I started reading Dumarest 17 today during lunch. 📚
None of the “break/lunch” areas at work are really quiet or private. Of course, this is a workplace and I have no real right to expect either. However, I work in a library. So my new thing is quickly eating a sandwich and going up into the public area of the library, finding a quiet, secluded easy chair, and reading for 45 minutes.
Returning to the Dumarest saga after reading a few other books is very much like settling into that easy chair. I know the character, I know what his goals are, I know the downtrodden brutality of the Dumarest universe, and I know what to expect. True to form, in Chapter One Early has already killed two people with his knife. E.C. Tubb does not fool around. Right into action.
I learned of the Dumarest of Terra saga from Marc Miller, creator of the Traveller science fiction roleplaying game. They are SF adventures set in a rough and tumble universe. While it’s rare for them to tackle any of the “big ideas” of science fiction, they contain lots of cool weird stuff and provide tremendous inspiration for my Traveller game. They are just good, clean fun.