For Mark Carodyne, all of life was a gamble. For money, for sport, for knowledge, for danger. That's why he had come to Krait for the skimming races he knew would make him rich. Or broke. Or dead. Krait. It was dominated by the pulsing quivering kaleidoscopic Omphalos that filled the sky above. An unmeasurable mass that was said to have the power to swallow whole planets - even galaxies. Indeed, seven ships had been sent to explore its mysteries and none had returned. Now there were those who believed that Krait was about to come into its path. And Mark Carodyne had agreed to gamble his life to obtain the scientific data that might save the planet from destruction. One man. In a single ship. Skimming the edge of the unknown . . .

Ships occasionally disappeared in hyperspace, regrettable sacrifices to the luxury of faster than light travel. But now one of the lost ships has been found and the wreckage is enough to terrify even the most cold-blooded witness. The lucky ones on the lost ship are dead. The others have been turned inside-out in gruesome parody of human beings and they are still alive. The disgraced Captain Kurt Varl is chosen to command a suicide mission to discover the cause of these disasters. The enemy is unknown and the only way Varl can solve the mystery is to use himself as bait!

'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)

Earl Dumarest, trans-galactic soldier of fortune, is still seeking his birthplace, the fabled planet Earth. On the distant, decadent planet Dradea, he meets the mysterious, mutant woman Veruchia. She selected him from the gladiators' arena to become her servant. . . and more. Soon, Dumarest discovers that she too is engaged in a quest - and that the fate of her planet hangs in the balance. Fascinated, compelled, he agrees to help her. But then he must face bizarre perils which make the gladiatorial arena seem a haven of safety. . . (First published 1973)

Earl Dumarest still seeks the mythical planet Earth . . . still roams alien and violent worlds. With him goes Mayenne, whose songs create joy and passion - or forgetfulness. Together they are cast up on Tormyle, a planet from another galaxy; a planet unique throughout the Universe. For Tormyle is sentient - the most powerful intelligence in the Cosmos, constantly recreating itself. Tormyle can be Paradise or Hell. Tormyle can manifest as a dragon or a knight on horseback, faceless behind the helmet. Tormyle understands nothing of humanity, of men and women, of emotion. And Tormyle will let no-one escape who cannot answer the unanswerable. (First published 1973)

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)

The things from beyond the Milky Way galaxy found the intelligent races of our universe amusingly slight. To them, possessors of vast cosmic power, the strivings of various humanoids to outdo each other were a source of contemptuous entertainment. They established a contest between the worlds. It would be an Olympiad of the whole galaxy - a Galactiad. Let these puny interstellar intelligences meet each other in contest. Pit one against the other - and let the losers beware! Earth had its team - a mixed group of powerful athletes and genius scientists. Because other worlds did not always believe in the ideal of good sportsmanship, they had to confront the reality. Win at all costs . . . or goodbye to humanity!