
This was much more than just the pulpy adventure sci-fi I was expecting. Yes, there's plenty of brisk action, adventure, and even some romance, but Tubb also tackles some deeper and more weighty subjects such as the injustices of indentured servitude. The scenes with Dumarest stranded on the desolate slaver mining planet, hunting dragon like creatures for the valuable jewels embedded in their skulls, were among my favorite. He also introduces some intriguing sci-fi elements such as the notion of "low" vs "high" interstellar travel (the slowing or speeding up of relative time) and a race of enigmatic "Cybers", humans purged of all emotion and feeling, comprising the nefarious "Cyclan" organization.
Earl Dumarest himself makes for an interesting hero, just as apt to rescue a damsel in distress as he is to turn a blind eye in his own self interest. The storytelling isn't exactly nuanced, but there is some complexity to it as Tubb manages to create a sense of mystery and engagement by weaving together multiple narratives told through a diverse set of POVs that ultimately come together to good effect.
This was much more than just the pulpy adventure sci-fi I was expecting. Yes, there's plenty of brisk action, adventure, and even some romance, but Tubb also tackles some deeper and more weighty subjects such as the injustices of indentured servitude. The scenes with Dumarest stranded on the desolate slaver mining planet, hunting dragon like creatures for the valuable jewels embedded in their skulls, were among my favorite. He also introduces some intriguing sci-fi elements such as the notion of "low" vs "high" interstellar travel (the slowing or speeding up of relative time) and a race of enigmatic "Cybers", humans purged of all emotion and feeling, comprising the nefarious "Cyclan" organization.
Earl Dumarest himself makes for an interesting hero, just as apt to rescue a damsel in distress as he is to turn a blind eye in his own self interest. The storytelling isn't exactly nuanced, but there is some complexity to it as Tubb manages to create a sense of mystery and engagement by weaving together multiple narratives told through a diverse set of POVs that ultimately come together to good effect.
September 5, 2017
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/review/R1Y84QH...
I accidentally skipped this one in my re-read through the Dumarestiverse, but this is the seminal book that brings together the elements that will keep this series moving for the next 28 books.
The story opens with Bloodtime on Logis - basically, The Purge 50 years before the movie - where Dumarest rescues the witch Kalin. Kalin can see the future, sometimes to her pain. Then, the story moves on to shipwreck, rescues by slavers and marooning on the planet Chron, where the only hope of escape is to hunt zardles for zerds (and with that one, Tubb must have been having fun.) The mystery of Kalin deepens, particularly the interest that the evil cyber-cult of Cyclans are showing in her home.
Dumarestaphiles know that Dumarest gets the secret of the "affinity twin formula", but it will take him several books to figure out that he has this secret and what it means. The affinity twin formula puts into place the basic "pull-push" structure that moves the Dumarest series along. The "pull" is Dumarest's hunt for his home planet of Earth, while the "push" is the pursuity by the Cyclan of Dumarest. This was a very popular concept in the television shows of the 1960s whether it was the Fugitive looking for the one armed man while the police pursued him or Coronet Blue where the hero looked for the answer to the meaning of the mysterious phrase "Coronet Blue" while he was pursued by unknown assailants.
This book like series is cheesy - basically Mike Hammer in Space - but good and dependable cheese
I accidentally skipped this one in my re-read through the Dumarestiverse, but this is the seminal book that brings together the elements that will keep this series moving for the next 28 books.
The story opens with Bloodtime on Logis - basically, The Purge 50 years before the movie - where Dumarest rescues the witch Kalin. Kalin can see the future, sometimes to her pain. Then, the story moves on to shipwreck, rescues by slavers and marooning on the planet Chron, where the only hope of escape is to hunt zardles for zerds (and with that one, Tubb must have been having fun.) The mystery of Kalin deepens, particularly the interest that the evil cyber-cult of Cyclans are showing in her home.
Dumarestaphiles know that Dumarest gets the secret of the "affinity twin formula", but it will take him several books to figure out that he has this secret and what it means. The affinity twin formula puts into place the basic "pull-push" structure that moves the Dumarest series along. The "pull" is Dumarest's hunt for his home planet of Earth, while the "push" is the pursuity by the Cyclan of Dumarest. This was a very popular concept in the television shows of the 1960s whether it was the Fugitive looking for the one armed man while the police pursued him or Coronet Blue where the hero looked for the answer to the meaning of the mysterious phrase "Coronet Blue" while he was pursued by unknown assailants.
This book like series is cheesy - basically Mike Hammer in Space - but good and dependable cheese
April 14, 2018
Dumarest of Terra is a 33-volume series of science fiction novels by Edwin Charles Tubb. Each story is a self-contained adventure, but throughout the series, Earl Dumarest, the protagonist, searches for clues to the location of his home world, Earth. Production of a television version of the series is set to begin in 2018.
The stories are set in a far future galactic culture that is fragmented and without any central government. Dumarest was born on Earth, but had stowed away on a spaceship when he was a young boy and was caught. Although a stowaway discovered on a spaceship was typically ejected to space, the captain took pity on the boy and allowed him to work and travel on the ship. When the story opens in The Winds of Gath, Dumarest has traveled so long and so far that he does not know how to return to his home planet and no-one has ever heard of it, other than as a myth or legend.
It becomes clear that someone or something has deliberately concealed Earth's location. The Cyclan, an organization of humans surgically altered to be emotionless (known as Cybers), and on occasion able to link with the brains of previously living Cybers (the better to think logically), seem determined to stop him from finding Earth. Additionally, the Cyclan seeks a scientific discovery that Dumarest possesses, stolen from them and passed to him by a dying thief, which would vastly increase their already considerable power.
Also appearing in many of the books is the humanitarian Church of Universal Brotherhood. Its monks are spread throughout many worlds as are the Cyclan, the two being arch-enemies - which does not make the Church Dumarest's ally, but in some instances they support each other.
In Kalin, Earl Dumarest manages to forget the lost of his first love Derai when he meets a troubled woman named Kalin, who has the ability to see into the future. Lost in a life bubble after surviving a botched hijacking attempt that destroys the ship they were travelling on, Dumarest and Kalin are rescued by a slaver. Though Dumarest has enough money to keep them from being sold on the auction block, they instead find themselves dropped on the planet Chron; a miserable mining planet where the mines run on slave labour and there is no other way to earn a living. Dumarest must find a way to keep both himself and his new love alive while finding a way off the planet. Meanwhile, on another planet, the Cyclan sends one of their order to offer his services to a local noble, despite the fact that their world is too poor to afford their services. What is it that they seek there?
The fourth book in the Dumarest Saga, this is where the series settles down into the pattern it will maintain from now on.
The stories are set in a far future galactic culture that is fragmented and without any central government. Dumarest was born on Earth, but had stowed away on a spaceship when he was a young boy and was caught. Although a stowaway discovered on a spaceship was typically ejected to space, the captain took pity on the boy and allowed him to work and travel on the ship. When the story opens in The Winds of Gath, Dumarest has traveled so long and so far that he does not know how to return to his home planet and no-one has ever heard of it, other than as a myth or legend.
It becomes clear that someone or something has deliberately concealed Earth's location. The Cyclan, an organization of humans surgically altered to be emotionless (known as Cybers), and on occasion able to link with the brains of previously living Cybers (the better to think logically), seem determined to stop him from finding Earth. Additionally, the Cyclan seeks a scientific discovery that Dumarest possesses, stolen from them and passed to him by a dying thief, which would vastly increase their already considerable power.
Also appearing in many of the books is the humanitarian Church of Universal Brotherhood. Its monks are spread throughout many worlds as are the Cyclan, the two being arch-enemies - which does not make the Church Dumarest's ally, but in some instances they support each other.
In Kalin, Earl Dumarest manages to forget the lost of his first love Derai when he meets a troubled woman named Kalin, who has the ability to see into the future. Lost in a life bubble after surviving a botched hijacking attempt that destroys the ship they were travelling on, Dumarest and Kalin are rescued by a slaver. Though Dumarest has enough money to keep them from being sold on the auction block, they instead find themselves dropped on the planet Chron; a miserable mining planet where the mines run on slave labour and there is no other way to earn a living. Dumarest must find a way to keep both himself and his new love alive while finding a way off the planet. Meanwhile, on another planet, the Cyclan sends one of their order to offer his services to a local noble, despite the fact that their world is too poor to afford their services. What is it that they seek there?
The fourth book in the Dumarest Saga, this is where the series settles down into the pattern it will maintain from now on.
January 3, 2026
How to Write a Standard Dumarist of Terra Book
A checklist of mandatory elements:
----------------------
In all seriousness, the repetition of these elements and passages -- at times verbatim -- has a very real purpose: most of the Dumarest series was written so the books are self-contained episodes. Their inclusion is a cozy warm blanket while you work your way through a 30+ set of Dumarest books.
As Malcolm Edwards wrote in his 1974 review in Foundation 5 zine:
----------------------
While my above yammering can apply to any of the Dumarest of Terra books, I decided to share my thoughts here, as Book #4, "Kalin" , is the first in the overall series that can be considered to be "important". This is the book that introduces "the affinity-twin formula”, aka why the Cyclan have a very real reason to hunt our fearless hero up and down and all around the galaxy, vice just "being evil for evil's sake", as it were.
If you're deciding which (if any) of the Dumarest of Terra books to read-or-skip, make sure that this is in your to-read queue. Not having this book in the back of your mind when you delve deeper in the series would be short-changing yourself, IMHO.
Overall: 4.5 stars.
A checklist of mandatory elements:
• At least one smoking hot female lead that falls madly in looooOoOOooove with Earl.
◦ Bonus points if her name is also the title of the book.
• A description of "the affinity-twin formula”..., “based on a molecular chain of fifteen units and the reversal of one unit would make it either dominant or subject”, how it was stolen and how the Cyclan want it back (calculating it by hand would take “9,000 years”).
• One or more references to previous lovers -- most importantly the lead female character in this book, the beautiful redhead Kalin .
• If a female is somehow *not* interested in Earl, then there’s a very high probability that they are transexual and will find a way sell out Earl to the Cyclan.
• An obligatory description of a Cyclan bad guy mentally phoning home via “the Samatchazi formula” to their "headquarters buried deep beneath miles of rock on a lonely planet” .
• A description of “riding low” in “caskets meant for the transport of animals”, “frozen and ninety percent dead”, with a “fifteen percent death rate”.
• Drinking a tall cool glass of “Basic”, aka “all the nutrients and vitamins a space traveler needs in a day”.
• Speaking of drinks… got wine? Every planet in the galaxy drinks wine by the gallon, of course. Descriptors of how the wine differs from the norm is mandatory.
• Earl of Earth’s origin story of “scared youngster stowing away on a ship”, a “kindly captain taking him in vice shoving him out of an airlock”, and how the many years of wandering ended up in regions of that galaxy where almost everyone thinks “Earth” is a mythical joke (“...like Eden or El Dorado”), especially in light of racial diversity, etc.
◦ Bonus points if a character says “`Earth’? What a silly name for a planet! That’s like calling a place ‘Dirt’ haha!”
• Obligatory “Church of the Universal Brotherhood” references, to include the mention that their religious services come with both a wafer of food and a hypnotic block to keep people from committing murder, plus their credo “Here, but for the grace of God, go I.”
• Oh, and never forget: Earl's 9-inch knife is so important, it might as well be considered to be his sidekick. 100% obligatory!
----------------------
In all seriousness, the repetition of these elements and passages -- at times verbatim -- has a very real purpose: most of the Dumarest series was written so the books are self-contained episodes. Their inclusion is a cozy warm blanket while you work your way through a 30+ set of Dumarest books.
As Malcolm Edwards wrote in his 1974 review in Foundation 5 zine:
"...the author must assume that the
reader hasn’t come across the other
volumes, and therefore the various
key elements must be re-established
each time. And in a work of this kind,
once you have thought up an adequate
description of a process, why bother
to think up another, if you require it
only once per book?"
----------------------
While my above yammering can apply to any of the Dumarest of Terra books, I decided to share my thoughts here, as Book #4, "Kalin" , is the first in the overall series that can be considered to be "important". This is the book that introduces "the affinity-twin formula”, aka why the Cyclan have a very real reason to hunt our fearless hero up and down and all around the galaxy, vice just "being evil for evil's sake", as it were.
If you're deciding which (if any) of the Dumarest of Terra books to read-or-skip, make sure that this is in your to-read queue. Not having this book in the back of your mind when you delve deeper in the series would be short-changing yourself, IMHO.
Overall: 4.5 stars.
February 16, 2024
Witch Hunting and Spaceship Jacking, the Brotherhood and the Cyclan, Zardles and Zerds, Vendettas and Symbiotes
Kalin (1969), the fourth entry in E. C. Tubb’s LONG Earl Dumarest series of pulpy space opera with teeth starts with a bang: Earl Dumarest is stopping over on a planet celebrating Bloodnight, an annual festival where everyone tries to kill their foes, rivals, enemies, and victims, and he and some other fellow passengers are safely watching from behind the guarded fence around the spaceport, when they see this red-haired, green-eyed, long-legged “girl” running from a rabid mob shouting “Kill the witch!” so Dumarest (naturally) intervenes: “‘Do we have to kill you to get her?’ ‘You could try,’ said Dumarest.” Ever chivalrous, he pays for her passage on his spaceship, soon discovering that Kalin (her name) is indeed a witch, having the ability to see the future, albeit somewhat vaguely.
One of the interesting things about Kalin is that she fears seeing bad things that will happen and yet can’t help morbidly looking at them, despite Dumarest repeatedly asking her not to because seeing future calamities upsets her and because he doesn’t want to know what’s going to happen: “The temptation to use it, to be sure, against the temptation not to use, to retain hope. And how long could the desire simply to hope last against the desire to know for certain?”
The short novel packs a lot into its story: an aged mercenary and his aged lover planning to hijack a spaceship so he can buy an army to rule a world and she can pay for an expensive operation to transplant her brain into a nubile body; a miraculous rescue in deep space; a trip to a dead-end slave-mining planet where the only hope to earn enough to buy passage off world is “by hunting a zardle and hoping to find a zerd” (!); the altruistic machinations of the Brotherhood of the Universal Church, whose monks want to help humanity by teaching us that “The pain of one is the pain of all,” and the malevolent machinations of the Cyclan, whose cyborgs think that without emotions they’re better equipped to run the galaxy than us; a vendetta world’s half-metal survivor of a five-year war between two families, looking for his daughter to carry on the family line; a pastoral planet’s House whose brothers’ horse breeding business is threatened by winged predators and a comatose sister’s medical care; a blinding and an eye operation; a stunning revelation featuring a symbiote that connects back thematically to the opening of the novel; and a genuinely unnerving and moving kiss.
How Earl Dumarest connects all these plot strands (on five different worlds!) is exciting, surprising, poignant, tragic, and neat. And compact! People sure don’t write such punchy and concise less is more novels nowadays.
Four novels into the series, we know that Earl Dumarest ain’t gonna end up with a lover, ‘cause he has to keep going on his Big Mission via countless spaceship rides to countless worlds, “Travelling, always travelling, always looking for Earth. For the planet which seemed to have become forgotten. The world no one knew. Home!” Frustratingly, most people he meets in the galaxy think Earth is a legend or a piece of nonsense: what planet would be called “earth”? And how could the myriad human beings on myriad worlds ever have come from a single planet of origin? I’m getting used to him meeting a new “girl” near the start of a novel, getting involved with her in the middle, and then losing her somehow in the end so he can go on to his next world/adventure/girl. He doesn’t want to love ‘em and leave ‘em! He really falls in love: ‘You are you,’ he said slowly. ‘If you were to have an accident, lose your beauty in some way, it would make no difference to the way I feel. I didn’t fall in love with a pair of green eyes, some white skin and red hair. I fell in love with a woman.’
In addition to his endless search for home, we learn a bit more about Earl in this book, like his traumatic childhood on Earth, as well as confirm his formerly established traits: speedy and ruthless fighting, loyalty to friends, chivalry to women, laconic speech, natural leadership, and resourceful and indefatigable survival skills.
Tubb had a fertile imagination for SF devices:
--Bank funds accessed by inserting your forearm into a device to read subcutaneous tattoos.
--Dream Helmets that give you dreams while you sleep.
--Books with animated pages (especially useful for porn).
--Quick-time hypos to slow you down so time passes faster and slow-time hypos for the opposite.
--Symbiotes that give you your desired dreams in return for a little nutrition from you.
--Cyborgs.
*But so far he has no interest in aliens.
It’s not high literature, but Tubb wrote vivid, tight, pointed sf prose, like:
“His eyes looked like holes punched in snow.”
And
“There was a head, bald, shining, creased like a mass of crumpled crepe, swollen to twice normal size. The eyes were thin glittering slits, the mouth a lipless gash and the chin was a part of the composite whole which was the neck. A sheet covered the body with its strange and alien protuberances. Pipes ran from beneath it and connected to quietly humming machines. Tanks and instruments completed the life-support installation. ‘Nice, isn’t it?’”
Yes, there is neat stuff here about bodies (aged, diseased, injured, scarred, repaired, cybernetic, etc.). What happens to our mind/soul/relationships when our bodies are damaged or changed?
There is alas late 60s sexism, like “Woman-like, she was indifferent to the comfort of others when a problem filled her mind,” but otherwise, Tubb’s novels seem rather timeless.
I’m looking forward to the next novel in the series, wanting to find out what kind of trouble Earl and his new love interest get into.
Kalin (1969), the fourth entry in E. C. Tubb’s LONG Earl Dumarest series of pulpy space opera with teeth starts with a bang: Earl Dumarest is stopping over on a planet celebrating Bloodnight, an annual festival where everyone tries to kill their foes, rivals, enemies, and victims, and he and some other fellow passengers are safely watching from behind the guarded fence around the spaceport, when they see this red-haired, green-eyed, long-legged “girl” running from a rabid mob shouting “Kill the witch!” so Dumarest (naturally) intervenes: “‘Do we have to kill you to get her?’ ‘You could try,’ said Dumarest.” Ever chivalrous, he pays for her passage on his spaceship, soon discovering that Kalin (her name) is indeed a witch, having the ability to see the future, albeit somewhat vaguely.
One of the interesting things about Kalin is that she fears seeing bad things that will happen and yet can’t help morbidly looking at them, despite Dumarest repeatedly asking her not to because seeing future calamities upsets her and because he doesn’t want to know what’s going to happen: “The temptation to use it, to be sure, against the temptation not to use, to retain hope. And how long could the desire simply to hope last against the desire to know for certain?”
The short novel packs a lot into its story: an aged mercenary and his aged lover planning to hijack a spaceship so he can buy an army to rule a world and she can pay for an expensive operation to transplant her brain into a nubile body; a miraculous rescue in deep space; a trip to a dead-end slave-mining planet where the only hope to earn enough to buy passage off world is “by hunting a zardle and hoping to find a zerd” (!); the altruistic machinations of the Brotherhood of the Universal Church, whose monks want to help humanity by teaching us that “The pain of one is the pain of all,” and the malevolent machinations of the Cyclan, whose cyborgs think that without emotions they’re better equipped to run the galaxy than us; a vendetta world’s half-metal survivor of a five-year war between two families, looking for his daughter to carry on the family line; a pastoral planet’s House whose brothers’ horse breeding business is threatened by winged predators and a comatose sister’s medical care; a blinding and an eye operation; a stunning revelation featuring a symbiote that connects back thematically to the opening of the novel; and a genuinely unnerving and moving kiss.
How Earl Dumarest connects all these plot strands (on five different worlds!) is exciting, surprising, poignant, tragic, and neat. And compact! People sure don’t write such punchy and concise less is more novels nowadays.
Four novels into the series, we know that Earl Dumarest ain’t gonna end up with a lover, ‘cause he has to keep going on his Big Mission via countless spaceship rides to countless worlds, “Travelling, always travelling, always looking for Earth. For the planet which seemed to have become forgotten. The world no one knew. Home!” Frustratingly, most people he meets in the galaxy think Earth is a legend or a piece of nonsense: what planet would be called “earth”? And how could the myriad human beings on myriad worlds ever have come from a single planet of origin? I’m getting used to him meeting a new “girl” near the start of a novel, getting involved with her in the middle, and then losing her somehow in the end so he can go on to his next world/adventure/girl. He doesn’t want to love ‘em and leave ‘em! He really falls in love: ‘You are you,’ he said slowly. ‘If you were to have an accident, lose your beauty in some way, it would make no difference to the way I feel. I didn’t fall in love with a pair of green eyes, some white skin and red hair. I fell in love with a woman.’
In addition to his endless search for home, we learn a bit more about Earl in this book, like his traumatic childhood on Earth, as well as confirm his formerly established traits: speedy and ruthless fighting, loyalty to friends, chivalry to women, laconic speech, natural leadership, and resourceful and indefatigable survival skills.
Tubb had a fertile imagination for SF devices:
--Bank funds accessed by inserting your forearm into a device to read subcutaneous tattoos.
--Dream Helmets that give you dreams while you sleep.
--Books with animated pages (especially useful for porn).
--Quick-time hypos to slow you down so time passes faster and slow-time hypos for the opposite.
--Symbiotes that give you your desired dreams in return for a little nutrition from you.
--Cyborgs.
*But so far he has no interest in aliens.
It’s not high literature, but Tubb wrote vivid, tight, pointed sf prose, like:
“His eyes looked like holes punched in snow.”
And
“There was a head, bald, shining, creased like a mass of crumpled crepe, swollen to twice normal size. The eyes were thin glittering slits, the mouth a lipless gash and the chin was a part of the composite whole which was the neck. A sheet covered the body with its strange and alien protuberances. Pipes ran from beneath it and connected to quietly humming machines. Tanks and instruments completed the life-support installation. ‘Nice, isn’t it?’”
Yes, there is neat stuff here about bodies (aged, diseased, injured, scarred, repaired, cybernetic, etc.). What happens to our mind/soul/relationships when our bodies are damaged or changed?
There is alas late 60s sexism, like “Woman-like, she was indifferent to the comfort of others when a problem filled her mind,” but otherwise, Tubb’s novels seem rather timeless.
I’m looking forward to the next novel in the series, wanting to find out what kind of trouble Earl and his new love interest get into.
October 26, 2011
I would have given the novel three stars, but this is one of the shoddiest professionally released books I've ever read. It looks like it's been scanned in but not proofed. I won't give many examples because it feels wrong to offer free proofreading when the publisher has apparently not bothered to pay anyone to do it, but as an example there were two occasions on which characters smacked their hps after eating the last erf their food. I hope this isn't representative of the other SF Gateway titles.
November 27, 2010
I really liked this one. Dumarest is a great character and in this one we get to see him fall in love. But the woman he loves isn't what he thinks. I thought the twist at the end was really good. Well worth reading.
July 8, 2019
Biased. I was named after the book
December 8, 2022
Dumarest of Terra books, published over the span of more than 40 years (1967 - 2008) has got to be just about the longest sci-fi series ever written by a single author. That's an impressive run, and after reading Kalin, my first book by Tubb, I can see the appeal.
This was much more than just the pulpy adventure sci-fi I was expecting. Yes, there's plenty of brisk action, adventure, and even some romance, but Tubb also tackles some deeper and more weighty subjects such as the injustices of indentured servitude. The scenes with Dumarest stranded on the desolate slaver mining planet, hunting dragon like creatures for the valuable jewels embedded in their skulls, were among my favorite. He also introduces some intriguing sci-fi elements such as the notion of "low" vs "high" interstellar travel (the slowing or speeding up of relative time) and a race of enigmatic "Cybers", humans purged of all emotion and feeling, comprising the nefarious "Cyclan" organization.
Earl Dumarest himself makes for an interesting hero, just as apt to rescue a damsel in distress as he is to turn a blind eye in his own self interest. The storytelling isn't exactly nuanced, but there is some complexity to it as Tubb manages to create a sense of mystery and engagement by weaving together multiple narratives told through a diverse set of POVs that ultimately come together to good effect.
This was much more than just the pulpy adventure sci-fi I was expecting. Yes, there's plenty of brisk action, adventure, and even some romance, but Tubb also tackles some deeper and more weighty subjects such as the injustices of indentured servitude. The scenes with Dumarest stranded on the desolate slaver mining planet, hunting dragon like creatures for the valuable jewels embedded in their skulls, were among my favorite. He also introduces some intriguing sci-fi elements such as the notion of "low" vs "high" interstellar travel (the slowing or speeding up of relative time) and a race of enigmatic "Cybers", humans purged of all emotion and feeling, comprising the nefarious "Cyclan" organization.
Earl Dumarest himself makes for an interesting hero, just as apt to rescue a damsel in distress as he is to turn a blind eye in his own self interest. The storytelling isn't exactly nuanced, but there is some complexity to it as Tubb manages to create a sense of mystery and engagement by weaving together multiple narratives told through a diverse set of POVs that ultimately come together to good effect.
October 13, 2024
“Kalin” (1969)
Overall Rating 7/10 – Foreseeably Good
Plot
Our protagonist, Earl Dumarest, finds himself falling in love with a clairvoyant. But is she all she seems?
Writing Style
Easy, flowing sentences. Some losses of fluidity. An occasional spattering of obscure words. Very modern style. Quite easy to watch the film unfold in your head but some dis-jointed sectional plots.
Point of View/Voice
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)
Critique
This is the fourth E. C. Tubb novel in the Dumarest series and was written in 1969. Unlike its predecessor (“Toyman”, the 3rd book in the series) I didn’t manage to stay focused as the plot jumped around. A pity really, because I thought the author had addressed that issue. Still, I have read a later instalment and I think that was “ok” so I am sure we will get there.
I was very much looking forward to one special aspect of this story (the clairvoyance), but sadly, in my view, too little was made of it. The plot(s) were difficult to follow and did not appear to be connected (although it was an obvious guess to suppose they were). As much as they were difficult to follow, the ending was well-woven.
I think another break from our protagonist (Earl Dumarest) is now in order (never a good sign, right?) … but I WILL be back …
Overall Rating 7/10 – Foreseeably Good
Plot
Our protagonist, Earl Dumarest, finds himself falling in love with a clairvoyant. But is she all she seems?
Writing Style
Easy, flowing sentences. Some losses of fluidity. An occasional spattering of obscure words. Very modern style. Quite easy to watch the film unfold in your head but some dis-jointed sectional plots.
Point of View/Voice
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)
Critique
This is the fourth E. C. Tubb novel in the Dumarest series and was written in 1969. Unlike its predecessor (“Toyman”, the 3rd book in the series) I didn’t manage to stay focused as the plot jumped around. A pity really, because I thought the author had addressed that issue. Still, I have read a later instalment and I think that was “ok” so I am sure we will get there.
I was very much looking forward to one special aspect of this story (the clairvoyance), but sadly, in my view, too little was made of it. The plot(s) were difficult to follow and did not appear to be connected (although it was an obvious guess to suppose they were). As much as they were difficult to follow, the ending was well-woven.
I think another break from our protagonist (Earl Dumarest) is now in order (never a good sign, right?) … but I WILL be back …
January 30, 2019
Was there ever a pulp hero who was more of a romantic and yet unluckier in love than Earl Dumarest? I think not.
Still reeling from the tragic events of Toyman , Dumarest falls for a girl he rescues from a mob accusing her of witchcraft. In fact she's a precog whose ability saves her and Dumarest from an attempt by fellow passengers to hijack their starship, yet lands them on the horrific slave world of Chron.
As with the previous book in the series, there is a web of intrigue behind the scenes that doesn't touch Dumarest at all until near the end. Most of the plot threads don't seem to go anywhere - until suddenly they do, and the plot comes together like the solution to a Sherlock Holmes mystery no one was trying to solve.
The stakes this time around were much lower, though - Dumarest's survival and his poor, broken heart. Seriously, this guy needs to lay off romance for a while and just focus on getting back to Earth.
Still reeling from the tragic events of Toyman , Dumarest falls for a girl he rescues from a mob accusing her of witchcraft. In fact she's a precog whose ability saves her and Dumarest from an attempt by fellow passengers to hijack their starship, yet lands them on the horrific slave world of Chron.
As with the previous book in the series, there is a web of intrigue behind the scenes that doesn't touch Dumarest at all until near the end. Most of the plot threads don't seem to go anywhere - until suddenly they do, and the plot comes together like the solution to a Sherlock Holmes mystery no one was trying to solve.
The stakes this time around were much lower, though - Dumarest's survival and his poor, broken heart. Seriously, this guy needs to lay off romance for a while and just focus on getting back to Earth.
January 16, 2021
One thing you can accuse Tubb of is not packing a lot of story into a relatively short number of pages. Here, in around nine-score, we get a forerunner to the modern day Purge, a disastrous spaceship hijacking, a beast-hunt and
April 30, 2020
My favorite write is Vance. Especially his stories about space-travelers are enjoyed. But Tubb also has a good knack of writing in this genre. This series is about Dumarest, a space traveler going from planet to planet to find his original home, planet Earth. I like the descriptions of the planets, cultures and habits he encounters. All imaginations of Tubb.
This is #4 in the series of 32 where he meets and gets seduced by Kalin. She saves his life several times but she is not who she appears to be. Again the Cyclan manages to anger him and he kills the cyber. A known pattern in the books by now. Also the affinity twin is introduced. A thing we will encounter more.
The story has a Vancian atmosphere with the planets, economics and animals. A good read this one.
This is #4 in the series of 32 where he meets and gets seduced by Kalin. She saves his life several times but she is not who she appears to be. Again the Cyclan manages to anger him and he kills the cyber. A known pattern in the books by now. Also the affinity twin is introduced. A thing we will encounter more.
The story has a Vancian atmosphere with the planets, economics and animals. A good read this one.
August 6, 2025
Tubb continues to imagine interesting worlds and characters that react to them. This particular entry is a little thinner than some of the other Dumarest books I've sampled. In particular, this felt like something of a retread of the second book in the series. We replace the telepathy of Derai with the divination of Kalin, but it otherwise plays out in a similar way all the way up until the inevitable fridging. I understand the "necessity" of that kind of narrative approach if you're going to be writing a lengthy series like this one, but it feels like it can only result in thin characterization for everyone involved. The book is too short to actually develop anything, and the end arrives in a blink and it's on to the next horizon.
January 22, 2024
Dumarest drags his broke-ass to a few different planets, falling for a telepath (No, don't do it, Earl!) in the meanwhile, who's not all she seems.
I mean, I get Tubb hammering the point home about the economic disparity between the haves and the have nots in the far future and all, but it all seems a bit ham-fisted, and leads to some odd pacing choices with hunts going on, etc. Once again the Cybers prove an annoyance. Once again Earl overcomes their dastardly designs. Once again Earl comes out ahead, and yet behind.
But this time, I think, I'm out. Best of luck for your next 29 volumes, Earl.
I mean, I get Tubb hammering the point home about the economic disparity between the haves and the have nots in the far future and all, but it all seems a bit ham-fisted, and leads to some odd pacing choices with hunts going on, etc. Once again the Cybers prove an annoyance. Once again Earl overcomes their dastardly designs. Once again Earl comes out ahead, and yet behind.
But this time, I think, I'm out. Best of luck for your next 29 volumes, Earl.
September 29, 2019
This 4th in the Dumarest saga was pretty good. The protagonist of the series, Earl Dumarest, is a standard strong-jawed hero. He's tough, smart, competent at pretty much everything. He doesn't think all that much. The novels are chauvinistic, being of a certain era of SF. Go back a few decades and you don't really find a lot of female characters who have much to say. That being said, they are fast, fun space-opera reads. For what it is, I'd rate this one a 5. It's nice to read some SF that you can just read and not have to decypher.
December 29, 2024
This book had a lot of really neat sci-fi concepts that I'd never heard before. However, they were all unleashed on me at once, and it was a little overwhelming. The pacing was crazy and the story, while interesting, wasn't very compelling. These back-pocket, pulp, sci-fi novels may just not be for me.
June 2, 2018
This book was written in 1969 so an OK read for classic sci-fi.
November 16, 2022
Dumarest travels.
Another sad tale of the misfit Dumarest. Being a lover of Dumarest can be quite deadly. And as a clairvoyant you can see it coming
Another sad tale of the misfit Dumarest. Being a lover of Dumarest can be quite deadly. And as a clairvoyant you can see it coming
June 11, 2014
‘Many times, Dumarest’s dream of Earth has almost cost him his life. As he journeys from world to world, restlessly moving outwards toward 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.’
Blurb from the 1976 Arrow paperback edition
Dumarest finds himself in the midst of Bloodtime on Logis, a period when lawlessness is acceptable. As he is about to leave he saves a flame-haired girl from a mob who claim she is a witch, and pays her fare to the next planet.
The girl is Kalin, and Dumarest soon discovers that she has the gift of foresight. Elsewhere, the Universal Brotherhood are petitioned to find a flame-haired girl called Mallini who has run away from her home on Sard.
On board ship, a man and woman attempt robbery and hijack, but are caught and the man killed. The dying woman tries to make her way to the control room in order to destroy the ship and herself.
On Kalin’s home planet of Solis, Cyber Mede is in residence, there to advise how to keep the pterodactyl-like Thren from preying on the local horses.
Dumarest and Kalin are rescued and taken to the mining world of Chron, a harsh deadly world where the options are to submit to a slave-collar and work the mines, or hunt the reptilian zardles in the hope that one might find a zerd, a pearl-like object found in the brains of zardles and highly-prized.
Dumarest’s experience and tactics help some of the hunters find enough zerds for he and Kalin to book a passage to Solis.
There, Kalin’s secret is discovered, for she is in actuality Mallini, and Kalin is a crippled old woman who has been given the secret of the affinity twin, an artificial symbiotic life form that when introduced into two organisms, allows the dominant twin to inhabit and control the body of the other. It is a secret stolen from the Cyclan, a secret they are desperate to reclaim. Kalin passes on the secret to Dumarest before she dies, and thus gives the Cyclan a reason to pursue Dumarest throughout the next twenty-nine volumes.
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.’
Blurb from the 1976 Arrow paperback edition
Dumarest finds himself in the midst of Bloodtime on Logis, a period when lawlessness is acceptable. As he is about to leave he saves a flame-haired girl from a mob who claim she is a witch, and pays her fare to the next planet.
The girl is Kalin, and Dumarest soon discovers that she has the gift of foresight. Elsewhere, the Universal Brotherhood are petitioned to find a flame-haired girl called Mallini who has run away from her home on Sard.
On board ship, a man and woman attempt robbery and hijack, but are caught and the man killed. The dying woman tries to make her way to the control room in order to destroy the ship and herself.
On Kalin’s home planet of Solis, Cyber Mede is in residence, there to advise how to keep the pterodactyl-like Thren from preying on the local horses.
Dumarest and Kalin are rescued and taken to the mining world of Chron, a harsh deadly world where the options are to submit to a slave-collar and work the mines, or hunt the reptilian zardles in the hope that one might find a zerd, a pearl-like object found in the brains of zardles and highly-prized.
Dumarest’s experience and tactics help some of the hunters find enough zerds for he and Kalin to book a passage to Solis.
There, Kalin’s secret is discovered, for she is in actuality Mallini, and Kalin is a crippled old woman who has been given the secret of the affinity twin, an artificial symbiotic life form that when introduced into two organisms, allows the dominant twin to inhabit and control the body of the other. It is a secret stolen from the Cyclan, a secret they are desperate to reclaim. Kalin passes on the secret to Dumarest before she dies, and thus gives the Cyclan a reason to pursue Dumarest throughout the next twenty-nine volumes.
November 1, 2010
Her name was Kalin and she was a sensitive, able to see into the future. When Earl Dumarest first saw her, she was being pursued by a mob intent on murder. He was safe at the gate of the space port.
He didn't hesitate, rescuing her amidst a welter of blood, from the mob. The only way he could get her into the space port was buying her passage on a starship leaving port. Two high passages.
Worse luck, an aborted takeover caused the ship to explode, Dumarest and Kalin escaping in a pod. Rescued, unfortunately by a slave ship headed to a mining planet, and to keep from being sold into slavery, he bought two high passsages, which effectively cleaned him out.
On the planet, they were left penniless among the stranded travelers, free, but no way to earn money for a passage to another planet.
Which caused them to plan a dangerous undertaking to raise money.
Also, unknown to Dumarest, someone important was looking for Kalin.
He didn't hesitate, rescuing her amidst a welter of blood, from the mob. The only way he could get her into the space port was buying her passage on a starship leaving port. Two high passages.
Worse luck, an aborted takeover caused the ship to explode, Dumarest and Kalin escaping in a pod. Rescued, unfortunately by a slave ship headed to a mining planet, and to keep from being sold into slavery, he bought two high passsages, which effectively cleaned him out.
On the planet, they were left penniless among the stranded travelers, free, but no way to earn money for a passage to another planet.
Which caused them to plan a dangerous undertaking to raise money.
Also, unknown to Dumarest, someone important was looking for Kalin.
June 2, 2012
In his endless search for his home planet Earth, Earl Dumarest manages to forget the lost of his first love Derai when he meets a troubled woman named Kalin, who has the ability to see into the future. Lost in a life bubble after surviving a botched hijacking attempt that destroys the ship they were travelling on, Dumarest and Kalin are rescued by a slaver.
Read more
Read more
February 1, 2015
A lot weaker than the previous three books in the series. While the first three books had a good story, a well built suspence and competent atmosphere creation, this one is way too fragmented and not very involving. A deception.
February 13, 2019
Solid pulp sci-fi. Nice ending and pretty good characters.
September 25, 2018
The writing is up to Tubb's usual standards, but the plotting is a bit more troublesome. I find that the multithreads of this one never gel well and that the overall story is too picaresque.
March 27, 2016
Still good. A quick read. Enjoyable enough to propel me to next book.
May 18, 2016
I enjoyed this book - lots of ideas and concepts that have been developed in subsequent scifi.
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