the best pulp approaches its material with straight face. characters may be sarcastic, characterization may be stylized and even cartoonish, but the tale itself is one of complete seriousness - despite the potential goofiness, the clichés, the pulpiness. the best pulp is utterly sincere. and so it is with Derai, and the 30+ novels in the Earl of Dumarest saga. i've been re-reading them from time to time and they are just as good going down as the first time. actually, scratch that. 10 years after first reading them, they are even better. this is #2 in the series.Earl still wants to find Earth. he is still a jack-of-all-trades equipped with a sardonic nature, quick mind, and a fast draw. expert world-building is another of the series' hallmarks - world-building in the concise and elegant Jack Vance vein. also key to the series: compassion combined with a regular rejection of cruelty, greed, and selfishness. nice!
the devious human computers known as the Cyclan shift from the ambiguous enigmas of the first novel to the villainous threats that will plague Earl throughout his adventures. in some ways this second novel of the series is the formative volume - the villains are made clear and the tragic (oops, SPOILER) romance will inspire Earl to continually move forward. high-stakes gambling is a key part of the narrative, as it is key to so many of the Dumarest novels. Earl gambles again and again, and he doesn't always win. sometimes his bluffs don't work out that well.
ah, Earl. he really is a great, guilt-free hero. he doesn't talk much and what he says is dry, very dry. he defends the weak, scorns the brutal, is amused by the silly & pretentious, and treats women exceedingly well. he also makes mistakes - he is not remotely an uberman. he's basically a down-to-earth and decent guy who a reader can actually identify with. although it would help if that reader were in top physical condition; the space chicks usually dig Earl's body before they eventually come to appreciate his soulfulness. Earl is a kind of Soldier of Zen, which is always an enjoyable thing for me to read.
hey it just occurred to me that my BIL's brother Dusty, a youthful & gung ho marine (and also a Buddhist, which is odd), would probably dig this series. Christmas gift? oh wait, maybe not. the series is also unapologetically progressive in how it views alien species & 'foreigners' in general, the weak & poor, etc. maybe i'll get Dusty some John Ringo instead.
anyway, best of all is Tubb's actual writing. it is tight, crisp, and vivid. it can also be surprisingly nuanced. the following pulpy scene occurs fairly early on and is admittedly slight - and yet turns out to be a cleverly apropos metaphor for the action within the narrative itself:
Already most of the auxiliary pods had been punctured and hung like ragged ribbons of mist at the end of the great, hemispherical body. Even as he watched, a swarm of local skylife darted from the clouds to tear at the intruder: rats worrying a dog. It fought back with the fringe of tentacles hanging from beneath its body, seizing its tormentors, sending them plummetting with ruptured gas-sacs. Others of their own kind ate them before they could hit the ground. Still others continued the attack.
"It hasn't got a chance," said Nada. "Not one." Her voice was thick with anticipation.
Abruptly the creature vomited in a desperate effort to gain height. A cloud of water vapor and ingested food sprayed in a kaledioscope of colored smoke. It rose a little, booming with terror and alarm, almost helpless here over flat country away from the strong thermals of its mountainous browsing grounds. High and to one side the keepers who had driven it to the city with air-blast and electric probe watched from the safety of their floating platforms.
"Soon," gloated Nada. "Soon!"
poor Earl is always stumbling upon these awful kinds of dogfights and other sadistic futuristic amusements (as well as cluelessly vicious characters like Nada). they always spell trouble. i'm really not sure why Earl is so eager to get back to Earth - he'll just find more of the same.
