DUMAREST SAGA
5 primary works • 34 total works
Book 3
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)
Book 21
It was touch and go for Earl Dumarest when the slavers of the Matriarchy of Onorldi struck his work camp. Had he not captured the Matriarch herself during the fight, it might have spelled his doom when the slavers triumphed.
Because, even though the odds had turned heavily against him, he was able to strike a bargain. The Matriarch's child daughter Iduna had disappeared into the mind-trap of the Tau. If he could follow, find her, and return with her, he would have his freedom and a chance to locate the lost Earth he sought.
But Dumarest had to outwit her monster playthings, outfight her hideous horrors, and outdream her satanic fantasies . . .
(First published 1979)
Book 23
Ascelius was an academic world, whose primary business was teaching the knowledge of the thousands of worlds, and housing great universities and colleges, populated by students and scholars from all over the galaxy.
Such a world was surely the place to learn of the legendary planet called Earth. And Dumarest discovered that there had once indeed been a study-group of Earth lore. But to find the remnants of it was not easy. Not when the dreaded Cyber already had a toe-hold on Ascelius - and genetic engineering of man and monster was the latest fad.
But Dumarest was not a quitter. Whatever the tests might demand, he would not give up . . . although it might mean death for others - or even for himself.
(First published 1980)
Book 27
All the signals seemed set at "go." For Earl Dumarest had found people who believed in the legendary Earth. He had found the coordinates of the Sun and its attendant planets. And he would have the starship with a faithful crew of colonists for whom Earth was the paradise of their dreams.
But before he could reach that ideal moment, Dumarest would have to fight his way out of a demonic Cyclan trap as well as unravel a very tricky web of planetary conspiracy.
Only if he could achieve those desperate goals would he be able to set out on what he hoped would be the final lap of his long galactic trek . . .
(First published 1982)
Book 30
Clues from Angado, clues from the lady Govinda, all leading Dumarest on in his search for the lost Planet Earth. But first they lead him to a collector of ancient wisdom called Tama Chenault.
But Chenault is not all that he seems, and Dumarest is forced to bargain for the information he seeks. In return he must pledge allegiance to Chenault's deadly plan . . .
(First published 1984)
As guardian of the Universe's freedom from the domination by the Cyclan, Earl Dumarest is ruthlessly hunted by their agent, Cyber Broge, as he searches for the fortune necessary to finance his epic quest for Terra - the planet of his birth. Hunter and fugitive, predator and victim, Earl Dumarest lands on the planet Zakym.
ZAKYM - a cadaverous, twin-sunned world where the spectres of the dead daily claim the lives of the living; a decadent world that threatens to explode with the unparalleled violence of civil war and broken taboos.
ZAKYM - home of the beautiful, haunted Lavinia whose soul is claimed and condemned by a power-crazed madman.
Both Lavinia and her planet are doomed until a man appears who promises to be their saviour. Dumarest is the only person capable of challenging the terrifying menace of the Cyclan and the terrors of Zakym. But can even he triumph against such foes?
(First published 1977)
There was only one way out of Harge: to find a singing jewel, the greatest prize on that world of sand dunes. But the jewels were hidden deep in the burrows of Harge's most vicious predator.
Earl Dumarest could fight humans, could match wits with the implacable Cyclan. But now, in his galaxy-spanning quest for the lost planet Earth, he must face the WEB OF SAND.
(First published 1979)
The Terridae believed the lost Earth was heaven and utopia combined. In their artificial planet, they moved slowly through the universe in search of it. And in their eyes, the rediscovery of Earth was to be the Event.
Now they said the Event was coming! Earl Dumarest - who was born on Earth and knew the truth - was an unwelcome visitor among them. If they knew of Earth's whereabouts, they were not telling him.
But another Event was already on its way. A Cyclan ship was rapidly approaching the Terridae's world, confident that this time Dumarest would fall into their heartless clutches.
Dumarest was not ready to flee - but if he stayed there would be no Earth for him, only a long, lingering doom.
(First published 1982)
Scar: a harsh, inhospitable world with a vicious and shifting population of prospectors, drawn from every corner of the galaxy by rumours of a miraculous golden spore.
To this violent planet come two more travellers, ready to try their luck among its lethal jungles: the cruel, mocking Lord of Jest - and Dumarest, driven by destiny on his endless search for Lost Earth . . .
(First published 1970)
'Earth is real,' Dumarest insisted. 'A world old and scarred by ancient wars. The stars are few and there is a great single moon which hangs like a pale sun in the night sky.'
In the quest for his legendary birthplace, Earl Dumarest has traversed galaxies. Now, at least, he reaches Ourelle, a planet close to Earth - out along a far arm of the Milky Way. There he finds Jondelle, a boy who may hold the key to Earl's search.
But then Jondelle is kidnapped. And Dumarest's pursuit of the imperilled boy leads him to a city of paranoiac killers - madmen whose terrible violence is always on a hair-trigger!
(First published 1973)
In relentless pursuit of Earl Dumarest come the emotionless minions of the Cyclan. Seeking the body-switching formula which would make them masters of the universe, they must seize Dumarest alive to gain his secret.
It all comes together on the world of the Guardians, where in the great temple of their fanatical faith, the true co-ordinates of Earth are listed. There Dumarest will battle the Cyclan . . . while the fate of all humanity hangs in the balance.
(First published 1985)
Dumarest continues his restless wandering - combing the spaceways for an ancient and almost forgotten planet called Earth.
Then, on a primitive world, he fights a giant mutant for the life of the lovely psychic Lallia - and wins a vital clue that could lead him to the end of his quest . . .
(First published 1971)
The Cyclan was the greatest concentration of intelligence in a thousand worlds - and yet Earl Dumarest continued to elude it. For too long.
Bochner was the greatest hunter of a hundred worlds - a man more than wise to the wiles of beasts and men. And now he was on the trail of the most dangerous and most challenging quarry of his career: Earl Dumarest.
While Dumarest searched for lost Terra, the Cyclan and Bochner searched for him. Of all the nightmare worlds of the universe, the hunt this time was to lead to the Quillian Sector.
The Quillian Sector: the place where space goes mad...
(First published 1978)
Earl Dumarest, now a vanquished and captive mercenary, is offered the choice of surrender to the fearsome Cyclan or the chance of freedom by the beautiful and ruthless Lady Delphine. The risks are terrifying - but has Dumarest a choice?
Intent on finding the legendary world of Terra - Earth - the planet of his birth; pursued by the brilliant and ruthless megalomaniac race, the Cyclan, whose secret key to Galactic domination only he possesses; trapped on a plague ship hurtling through a universe determined to destroy it, and captained by a madman - Earl Dumarest is tempted by the irresistible but fatal promise of Delphine.
The choice is simple - to abandon his dreams or perish by them, just as they promise fulfilment.
(First published 1976)
The Painting was dramatic, passionate, a work of genius. But Earl Dumarest was blind to its power.
For there, in the background, were the features of cratered Luna, satellite of Earth, the fabled planet that Dumarest had sought through countless galaxies.
Dumarest had to find the artist, had to talk to him. His trail led to Ath - and to the ominous forces of the Cyclan.
(First published 1978)
ZAKYM: World of the night-rulers and the day people. A world teetering on the edge of nightmare.
The Cyclan orders were clear - 'Find Dumarest. Find him before war erupts on ZAKYM.' But Zakym could hold the key to Dumarest's search for his lost home planet - and for that he would risk everything.
(First published 1977)
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.
Cyber Prime surveyed the domains of his vast scattered empire with trepidation. Central Intelligence had ruled the empire in the past. Now he knew that this gigantic computer was degenerating, breaking up after years of use.
Only one man could save them: Earl Dumarest, a lonely space traveller engaged on a long quest to find his birth planet, Earth. The Cybers must find and intercept him.
But before the Cybers discover Dumarest, they encounter Eloise, a beautiful seductress who drives logic from their minds . . .
(First published 1975)
This is the tale of Earl Dumarest. Space-wanderer, gladiator-for-hire, seeker of Man's forgotten home.
Dumarest's search begins on the ghost-world of Gath, where he becomes unwilling champion of the Matriarch of Kund, and must undergo a fight-to-the-death at stormtime.
Victory could give Dumarest his first clue to the whereabouts of the planet he fled from as a child - an obscure world scarred by ancient wars, which lies countless light years from the thickly populated centre of the galaxy; a world no-one else in the inhabited universe believed exists.
Earth, the birthplace of Man.
(First published 1967)
Dumarest has traced the lost planet of Earth to one remote corner of the galaxy, but he still lacks its precise co-ordinates.
Somewhere on the cyber-dominated police-world of Technos lives the mysterious woman who can help him. And the only way to find her is to become a slave . . .
(First published 1972)