One point of clarification, you said
With the "DuQuesne Karma" trope, the hero is not always ahead; however, if the antihero ever gets ahead something happens that causes him to give the advantage away, starting the struggle over again.
Unless I'm doing the search wrong, I don't see the old John W. Campbell "Terra ber alles" trope. Campbell, while Editor at Astounding, liked stories where Earth triumphs no matter how much it was the underdog at the beginning of the story. Many of his stories had that theme as the underpinning. In the short story collection "With Friends Like These" by Alan Dean Foster, Foster wrote a story called "With Friends Like These..." that paid homage to this aspect of Campbell's personality.
Quote:when, instead, they were in intergalactic space not in another galaxy. Remember, the working "maps" were on the order of parsecs in size and they needed room so nothing would interfere with the work. (Yes, I'm being pedantic, but I loved those books when I was young. ^_^)
they themselves are safe in yet another galaxy entirely...!
With the "DuQuesne Karma" trope, the hero is not always ahead; however, if the antihero ever gets ahead something happens that causes him to give the advantage away, starting the struggle over again.
Unless I'm doing the search wrong, I don't see the old John W. Campbell "Terra ber alles" trope. Campbell, while Editor at Astounding, liked stories where Earth triumphs no matter how much it was the underdog at the beginning of the story. Many of his stories had that theme as the underpinning. In the short story collection "With Friends Like These" by Alan Dean Foster, Foster wrote a story called "With Friends Like These..." that paid homage to this aspect of Campbell's personality.