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Dumarest of Terra #16
Haven of Darkness
Dumarest had been to many worlds in his long quest for Earth, but none were to entrap him as dangerously as Zakym. A mere stop on his route, Dumarest had thought, but he had not known then of the things that made Zakym of the double-sun unique.
One was the daily recurrence of the dead—the time of delusia when spectres walked and criticized the works of the living.
The other was the Pact—the unwritten treaty with an unseen species that divided the world forever. In daytime it belonged to humanity; after dark it became a hostile and alien planet.
Dumarest thought Zakym would be a mere stopover on his quest, but the living, the dead, and the invisible decided otherwise.
One was the daily recurrence of the dead—the time of delusia when spectres walked and criticized the works of the living.
The other was the Pact—the unwritten treaty with an unseen species that divided the world forever. In daytime it belonged to humanity; after dark it became a hostile and alien planet.
Dumarest thought Zakym would be a mere stopover on his quest, but the living, the dead, and the invisible decided otherwise.
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 17, 1977
About the author
E.C. Tubb
383 books86 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 15, 2023
an absorbing start: after a day riding her horse and chatting with the spirit of an old crush - while under the spell of something called "delusia" that may stem from the twin suns of her world - haughty noblewoman Lavinia realizes she has traveled too far from her castle, and dusk is quickly approaching. on the world of Zakym, the night belongs entirely to another species; any human found out & about will suffer a painful death. back to her fortress she races!
Lavinia and our protagonist Earl Dumarest won't meet until nearly the last third of the novel; until then the reader is given two contrasting parallel narratives, Lavinia on Zakym and Earl on the planet Harald. Earl's story is familiar, at first: stuck on yet another unsympathetic capitalist world, one in which the the owner class crushes anyone unlucky enough to not be born rich, let alone those who have the misfortune of traveling there without plenty of cash. and then his story becomes unfamiliar: trapped by an enemy as he attempts to make a getaway on a trade ship, Earl transfers his consciousness to the body of the ship's navigator Cagney - a terminally ill alcoholic.
this is a particularly well-done installment, swiftly-paced as usual but surprisingly moving, with a deep melancholy at its core (and this is a generally melancholy series, to say the least). the symptoms of delusia cause Earl to see many past characters who have crossed his path and then died. the sad fate of alcoholics must have been on Tubb's mind, because we have two examples of those so afflicted, both empathetically rendered. there was such tragedy in the story of an eccentric scientist who has given up the love of his life for booze and such tender compassion in the way that Earl treats this old man. and the sad ending of Cagney, possessed by Earl but still somewhat aware, knowing he will die soon, his body failing by the minute. Earl listens to him crying in fear, deep in his mind. and then Earl kills him. forcing that broken, scared man's body into space, his own mind escaping Cagney at the end, but only after
Lavinia and our protagonist Earl Dumarest won't meet until nearly the last third of the novel; until then the reader is given two contrasting parallel narratives, Lavinia on Zakym and Earl on the planet Harald. Earl's story is familiar, at first: stuck on yet another unsympathetic capitalist world, one in which the the owner class crushes anyone unlucky enough to not be born rich, let alone those who have the misfortune of traveling there without plenty of cash. and then his story becomes unfamiliar: trapped by an enemy as he attempts to make a getaway on a trade ship, Earl transfers his consciousness to the body of the ship's navigator Cagney - a terminally ill alcoholic.
this is a particularly well-done installment, swiftly-paced as usual but surprisingly moving, with a deep melancholy at its core (and this is a generally melancholy series, to say the least). the symptoms of delusia cause Earl to see many past characters who have crossed his path and then died. the sad fate of alcoholics must have been on Tubb's mind, because we have two examples of those so afflicted, both empathetically rendered. there was such tragedy in the story of an eccentric scientist who has given up the love of his life for booze and such tender compassion in the way that Earl treats this old man. and the sad ending of Cagney, possessed by Earl but still somewhat aware, knowing he will die soon, his body failing by the minute. Earl listens to him crying in fear, deep in his mind. and then Earl kills him. forcing that broken, scared man's body into space, his own mind escaping Cagney at the end, but only after
"air gusting from ruptured lungs, eyes freezing into gelid liquids, the blood fuming in the veins at the sudden release of pressure. For a long, aching moment he had hung naked in the void, shrinking at the vast immensity of the universe, overwhelmed by its tremendous majesty, and then had come dissolution."
February 7, 2024
There are many of the usual Dumarest elements at work here, but I found Zakym, the remote planet where he eventually ends up, to be one of the more interesting in the series. It's hardly the most perilous, yet it's rich with mystery. The citizens are seemingly visited by the dead regularly, while sharing the planet with an alien race that hasn't actually been seen in centuries. Under a pact with the aliens humans have access to the planet during the day, while the aliens have free reign at night. All this is essentially background, as the main thrust of the story is really one of intrigue among the rulers on this usually peaceful planet.
There are some genuinely poignant moments as Earl confronts tragedy in the form of two ailing men that die unpleasant deaths as a consequence of having met him, at least one of which haunts his conscience. In addition, he has one of his closest run-ins with a cyber, gaining some first hand experience with the incredibly powerful secret for which they are pursuing him across the galaxy. The lead female character also breaks the mold a bit by proving to be genuinely clever and ambitious, and for once not a total bitch.
There are some genuinely poignant moments as Earl confronts tragedy in the form of two ailing men that die unpleasant deaths as a consequence of having met him, at least one of which haunts his conscience. In addition, he has one of his closest run-ins with a cyber, gaining some first hand experience with the incredibly powerful secret for which they are pursuing him across the galaxy. The lead female character also breaks the mold a bit by proving to be genuinely clever and ambitious, and for once not a total bitch.
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April 21, 2026I've seen Tubb books in used paperback shops for years and didn't know that his Dumarest series was at least one (of if not the primary) inspiration for the Traveler RPG. So I finally got around to reading the one I own (marked $.25! in two stickers on the cover!) It's #16 in the series, perhaps not the ideal place to start, but as it turns out, Earl Dumarest isn't a hard character to grok. Overall, there are moments where the editing and style are a little off and awkward, but once I acclimated to that, these are a fun gritty romp through the underbelly of the spaceways. I imagined more of a Gaean Reach type thing but instead they played more like a Mike Hammer in space thing-- not much mystery but plenty of violence and blood and lusty writing. The SF concepts were fun and the novel's structure was tight and condensed, so I can imagine reading more of these.
August 21, 2009
One of the later ones in the Dumarest series. All these books are readable and interesting but I don't feel compelled to read more. On occassion I'll pick one up and I usually find them worthwhile.
March 3, 2025
250302 Haven of Darkness (Dumarest 16) by EC Tubb
https://www.amazon.com/Haven-Darkness...
It is a cruel universe and a man has only his own moral code, a code with recognizes that everyone is amoral and treacherous to go by.
We are sixteen volumes into the Dumarest saga, and there are two things that you must keep in mind. First, Earl Dumarest wants to find his lost home planet of Earth. Second, he wants to stay away from the clutches of the galaxy spanning scientific-religious cult of the Cyclan.
This “pull/push” framing was a staple of television during the 1960s. Think of television series like The Fugitive, The Immortal, and The Invaders. The hero wanted to find something, which kept him moving around, and he needed to escape someone, which provided tension.
Tubb wrote the Dumarest saga during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. So, he was undoubtedly swamped with that story-telling technique. In addition, his stories are science fiction film noir. Earl Dumarest is Phillip Marlow among the stars. He realizes that life is brutal, everyone lies, there is no morality, no one can be trusted, but he has an unfailing moral code where he will kill only the right person and only for the right reason, and he will be loyal to good people while recognizing the frauds.
Book 15 is complicated for a Dumarest novel. Earl starts on the planet of Harald, which is a relatively benign planet in the Dumarest-universe. It has a fairly high technology level and the ruling oligarchy is not immediately rounding up travelers to fight in proxy wars. On the other hand, the people of Harald are not above exploiting and tricking travelers for their own purposes.
Dumarest has traveled to Harald in order to buy computer time to identify the spectrum he found in Dumarest 15. He believes that the spectrum is that of Earth’s star. Unfortunately, computer time is expensive so he fights to the death in a local arena for a stake. Fortunately, he meets a man whose hobby is compiling star spectrums. Unfortunately, a Cyclan agent logically concludes what he has done and has the man killed so that the police will arrest Dumarest.
Dumarest does not get the spectrum analyzed but flees the planet on a cargo ship. The Cyclan catches up to him there but Dumarest is able to use the Homichon elements – the secret the Cyclan want from him – to his advantage.
Then he arrives on the planet Zakym where a strong woman wants a strong man. Lavinia is that woman. She is dealing with a member of the oligarchy who wants to ignite a war with the local natives. Dumarest is the strong man she wants and he intuits that the man is actually looking to take control of Zakym.
Does Dumarest get closer to finding Earth?
Will he find true love on Zakym?
How will Dumarest resolve the political issues on Zakym?
There are another seventeen books in the series.
https://www.amazon.com/Haven-Darkness...
It is a cruel universe and a man has only his own moral code, a code with recognizes that everyone is amoral and treacherous to go by.
We are sixteen volumes into the Dumarest saga, and there are two things that you must keep in mind. First, Earl Dumarest wants to find his lost home planet of Earth. Second, he wants to stay away from the clutches of the galaxy spanning scientific-religious cult of the Cyclan.
This “pull/push” framing was a staple of television during the 1960s. Think of television series like The Fugitive, The Immortal, and The Invaders. The hero wanted to find something, which kept him moving around, and he needed to escape someone, which provided tension.
Tubb wrote the Dumarest saga during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. So, he was undoubtedly swamped with that story-telling technique. In addition, his stories are science fiction film noir. Earl Dumarest is Phillip Marlow among the stars. He realizes that life is brutal, everyone lies, there is no morality, no one can be trusted, but he has an unfailing moral code where he will kill only the right person and only for the right reason, and he will be loyal to good people while recognizing the frauds.
Book 15 is complicated for a Dumarest novel. Earl starts on the planet of Harald, which is a relatively benign planet in the Dumarest-universe. It has a fairly high technology level and the ruling oligarchy is not immediately rounding up travelers to fight in proxy wars. On the other hand, the people of Harald are not above exploiting and tricking travelers for their own purposes.
Dumarest has traveled to Harald in order to buy computer time to identify the spectrum he found in Dumarest 15. He believes that the spectrum is that of Earth’s star. Unfortunately, computer time is expensive so he fights to the death in a local arena for a stake. Fortunately, he meets a man whose hobby is compiling star spectrums. Unfortunately, a Cyclan agent logically concludes what he has done and has the man killed so that the police will arrest Dumarest.
Dumarest does not get the spectrum analyzed but flees the planet on a cargo ship. The Cyclan catches up to him there but Dumarest is able to use the Homichon elements – the secret the Cyclan want from him – to his advantage.
Then he arrives on the planet Zakym where a strong woman wants a strong man. Lavinia is that woman. She is dealing with a member of the oligarchy who wants to ignite a war with the local natives. Dumarest is the strong man she wants and he intuits that the man is actually looking to take control of Zakym.
Does Dumarest get closer to finding Earth?
Will he find true love on Zakym?
How will Dumarest resolve the political issues on Zakym?
There are another seventeen books in the series.
December 30, 2023
We start (rather unusually, for this series) with a lady called Lavinia who is out riding late. She is 'tricked by Delusia' into staying out to twilight, she races home, desperate to be there before curfew...
With this little sequence Tubb establishes a few world building principles for the reader; about the limitations and social structure of the world. 'Delusia' we learn is a thing that causes – you guessed it – delusions. Lavinia had thought herself riding and talking with a lover long dead, even while she KNEW he was long dead, she went along with the illusion as so many on her world seem to. We finish the sequence with Lavinia mourning that 'where on Zakym' could she find a real man?
Cut to our hero, Earl Dumarest, of course who is every women's dream and the man every other man yearns to be! The next sequence starts with him arriving on a different world, his discussion with the official is, again, a very effective method the author employees to let us find out more about the world; it is wealthy, regulated, very law and order, we find.
At #16 in the series, Dumarest is not travelling low, he is doing better for himself than in the earlier books. He has money enough to travel 'high' and put down enough for another high ticket which is the deposit for entering. Dumarest is here purely to consult the library where he thinks he might be able to find the coordinates of planet Earth, with a fragment of information he acquired in an earlier book. But use of the library does not come cheap, so Dumarest goes on to fight in an arena fight.
This is another standard Tubb ploy. I think there is always a fight, most often in the arena, for money or freedom in the earlier books. In the later I think they are more often for survival. Tubb never fails to highlight bloodlust in the spectators, Dumarest's cool capabilities and the fact that him winning is sexually attractive to women. Look, it is what it is, a specific type of story that comes out of a specific era. Not for everyone and it has dated, I find them charming despite the formulaic element and while there IS stereotyping I don't find them flagrantly sexist, or anywhere near as objectionable as some older stories. In fact, the more I read them the less guilty the pleasure.
So, one more novel down, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, possibly because I have been conservative with them, not gulping them down but rationing them. Maybe, but I thought this was a great book, far better planned, written, paced and described than many others of it's era.
With this little sequence Tubb establishes a few world building principles for the reader; about the limitations and social structure of the world. 'Delusia' we learn is a thing that causes – you guessed it – delusions. Lavinia had thought herself riding and talking with a lover long dead, even while she KNEW he was long dead, she went along with the illusion as so many on her world seem to. We finish the sequence with Lavinia mourning that 'where on Zakym' could she find a real man?
Cut to our hero, Earl Dumarest, of course who is every women's dream and the man every other man yearns to be! The next sequence starts with him arriving on a different world, his discussion with the official is, again, a very effective method the author employees to let us find out more about the world; it is wealthy, regulated, very law and order, we find.
At #16 in the series, Dumarest is not travelling low, he is doing better for himself than in the earlier books. He has money enough to travel 'high' and put down enough for another high ticket which is the deposit for entering. Dumarest is here purely to consult the library where he thinks he might be able to find the coordinates of planet Earth, with a fragment of information he acquired in an earlier book. But use of the library does not come cheap, so Dumarest goes on to fight in an arena fight.
This is another standard Tubb ploy. I think there is always a fight, most often in the arena, for money or freedom in the earlier books. In the later I think they are more often for survival. Tubb never fails to highlight bloodlust in the spectators, Dumarest's cool capabilities and the fact that him winning is sexually attractive to women. Look, it is what it is, a specific type of story that comes out of a specific era. Not for everyone and it has dated, I find them charming despite the formulaic element and while there IS stereotyping I don't find them flagrantly sexist, or anywhere near as objectionable as some older stories. In fact, the more I read them the less guilty the pleasure.
So, one more novel down, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, possibly because I have been conservative with them, not gulping them down but rationing them. Maybe, but I thought this was a great book, far better planned, written, paced and described than many others of it's era.
December 29, 2021
Too many things about this book irked me. It may follow the somewhat rigid formula of the Dumarest Saga but, somehow, it failed to live up to the others (so far) for me.
Maybe it's because Dumarest was more vicious than usual - killing the knife-fighter after he had surrendered (for no real reason, unless to oreventbhim maiming other fighters) and sacrificing the ship's navigator (ok, he was dying already, but it seemed Tubb had written himself into a hole here). Maybe it was the lack if logic. Dumarest cycled the ship's airlock twice and no alarms went off or logs were written.
Part of the pleasure of this saga is visiting new worlds but, in this case, we don't reach Zakym, the planet splashed all over the back cover, until almost two thirds through the book. And when we do, hardly anything is fully explained. Why does Delusia happen? Is the Pact real? There are hints, but nothing concrete.
Sadly, this volume just feels a bit throw-away.
Maybe it's because Dumarest was more vicious than usual - killing the knife-fighter after he had surrendered (for no real reason, unless to oreventbhim maiming other fighters) and sacrificing the ship's navigator (ok, he was dying already, but it seemed Tubb had written himself into a hole here). Maybe it was the lack if logic. Dumarest cycled the ship's airlock twice and no alarms went off or logs were written.
Part of the pleasure of this saga is visiting new worlds but, in this case, we don't reach Zakym, the planet splashed all over the back cover, until almost two thirds through the book. And when we do, hardly anything is fully explained. Why does Delusia happen? Is the Pact real? There are hints, but nothing concrete.
Sadly, this volume just feels a bit throw-away.
January 1, 2020
Not my favourite Dumarest at all. Very slow pace, didn't like the main female character either... Hopefully the next will be better again.
June 17, 2020
Review of the series in the final volume.
April 21, 2021
A quick read. This one was not a better one f the series, or maybe thats because I'm sick. Some less standard involving two worlds instead of one.
August 7, 2020
The story was shallow (even for this series) and the editing was so full of typos...I'm through. After 16 volumes, I'm not buying any more. Earl can find his way home without me.
February 13, 2026
A bit of a mixed bag here. I appreciated the space portion of the book a bit more (and his capture by -- and escape from -- The Cyclan-of-the-Week).
But there was some irksome edits/plot points here.
For example: while possessing the body of the dying drunken navigator, Earl stuffed his own inert body inside a storage crate. Coincidentally, this crate was bound for the estate of the Damsel-of-the-Week.
This could have resulted in an awkward/interesting scene where his host body (the navigator) died too soon, resulting in Earl waking up back in his own body, but trapped inside the crate. Commence Dumarest-style hijinx.
Or... a scene where the Damsel-of-the-Week finds a comatose hunky stud in her delivered shipping crate and says "Hmm, that's odd. This isn't what I ordered from Interstellar-Amazon.com...". More hijinx could have ensued.
But instead, we get the following jarring and vaguely disturbing sequence: in order to forcibly get out the navigator's decrepit body and back into his own body, we have Earl committing suicide by jumping out of an airlock... then immediately followed by a wtf jump-cut to us joining The Damsel and Earl right in the middle of super casual chit chat like they've been best pals for weeks/months, sans any hijinx whatsoever. It was an awkward segue, to say the least.
(Aside: I wonder if this specific section was the victim of the editor being overzealous with his/her red pen?).
Other parts of the book were not explained, such as who/what the Sungari really are (even though Earl learns the hard way that they are not made-up whats-its-of-the-night).
Having already started the next book in the series, I see our boy Earl is still on the crazy planet where ghosts come to life and the Sungari rules the night etc etc, so maybe all will be revealed before he moves on in his nearly endless search for Earth.
3.5 stars
But there was some irksome edits/plot points here.
For example: while possessing the body of the dying drunken navigator, Earl stuffed his own inert body inside a storage crate. Coincidentally, this crate was bound for the estate of the Damsel-of-the-Week.
This could have resulted in an awkward/interesting scene where his host body (the navigator) died too soon, resulting in Earl waking up back in his own body, but trapped inside the crate. Commence Dumarest-style hijinx.
Or... a scene where the Damsel-of-the-Week finds a comatose hunky stud in her delivered shipping crate and says "Hmm, that's odd. This isn't what I ordered from Interstellar-Amazon.com...". More hijinx could have ensued.
But instead, we get the following jarring and vaguely disturbing sequence: in order to forcibly get out the navigator's decrepit body and back into his own body, we have Earl committing suicide by jumping out of an airlock... then immediately followed by a wtf jump-cut to us joining The Damsel and Earl right in the middle of super casual chit chat like they've been best pals for weeks/months, sans any hijinx whatsoever. It was an awkward segue, to say the least.
(Aside: I wonder if this specific section was the victim of the editor being overzealous with his/her red pen?).
Other parts of the book were not explained, such as who/what the Sungari really are (even though Earl learns the hard way that they are not made-up whats-its-of-the-night).
Having already started the next book in the series, I see our boy Earl is still on the crazy planet where ghosts come to life and the Sungari rules the night etc etc, so maybe all will be revealed before he moves on in his nearly endless search for Earth.
3.5 stars
April 6, 2016
One thing that can be said for these novels is..they are timeless. Not dated as contemporary novels can become dated. Some of the novels are better than others...this one was nothing special except for a new twist/problem associated with his method of escaping. What is new, seemingly, is the next novel takes place on the same world.
June 5, 2020
One more step in the unending quest... Excellent, as always.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews