The Galactic Milieu Series is a series of science fiction novels by Julian May. It is linked to her previously-published series, the Saga of Pliocene Exile; and through the fantastical device of time-travel, acts as both a prequel and a sequel to this earlier series. The "Galactic Milieu" of the title is an interplanetary federation, and Earth's membership of it is a central plot concern. It comprises four novels. Firstly, the novel Intervention, which covers the events leading up to Earth joining the Galactic Milieu, followed by the three books of the Galactic Milieu Trilogy – Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat – which together cover the events of Earth's membership of the Galactic Milieu. The series involves several religious and philosophical themes, including references to the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The novels The series begins with Intervention: A Root Tale to the Galactic Milieu and a Vinculum between it and The Saga of Pliocene Exile (, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987). This was released in one volume in the UK, but in mass market paperback in the US as two volumes: Surveillance and Metaconcert. May calls Intervention a vinculum, or link-tale, between the Saga of Pliocene Exile and the Milieu trilogy proper. However, it is a near-essential introduction to the Milieu trilogy as well as a balanced stand-alone work. Jack the Bodiless (, New York: Knopf, 1991) is the first book of the trilogy proper, followed by Diamond Mask (, New York: Knopf, 1994), and Magnificat (, New York: Knopf, 1996). Religious and philosophical themes The series includes multiple references to the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, including the concepts of the Omega Point and the Noosphere, which are applied to May's description of galactic mental Unity. The series title echoes Teilhard's 1957 book Le Milieu Divin. The Remillard family are Catholic, and on several occasions family members discuss their faith. The most notable example occurs in the first part of Chapter 24 of Jack the Bodiless, where Teresa Kendall explains Christianity to her unborn son. Jack the Bodiless begins with a set of quotations, including the Spanish proverb "God writes straight with crooked lines." This proverb summarises the plot of the whole series, in which tragedies and disasters (particularly the Metapsychic Rebellion) result in ultimate good (particularly the repentance and transformation of Marc Remillard, through which the Galactic Milieu is formed). The Rebellion is thus