Sat 1 Mar 2025
SF Diary Review: E. C. TUBB – The Space-Born.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[6] Comments
E. C. TUBB – The Space-Born. Ace Double D-193, paperback original; 1st printing, December 1956. Cover art by Ed Valigursky. Published back to back with The Man Who Japed, by Philip K. Dick (reviewed here). Equinox/Avon (SF Rediscovery, softcover, 1976.
One page is enough to fill in the background of a ship heading for the stars, containing 5000 people living out their lives within its confines, making a 32 light-year journey in something over 300 years. But in spite of the obvious closeness to journey’s end, Tubb manages to breathe some life into the characters, unaware of the crisis coming upon them.
The task of the ship’s Psycho-Police is to maintain the population at a constant level, with murder as the method at hand. Forty is the maximum age allowed. But positions of power lead to violations of that rule, as the instinct for survival bred into the ship’s inhabitants leads to restlessness, then corruption.
But the journey is ending; warnings to that effect are readily apparent to the reader. Thank goodness the builders of the ship were so prophetically wise in preparing for all contingencies.
A book easily forgotten, but one to get caught up on for a short while.
Rating: ***½
March 2nd, 2025 at 3:48 am
I enjoy Tubb far more than his rather slight but entertaining novels should be enjoyed. Whether Dumarest or a standalone his way around a plot was often inventive, his characters better than they really had any right to be at that length and in the kind of Space Adventure he wrote, and his worlds, if not deeply drawn were Technicolor wonders with just enough depth suggested despite the slightness of most of his work to suggest details his readers drew in out of their own imagination with his stimulation.
I don’t suppose any of his novels were what anyone would call substantial, but he succeeded more often at achieving his goal than many more serious writers, and he captured for me at least some of that sense of wonder that became harder to find in SF as it and I matured.
March 2nd, 2025 at 1:10 pm
I have not read a book by Tubb in over 50 years, and it is time for me to do so again. It was Space Adventure that brought me to Science Fiction, and along with Time Travel stories, it is Space Adventure that brings me the greatest thrills in reading SF now.
In particular, note the above average star rating I gave this book, which from my account of it, had a very well worn plot. Tubb must have had something he added to it, but I’d have to read him again to see if I could put a more precise finger on it.
A “sense of wonder” in the telling? It could very well be.
March 2nd, 2025 at 1:32 pm
As a journeyman writer Tubb published too much too fast. Almost always enjoyable, with a little bit more effort he could have become a major influence in the field, IMHO.
March 2nd, 2025 at 2:34 pm
Would it be correct to say that he found a niche he was comfortable with and decided to just stay with it? Or was he only a journeyman and where he was was as high as he could go?
March 3rd, 2025 at 3:05 pm
I was hooked on E. C. Tubb’s Dumarest series from THE WINDS OF GATH (1967) all the way to CHILD OF EARTH (2008)…32 books later.
David is right in assessing Tubb’s lack of depth. But, the pages turned and the action held my attention for decades.
March 3rd, 2025 at 9:25 pm
The Dumarest books were one of my favorite series of all time. One of my greatest regrets is to have never been able to read the last one.