[1] The novel The Godmakers expands upon a storyline appearing in four short stories over a decade earlier:

The story focuses on Lewis Orne, an agent for a government agency which develops 'lost planets.'

Under the auspices of I-A, he travels to various planets in order to maintain peace throughout the galaxy.

[3] After resolving a number of dangerous situations, Lewis is injured and has a near-death experience.

Colin Greenland reviewed The Godmakers for Imagine magazine, and stated that "For all his ever-expanding cosmic perspective, Herbert still writes characters who look and sound as if they'd been cut off the backs of cornflake packets.