Customer Reviews (1)

Farewel to Mars
Leigh Brackett was the queen of Planetary romance, and most of her stories in the SF background that space exploration would eventually destroy--a hot steamy Venus, and a dry dying Mars. These are Mars stories, and some of her best--"Beast Jewel of Mars" "Mars Minus Bisha," "The Last Days of Shandakor" "Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon" and "The Road to Sinharat." Most are not available elsewhere, though I have hopes the Haffner hard cover Bracketts will get around to them.

A special word for the last two. When Brackett could see that the Mars probes were about to more her Percivall Lowell Mars from "improbable" to "impossible" she wrote "The Road to Sinharat." Apart from being a good action-adventure, it's a sort of travelogue as she revisited all her customary settings--the Low CAnal towns, the canal network itself, the Drylands and the ancient abandoned cities which were a hallmark of the Brackett/Burroughs Mars. She was clearly saying goodbye. Then some reviewer made a snide comment about Brackett writing stories with titles like "Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon" so Brackett made her last trip to Mars, selling a story with exactly that title to THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION. Our viewpoint character is a rather cynical young earthman on his first trip to Mars, who knows that all the old explorers' tales are myths. He finds out otherwise.

As Brackett says in the introduction, "I can vouch for every one of these adventures. After all, I was there."

Buy the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Enjoyable Slice of Pulp SF
Leigh Brackett was a prolific writer for pulp science fiction magazines, especially Planet Stories, in the 40's and 50's.The Starmen of Llyrdis reads like an expanded pulp tale.To a generation used to 500 page novels, it's a quick read.Character development takes a back seat to action, and scientific details are brushed over in favor of adventure and G-rated romance.But Action and Adventure are good things, and Brackett keeps the reader entertained as the tightly constructed story moves along.

The gist of the story is that an Earthman, Michael Trehearne, discovers that there are human-looking aliens from the planet Llyrdis trading on Earth.They are the only race genetically capable of withstanding space flight, thanks to a mutation engineered 1000 years ago by a Llyrdian named Orthis.Michael for some reason has the same mutation, though, so he returns with the aliens to Llyrdis.He learns that Orthis had intended to share the mutation with all races, but was chased off Llyrdis so that his home planet could maintain a monopoly on interstellar trade.As Michael experiences the star trade first hand, he becomes sympathetic to Orthis' point of view, and he and a band of others set out to fulfill Orthis' dream to make spaceflight available to all.

It's not a classic, but it is a quick, fun read from a different era of science fiction.Enjoy!

Not Free SF Reader
I'm an interstellar trading lord, how about you?


An earth man finds out that we aren't alone, and he is one of the few that has the genetics for space travel.

Therein lies the conflict, this genetic issue.Those that have it, and the conservative faction would rather like to keep their moneymaking and power monopoly thanks very much, while a rebel group would like for everyone to eventually be able to do space in a big way.The previous leader of which has disappeared into the depths of space.

Still, pretty reasonably handled by Brackett, and worth a look.


3.5 out of 5 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Super Reader
Last stand for a dying order.


Stark and his allies (even those who would be more than happy to stick a sword in his neck), have to try and do what they can to save as many people as possible.

Cities start to crumble on the dying world of Skaith and only mass evacuation can save the half of the population that will die.

The old powers would rather stay and see that happen, and our hero has to try and change it, avoid crazed madwoman, and stay alive in the process.


3.5 out of 5

funeral for a planet
this is the third and last book in the Skaith serie and Leigh Brackett last book; so, it is a very sad story but a beautiful one set in one of the most interesting imaginary world sci fi has ever dreamt of. On a planet circling a dying star people desperately try to escape an incoming doom; a fascinating novel...

Skaith-all the spirit of Clark Ashton Smith-whit more hope
Decadence,gloom,dreary ancient rites in ruined cities performed by degenerate priests in a rotting world.Clark Ashton Smith,Catherine C. Moore and Henry Kuttner,Jack Vance whit his Diyng Earth series have tried thisparticular genre.But Skaith is the refinement of it. And it adds a verynecessary hope of salvation,and interesting story and personae.Not tomention a not so cryptic critic of communism and a prefiguration of theusefulness of supernational organisms,like Onu. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Super Reader
Fire and Sword.


Stark already has released the Hounds, and he puts them to very good use in this battle of progressive and conservative forces across the planet.

Under siege, the forces of his allies need help, and he can find them some.With his friend Simon's political influence, getting some technological assistance from a ship in the area could make raising a siege like bullseyeing womp-rats in the T-16 back home.

A somewhat more powerful set of events than in the first novel, I think.


4.5 out of 5 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

EXCELLENT TRIOGY
This particular book is a three in one and includes "The Ginger Star,""The Hounds of Skaith," and "The Reavers of Skaith." This is good, adventure SiFi in the Burroughs tradition.The book follows the adventures of one Eric John Stark.Leigh Brackett is quite strong in character development, is an excellent story teller and keeps the pages turning.This paricular book was published in 1976 but the stories go back to a publishing date of 1974.All in all this is a good read and a pleasing way to spend a weekend. Recommend.

mesmerizing
this three book sequel is among the best novels ever written about alien people and setting; an extraordinary man (Stark) meets his doom while searching for his would be father on a remote planet (Skaith) circling a dying star.A magnificent story of love, death and survival through strange places and trading with weird aliens. Much better than the silly ER Burrough Mars story people keep comparing it with... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Just Battle for the Stars
In 1961 Edward Hamilton published Battle for the Stars. It was printed in 1964 then 1967 before the Tor double listed above. This is a pulp sci fi novel that has many facets that are similar to a world war II action novel. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
Here are the screenplays of three of the cinema's mostsuccessful literary adaptations. Henry V is LaurenceOlivier's extraordinary version of Shakespeare's play. It begins as ahighly stylized theatrical performance in Shakespeare's Globe Theatreand concludes as pure cinema with a meticulous recreation of thebattle of Agincourt. A Streetcar Named Desire is TennesseeWilliams's version of his stage success, which contains radicalchanges from the text of his play, including a completelydifferent ending. The Big Sleep is a fast-paced and sexyrendition of Raymond Chandler's detective novel, fleshed out by acadre of brilliant screenwriters that included William Faulkner. ... Read more

Product Description
THE STAR KINGS 200,000 years from now the universe is divided into stellar kingdoms. John Gordon is torn from his 20th Century humdrum into otherworldly intrigue as he exchanges bodies with Prince Zarth Arn, heir to the Kingdom of Fomalhaut. Shorr Kan, Lord of the Dark Worlds, schemes to kill Zarth Arn and overthrow the alliance of the Star Kings. Gordon reluctantly assumes the role of Zarth Arn to prevent Shorr Kan from throwing the entire universe into interstellar anarchy! ERIC JOHN STARK Forged in the hellish heat of Mercury and tempered on the desert sands of Mars, Eric John Stark battles the forces of evil and tyranny, selling his sword-arm to defend the cause of justice among worlds of sin and decay. STARK AND THE STAR KINGS In their only formal collaboration, HamiltonÂ’s Star Kings and BrackettÂ’s Eric John Stark meet to confront a peril of unending doom. Can Stark persuade the Star Kings to put aside their political games long enough to defeat this threat to the whole universe? For the first time, admirers of both authors can enjoy this long-coming story.CONTENTSTHE STAR KINGS by Edmond Hamilton"Queen of the Martian Catacombs" by Leigh Brackett"Enchantress of Venus" by Leigh Brackett"Black Amazon of Mars" by Leigh BrackettRETURN TO THE STARS by Edmond Hamilton"Stark and the Star Kings" by Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A great collection of stories
Stark and the Star Kings is a great collection of science fiction stories done by Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett. While I'm not exactly familiar with the pulp characters that Brackett and Hamilton wrote I quickly grew to love them based on the stories that were put in this book. This is a book that a lot more people should read just because its very good Golden Age Science Fiction. I loved all the elements put into this book as well. Everything from teleknesis to mind switching is put in this book.

A Beautiful Edition of Great Stories
I first read THE STAR KINGS (under the title BEYOND THE MOON, Signet Books 812) in 1950 when I was in the second grade. It was given to me by my Uncle Morris Garnick and it was the first "adult" book I ever read. I still have the copy that my uncle gave me, rather the worse for wear, being held together with Scotch tape and glue, and, in addition, I own several other editions of the book.

A year or two later, when I had a bicycle and could travel a bit, I went to the closest local bookstore in the next town to see if I could buy a copy of the original hardback edition which had been published by Frederick Fell in 1949.

When I got to the bookstore, I was told that it was out of print and unavailable.

For the next fifty-five(!) years I searched high and low for a hardbound copy of that book; friends and relatives also searched for me whenever any of us went into a used bookstore - but to no avail.

Finally, in 2006, I was able to find a copy on AbeBooks - it cost $95.00 (plus $3.50 shipping) but I ordered and received it. It was in excellent condition and was everything for which I had hoped.

In the meantime, I had found several other editions of the book, most especially this one: The Star Kings.

Now many fans of this story do not know that there are TWO versions of it: the first version, the one listed immediately above which is a reprint of the original story as it appeared complete in the AMAZING STORIES issue of September 1947 (a copy of which I own) and the second version, the one published in hardback by Frederick Fell in 1949 and reprinted in paperback by Signet in 1950 (it's the version used in most subsequent editions).

The footnotes which appear in the second version are actually incorporated into the main text in the first version.

Plus, and this is most significant, the last chapter is very different in the two versions.

I shall not spoil anyone's enjoyment by spelling out the differences of that final chapter (by revealing the ending as well as the implications of the revised ending) but, suffice it to say, if you are, as I am, a great fan of this story, you will want to have copies of both versions. (And you can get them both from Amazon - the edition linked above, which contains the first version, and the book under discussion here, which contains the second version.)

Both versions are excellent and both are satisfying to read.

I must state that ALL of the early editions discussed above are riddled with typographical errors. some of which were corrected in subsequent paperback editions (Paperback Library 64-472 from August 1967 and November 1970 and the Warner Books edition - the successor to Paperback Library - 76-942 from September 1975).

The most "notorious" error (not considering Hamilton's error in defining a morganatic wife) is in the last sentence which, in the Fell and Signet editions, begins with "Words of the star kings ..." which, of course, should read "Worlds of the star kings ..."

All of this brings me to the present edition Stark and the Star Kings.

I received my copy just an hour ago. I was immediately struck by just how gorgeous it is. It is bound in real cloth, a beautiful dark blue with gold and red stampings, and it is printed on excellent paper in an extremely readable typeface. The dust jacket's painting can only be described as a thing of joy (and it includes the first rendering of the "Disruptor" I have ever seen).

I immediately checked the end of THE STAR KINGS and found that the "Words-Worlds" error was corrected. I checked for a few other, quite obvious, typographical errors and it appears that they have all been corrected.

I also took a swift glance at RETURN TO THE STARS; that book had been originally published in book form by Lancer Books (74612-075) in 1970 and that edition too is riddled with errors, most of them quite obvious. It appears that this new Haffner Press edition has corrected those also (an egregious one is "tohught" near the bottom of page 93 of the Lancer edition, corrected on page 489 of the Haffner edition to, of course, "thought").

Well, I suppose that's enough of my commenting on earlier editions of these two novels! Suffice it to say that, if you love these books as I do (THE STAR KINGS is still my absolute favorite science fiction story), this edition is a positive "must have." It's a book lover's dream and, in my opinion, it's worth every cent of its price. The stories by Leigh Brackett, which I have not previously read, are a bonus as is the last story, Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett's only collaboration.

But it is for the two John Gordon novels - THE STAR KINGS and RETURN TO THE STARS - that I bought this book and I VERY HIGHLY recommend it to all who love GREAT science fiction stories.

In my opinion, those two stories are magical.

A "must-have" omnibus collection especially recommended for golden age science fiction fans
Featuring a handful of black-and-white illustrations by Alex Ebel, Stark and the Star Kings is a science fiction epic anthology set 200,000 years in the future. Written by Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett, two classic science fiction authors who become married in 1946, Stark and the Star Kings features an ordinary 20th century man who is ripped from his humdrum life to exchange bodies with a prince wrapped in a treacherous plot against the Star Kings; Eric John Stark, a larger-than-life mercenary forged in the heat of Mercury and tempered in the desert of Mars; and the only formally collaborated story of Hamilton and Brackett, in which Brackett's Stark meets Hamilton's Star Kings and desperately strives to persuade them to halt their political games long enough to save the universe from doom. A "must-have" omnibus collection especially recommended for golden age science fiction fans.
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Product Description
Poised to at last escape the treacherous planet of Skaith, the swordsman Eric John Stark falls victim to a grim betrayal that turns old allies into dogged enemies. Chased through dangerous jungles and across predator-infested seas, the fugitive warrior dodges death at every turn in Leigh Brackett's final science-fiction masterpiece.Talented enough to co-write The Big Sleep film with William Faulkner and imaginative enough to pen the original screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, Leigh Brackett is a giant in the science-fiction field, and Eric John Stark is her finest character. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A fine conclusion to a masterful trilogy
As with the previous entries in this series, Leigh Brackett does not cheat her many enthusiastic readers. The final showdown between the Dark Man, Eric John Stark, and the rulers of Skaith comes about in this rousing volume. By turns dark, violent, and spellbinding, The Reavers of Skaith is a triumph of the imagination that brings the chronicles of the world of Skaith to their end. Brackett's roots in both pulp science fiction and pulp noir mystery are on display as she takes us on a trip with Stark and his allies across a dying world to save its inhabitants form certain doom. Unlike others in its genre though, the series ends on a bittersweet note very palpable to the reader. It is a fitting conclusion to Brackett's trilogy, her writing career, and sadly her own life. Thank you for writing these books, Ms Brackett. I will treasure them always even as I laud you for the ingenius work you gave us in your career.

Gimme That Old Time Sci-Fi
To read Leigh Brackett is to return to a simpler era of science fiction - and I say that with all respect and affection.Brackett was a prolific writer for science fiction pulp magazines in the 40's and 50's, especially for "Planet Stories," which promised "Strange Adventures on Other Worlds."Though written later, Brackett's Skaith series lives up to that motto.It is a straightforward adventure story:a man on a quest traversing an alien world, encountering strange foes, making allies, fighting to survive.There's no post-modern psychological baggage, no mind-blowing quantum technology, just clean, simple story-telling.

The Skaith books follows the exploits of Eric John Stark, "the Dark Man" - a character Brackett used in several short stories in the pulp era - as he tries to rescue his foster-father, Simon Ashton, who has been taken captive on the backwater world of Skaith.Stark is a great pulp hero, a man raised by semi-human natives on Mercury, who has learned to cover his animal instincts with a veneer of civilization.He is smart, strong, and without fear, and when he needs to fight - which is often - he unleashes the savage within.

Skaith is an old world orbiting a dying sun, growing ever colder.The encroaching cold has reduced a once-technological society to a medieval state, ruled by the Wandsmen.When starships arrive, the inhabitants of Skaith discover for the first time that they are not alone in the universe, and some dream of leaving.This threatens the Wandsmen's power, however, so they abduct the off-world representative, Ashton, which draws in Stark and sets powerful events in motion.

Reavers is the third book in Brackett's Skaith trilogy.Though sold as separate books, they are a continuous story, so you'll need to begin with Ginger Star and Hounds of Skaith before reading Reavers.

For the modern science fiction reader, it is satisfying to return to the genre's roots, and experience what first attracted readers:a strange world, a brave hero, and lots of fighting and action.I almost feel guilty that I enjoyed Skaith as much as I did.
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