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arthurbdd's review
4.0
Wild planetary romance from the pulp glory days. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/forgotten-queen-of-mars/
ctgt's review
4.0
I have been a long time fan of the pulps from the early to mid 19th century. Sci/fi, fantasy, crime/noir, horror-you know, all those "genres" that literary types pull their chin up so they can look down their nose when discussing. Strange Stories, Amazing Stories, Planet Stories, Black Mask, Dime Detective, Weird Tales. Asimov, Lovecraft, Burroughs, Howard, Zelazny, Le Guin, Chandler, Bradbury, Leiber, Sturgeon. The list of authors is long and IMO distinguished.
Leigh Brackett is also a member of that group but much to my chagrin I had never read one of her stories. She may be more well known as a screenwriter. Let's see if you've heard of these, The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Rio Lobo, oh and Star Wars V:The Empire Strikes Back(She wrote a first draft for Lucas which was turned in right before she died in 1978. It was revised by Lucas and Kasdan but Brackett does receive credit for the final script).
This book contains two novellas The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman which introduces us to Eric John Stark. Both stories are expansions of early works Queen of the Martian Catacombs and Black Amazon of Mars respectively. Born to human parents on Mercury, Stark is adopted and raised by an aboriginal tribe. Before reaching adulthood, this tribe is killed by miners who also capture and imprison Stark. He is later rescued and raised to adulthood by policeman Simon Ashton. Stark becomes an outlaw after running guns to indigenous tribes fighting a mining company. A highly entertaining mix of fantasy and sci/fi from a reptilian mount to a Banning shocker weapon, swords to pistols, primitive tribes to interplanetary travel.
Recommended if you enjoy early sci/fi or fantasy stories.
Leigh Brackett is also a member of that group but much to my chagrin I had never read one of her stories. She may be more well known as a screenwriter. Let's see if you've heard of these, The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Rio Lobo, oh and Star Wars V:The Empire Strikes Back(She wrote a first draft for Lucas which was turned in right before she died in 1978. It was revised by Lucas and Kasdan but Brackett does receive credit for the final script).
This book contains two novellas The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman which introduces us to Eric John Stark. Both stories are expansions of early works Queen of the Martian Catacombs and Black Amazon of Mars respectively. Born to human parents on Mercury, Stark is adopted and raised by an aboriginal tribe. Before reaching adulthood, this tribe is killed by miners who also capture and imprison Stark. He is later rescued and raised to adulthood by policeman Simon Ashton. Stark becomes an outlaw after running guns to indigenous tribes fighting a mining company. A highly entertaining mix of fantasy and sci/fi from a reptilian mount to a Banning shocker weapon, swords to pistols, primitive tribes to interplanetary travel.
Recommended if you enjoy early sci/fi or fantasy stories.
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