First contact between Humans and the Thranx had been established in the novel Nor Crystal Tears. This book goes into details about the origins of the Commonwealth. There was a secret human settlement on Hivehom on the plateau that was too cold for the Thranx and there was a secret Thranx hive in an Amazon Basin reserve on Earth. This story follows the lives of two persons, a Thranx and a Human. The Thranx Desvandapur is a poet who feels that he will produce great poetry by confronting Humans and does whatever is necessary to be in a situation to meet and get to know Humans. This includes an unintentional murder of a fellow Thranx. The Human Cheelo Montoya is petty thief who also commits unintentional murder and is hiding in the Amazon. Desvandapur surreptitiously leaves the Amazon Thranx hive and is found by Cheelo, whom he considers a perfect human for poetic inspiration. They both are fleeing authorities and end up in the hands of big-time poachers. They get away, but because of the cold, Desvandapur dies but Cheelo makes sure his poetry lives on, and it certainly does. This means the hive in the Amazon is exposed, moving up the exposure to the public by at least 20 years.

This book starts 20 years after Phylogenesis, but not much has changed. Many Humans are as xenophobic as ever, as are many of the Thranx. A number of people are still trying to get them together, however. Humanity has established a colony on the recently discovered planet Treetrunk. A new species, the Pitar, whose home planets are near Treetrunk, are observing the Humans but are not interested in claiming the planet. The Pitar are very humanoid and look like the Human idealized beauty, both male and female, and the humans fall in love. This means that the Thranx are side-lined. Then the total population (600,000) of Treetrunk is massacred and no one knows by whom. In the meantime xenophobic humans attack the Amazon hive and kill many Thranx as well as many of the humans working with them. This brings together a Human chaplain and a Thranx spiritual advisor. After much discussion they get money to start the United Church, which becomes a major entity in most of the Commonwealth books. Eventually it is discovered that it was the Pitar who killed the Humans on Treetrunk (how this was discovered is a fine adventure). The Pitar off their own planets refuse to accept the accusation despite uncontroversial proof and either kill themselves or are killed in battles. There is a stalemate between the Humans and the Pitar defending their home planets until the Thranx enter on the side of the Humans. At this time the scientists of both species work together and construct the Stingships, which tip the balance in favor of the Human/Thranx allies. Another development during this time period is the language “Symbospeech,” a combination of Terranglo and Low Thranx.

Several things are going on here, all leading to the eventual formation of the Humanx Commonwealth alliance. The first thread of the story takes place on the semi-desert planet of Comagrave, that the AAnn really want and are subtly working to get from the Humans. It didn't work out as well as they expected, mainly due to the unexpected actions of the Thranx exoarchaeologist, Pilwondepat. Another thread takes place on the planet Dawn where a large Thranx/Human Cultural Fair is being planned and eventually takes place. Two groups of anti-alliance terrorists, one Human and one Thranx are planning to cause death and destruction at the Fair. They are found out by a Thranx/Human team of padres from the newly formed United Church. The last thread takes place on Hivehom, with Fanielle Anjou, a Human diplomat as the major player. There are interesting insights into the new church, which is non-dogmatic and often humorous. There is also more insight into the working of the AAnn mind.

A first contact novel about the meeting of the insect-like Thranx and humans that started the Humanx Commonwealth. This is from the perspective of the Thranx Ryo (Ryozensuzex) and his encounter with the alien humans who wore their skeletons inside as opposed to the Thranx exoskeletons. This book goes into the cultural fears that each of the species has about the appearance of the other. Very interesting and plenty of action.

Humans are stranded on a planet covered by an incredible semi-sentient rain forest. The only ones to survive are those who learn to work with the rain forest. After a couple of hundred years other humans come who only want to take what they can from the planet with no concept of any harm that might do. They don’t realize how well the planet and it’s humans are able to protect themselves.

Cachalot is an ocean world to which guilt-ridden humans had transferred the ocean mammals (whales of various kinds and their relatives) of earth which they had almost completely destroyed. Many of the species of these transferees have become sentient and very intelligent. Outside researchers are brought in to see why some of the floating villages of humans are being destroyed. There is less of the straight forward environmental protection fight in this book than there was in “Midworld.” In addition, the PeaceForcers seem somewhat respected on Cachalot, probably because they are adapting to the world.

This novel takes place on Horseye, a planet with three sentient species, all with very different views of life and physically live at different levels of altitude. Etienne and Lyra Redowl come to the planet to study the entire length the immense Skar River and its spectacular river chasm, the largest in the whole Humanx Commonwealth. The Redowls use local guides of two of the species, some of whom have their own agenda. There is much action as they move to the source of the river. The source is unexpectedly interesting.

The ecosystem of the planet Prism is based on silicon instead of carbon. The company that Evan Orgell works for sends him to Prism to find out why there is no response from the station they have illegally put down on the planet. He is given a state-of-the-art survival suit to use, but when he gets there he finds that the planet has taken over the station and almost everyone is dead. However, there are some personal beacons further from the station and he follows them to try to find out what happened. The first beacon leads him to a dead body. While he tracks the second beacon the planet attacks his suit and he is forced to abandon it. Eventually he is saved by a member of a sentient species that has specialized members of a whole called an Associative. When he is hurt their physicians heal him in rather unorthodox ways. When he finds the remaining survivor, he finds that she also has been saved by another Associative. This is another interesting way at possible life organization. Great story.

An interesting planet, Senisran, is mostly ocean with thousands of islands. The Commonwealth is competing with the AAnn to get mining rights from one group of natives, the Parramat. The diminutive rules-following Pulickel is a negotiator brought in to try to get a contract going and he must work with the person on the ground, the tall, sexy and relaxed Fawn Seaforth. Although the Parramati seem primitive, they are far more sophisticated than first thought. They are incredible artists and gardeners. Their sacred stones turn out to be much more than they seem and have immense power that both the humans and the AAnn wish to use. The natives know that the stones must be used judiciously and with care, but neither the AAnn nor the humans understand until they get caught up in the power of the stones. Luckily the humans know when to back down, not something the AAnn are psychologically adapted to do. At the end we again see indications of the great evil in the universe that is explored in the Pip and Flinx books and that was hinted at in “Voyage to the City of the Dead”.

The planet Fluva is a planet of constant rain and the plants have adapted to living in at least 20 feet of water. The planet is in the Commonwealth but the AAnn are trying to get a foothold because of all the rare botanical specimens. The natives are the Sakuntula, a warrior people who find it difficult to stop fighting each other. A couple of hundred years previously the Commonwealth had imported another group of people, the Deyzara, to be merchants, but there has been constant tension between the two groups. The novel involves two basic stories. The obnoxious prospector Shadrach Hasselemoga crashes in a remote area and the administrator, Lauren Matthias, sends the warrior Sukuntula, Jemunu-jah, with the pilot trader Deyzara, Masurathoo, to rescue him. Their vehicle, non-coincidentally also crashes at the same place as Shad’s vehicle. They must work together to get out, and while making their way out they discover another sentient species. In the meanwhile, the AAnn are secretly backing a rebel group with weapons to make everything so difficult for the Commonwealth that the AAnn will eventually be able to take over. However, things don’t work out as expected because of the insight and political savvy of Lauren Matthias.

This book introduces Flinx, an orphan sold to Mother Mastiff (probably by being “pushed” by Flinx’s talent) at a slave auction on the planet Moth. We learn about Flinx’s talents and about his origins in this book. Also, he finds and bonds with Pip, a minidrag or flying, empathic snake capable of spitting a highly corrosive and violently neurotoxic venom. In this book his adopted mother, who is around 100 years old, is kidnapped by those who created his abilities through illegal means in order to get him back. He manages to follow them and free his adoptive mother. All quite adventurous and fun.

Flinx steals a star map and goes off to be eventually find the Krang. Through use of the Krang he learns more about himself, but knows enough to realize at only sixteen he is not yet experienced enough to use his powers wisely. Some interesting characters are presented in this book.

Flinx searches for knowledge of his parents and of course gets involved in the terrible merchants who are totally amoral or worse, immoral. He teams up with a very reluctant Thranx Church acolyte and they discover a new sapient species, the Ulru-Ujurrians, who are, if nothing else, extremely interesting in a good way. He and the Thranx, after helping the Ulru-Ujurrians, become their teachers. In turn, they build him a space ship called Teacher so he can find his parentage. What is also interesting is that this species is ursine (like a bear) in appearance, just as the species that lives with humans in “Midworld.”

Flinx has taken his new space ship to Alaspin, the home planet of his minidrag Pip, in search of the man who bid on him when Flinx was a child in a slave auction. He has unintentionally acquired another alien pet, Abalamahalamatandra—Ab for short—and is pursued by an assassin squad called the Qwarm as well as the evil AAnn, who are the enemies of both Humans and Thranx. On Alaspin Flinx meets Skua September, the man he has been searching for, who helps them against local aborigines who are determined to kill them. They are ultimately rescued by Flinx’s old friends from “The Tar-Aiym Krang”, Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex. They all go off to try to stop a black hole from sucking in three inhabited planets. At the end Pip is discovered to be a female and has babies.

Flinx is in Alaspin where he has gone to release Pip’s young. After releasing them he rescues a woman, Clarity Held, on a beach where she is being eaten by the many insects of Alaspin. She turns out to be a research scientist kidnapped from the world of Longtunnel by fanatical ecoterrorists. He returns her to her research station (and wonders if he is in love) but there they encounter the terrorists again. While hiding from them he, along with Clarity and a Thranx, encounter a new peaceful sentient species who communicate on the emotional level (which means he can communicate with them) living in the deep tunnels of Longtunnel. They eventually get out and he helps get people who need medical care off the planet to help, but complications ensue (nothing new there) and he gets help from his old friends, the Ulru-Ujurrians, who help him see a danger outside the galaxy, that is, incidentally, referred to at the end of the book “Voyage to the City of the Dead.” A great adventure.

Pip and Flinx are running from an unscrupulous businessman, Jack-Jax Coerlis, who wants to purchase Pip and refuses to take no for an answer. In randomly choosing a destination they find themselves on the semi-sentient planet described in the book “Midworld." He is found by three lost locals and their furcot companions. He agrees to lead them to their home using his electronic positioner. They help save him from the many inimical local fauna and flora. He is followed by Coerlis and his heavies, who are not so lucky with the forest. Then he is tracked by the AAnn who are harder to get rid of, but, with the help of the furcots, they eventually are free of them also. The semi-sentient planet helps Flinx get more information on his goal of fighting the evil outside the galaxy, and help him also develop his talents better. We also meet Second Counselor Druvenmaquez who is interested in the spot outside the galaxy that Flinx has pointed to as the source of a great evil.

Flinx has returned to Earth to find out more about his origins. After finding his way into the data files, he finds out that the file he wants has been cleverly stolen by someone involved with the Larnaca Nutrition Company. He follows the lead to the AAnn desert planet Pyrassis and, after many close calls with death and discovery of a vast transmitter on the planet, ends up going to the tenth planet of the Pyrassis system, a brown dwarf star. A moon of the planet turns out to be an alien artifact, but he is preceded by the personnel of the Larnaca Nutrition Company, which, it turns out, is run by his evil long lost sister Mahnahmi, whom he had first met in the book “Orphan Star.”. She gives him further information about their relationship but still wants him killed. However, their first job is to evade the AAnn who had followed them to the artifact. Mahnahmi manages to outwit him and retakes her ship but he is stuck on the artifact. In desperation, after discovering within the artifact a Krang (as per the book “The Tar-Aiym Krang”) he enters the Krang dome. The Krang protects him and kills the AAnn and he eventually gets back to his ship. At the end it is revealed that the Krang isn’t communicating with Flinx but with the plants on his ship which had been given to him by the Midworld natives. The artifact and its artificial planet leave the star system, assuring Flinx that Mahnahmi will not find it.

Flinx is suffering more and more from his headaches and his suffering is affecting those near him. He discovers an additional group that is chasing him, members of the Order of Null, who are eager for the great evil coming toward the galaxy as they feel the galaxy needs cleansing. Flinx is getting very depressed and decides he needs someone to talk to and decides to find Clarity Held (from “Flinx in Flux”) who is now a gengineer on New Riveria. Even though they only talk, Clarity’s boyfriend Bill Ormann, a vice-president of the gengineering firm for whom she now works, becomes jealous and decides to kill Flinx. After several failed attempts it looks like it might happen, but Flinx is rescued by his old friends Truzenzuzex and Bran Tse-Mallory. While they are trying to get off the planet they are chased by a number of groups, including Peaceforcers and members of the Order of Null. Clarity is badly injured so to save her Flinx must leave them and go off alone, again.

Flinx is supposed to be searching the galaxy for the Tar-Aiym weapons platform that has once been in the system Pyrassis. He is in a state of depression and his ship’s AI suggests a vacation. For some strange reason (never explained), she chooses the near desert world of Jast near the AAnn Empire. The ever-paranoid AAnn think Flinx may be a spy and thus the adventure begins. Flinx is left for dead, he looses his memory, we are introduced to an aspect of AAnn society never met before, an artist colony considered outcasts by AAnn society. We also find out that Flinx is a good illustrator so he fits into the colony to a certain degree. We also find out about insurrectionists who don’t want the AAnn to take over the planet. After threats and a shock, Flinx regains his memory, and he returns to his ship, going on to the next adventure.

While searching for the Krang, Flinx’s ship, Teacher, informs him that it needs repairs and it can do them on a planet with the requisite raw materials. They find the planet Arrawd which has been classified as a low tech level planet so first contact is forbidden. Flinx figures he can set down and camouflage his ship, avoiding contact. This doesn't happen, as we can expect, and Flinx ends up healing people while he waits for his ship to repair itself. He thinks he is doing this for free but actually someone is making lots of money by taking money from people who want to be healed. A war starts among three groups who want to control the new god. When Flinx finds out about the money he gets angry and decides to leave as his ship is now repaired. He tries to get the groups to stop the war but is attacked at a conference of leaders with unintended results. In the last chapter we see Clarity on Hivehom in a lab where The Great Emptiness is being tracked. It is steadily accelerating and has eaten most of another galaxy on its way to the Humanx Commonwealth galaxy.

Even though this book is chronologically the eleventh book, it was written second so there is a little bit of oddness at times when the books are read in chronological order. This book is not written from the perspective of Flinx, but rather that of two Church investigators, the human Kitten Kal-sung and the Tolian, Porsupah. Flinx shows up about one-third of the way through. Kitten and Porsupah have come to the planet Replar to investigate the reappearance of the drug Bloodhype, which is always fatal. At the same time, the AAnn on the planet have secretly brought to a hidden lab on Replar a strange life form, called Vom, found on a barren planet, not knowing how very dangerous it is. Of course there are great adventures, and we even meet the last living Tar-Aiym who was in a form of stasis for the last half million years to guard against the escape of Vom.

Flinx is in a severe state of depression and, although he is supposed to be searching for the Tar-Aiym planet-sized weapons platform, he is not sure that the human race is worth saving. So he goes to the planet Visaria which has the reputation of being full of really selfish people. Through some really convoluted logic, he figures if he finds some decent people here, he will consider continuing his search. Somehow he gets involved with an inept youth gang and a local criminal mob king. He finds a few good people (of course), and by chance he finds out another bit of information about his father, leading to the next book.

Before searching for the Tar-Aiym weapon that will help save the galaxy, Flinx goes to the planet Gestalt, to search for his father. After several adventures which include being saved by the local sentients called Tlel, and being hunted by someone trying to get a reward from the Order of Null for his death, Flinx finally meets the man, Anayabi, he thought was his father. He finds out that in fact he is a creation of DNA splicing and has no real mother or father. Anayabi tries to kill him, as does the hunter, but he manages to get away from them through his powerful mental abilities. We also find out more about the three intelligences who are willing to help him fight the great evil. One is the artificial intelligence of the ancient Tar-Aiym weapon; the second is the planet Midworld; and the third is the collective consciousness of the planet Cachelot.

An interstellar traveler and salesman, Ethan Fortune, an adventurer, Skua September, and a teacher, Milliken Williams end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, while the wealthy Hellespont du Kane and his daughter Colette are being kidnapped. They all end up crash-landed on the frozen planet Tran-Ky-Ky. They are rescued by the locals (the Tran) and end up working with them, gaining their respect and learning to respect them. It is a feudal society and there is lots of fighting among the various groups and of course Williams, Ethan and September can provide another perspective and help out on the promise that they will get help to reach the settlement of Brass Monkey where the Humanx Commonwealth has a representative. This book takes us on the long trek to this settlement, facing many adventures while sliding across the frozen oceans.

In this book the five humans and their Tran friends on their huge boat-sled with its many sails reaches Brass Monkey only to be confronted by corrupt Commonwealth officials who attempt to kill them. After getting the du Kanes off planet they are attacked by human-backed local Trans, but they of course get away. They are chased by an insane Tran leader (whose mistreated concubine they rescue) as well as the Tran leader at Brass Monkey, who is backed by the Commonwealth representative. They make it to the legendary Tran city of Moulokin where they learn the history of the Tran as well as get lots of aid from the local leader, defeating the corrupt humans.

This book was very hard to find, and I had to finally go to an second-hand on-line seller. It could be written better, and that is perhaps why it didn’t go over too well. However, I like to see the end of a trilogy and would have been unhappy if I couldn’t have found it. In this book Ethan Fortune is told by his boss, the head of the House of Malaika, Maxim Malaika, that he will stay on Tran-Ky-Ky as a representative of the company (he makes reference to Flinx [not by name], as found in The Tar-Aiym Krang). The scientists of Brass Monkey have detected a steady warming in the planet’s atmosphere and a hot spot in the south. Ethan, September and Milliken Williams go on the giant icerigger Slanderscree with a crew of Tran and several human scientists to investigate, and have another adventure to save the planet from an exploiter trying to warm the planet. We also see Colette again, who comes back just in time to save the day. Happily ever after, I guess.

These books are not set in the Humanx Commonwealth world. This takes place in the present but is a very interesting and often amusing version on the “abducted by aliens” theme.

Lost and Found (2004) The Light-Years Beneath My Feet (2005) The Candle of Distant Earth (2005)

This trilogy explores the war between the amplitur and the Weave. The amplitur can “suggest” (and sometimes modify minds) how sentient beings can fight for them against the various species of the Weave, who want to be able to maintain their independent thinking. When humans are discovered and brought into the mix, it is discovered that humans cannot be influenced by the amplitur and in fact fight back and can harm the amplitur mentally. The series goes extensively into the fact that humans are natural fighters while no other species are willing fighters. Of great interest are the various species and their different way of thinking. The last one, “The Spoils of War” is particularly of interest. The Wais, a very fragile and very peaceful species, who have always helped the Weave because of their strong belief in freedom of thought, have produced a scientist whose life work involves understanding humans, whom other Wais cannot tolerate because of their violence. The whole series makes one take a look at ourselves as humans. I already know we are a violent species, but this made me think about it more—and I didn’t really like what I saw.

A Call to Arms (1991)
The False Mirror (1992)
The Spoils of War (1993)