[Eric John Stark #1,2 novellas 01] • Eric John Stark

Mars is a dying old world, full of evil tyrants and decaying cities where crime and malevolence run rampant.

Eric Stark is an outlaw in this savage world. Orphaned on Mercury and raised by native tribes there, he is hunted by the law, betrayed and wanted by warlords and may hold the fate of Mars in his hands.

Leah Bracket's Eric Stark stories are some of the finest examples of mid-twentieth century romantic adventures in science fiction. She had this unique ability to inject a certain pathos and sensitivity into her characters and situations which made her books stand out within this sub-genre.

Leigh Brackett (December 7, 1915 to March 18, 1978) was an influential writer during the Golden Age of science fiction and one of the pioneers establishing women as a serious force in the field. She has been referred to as the Queen of Science Fiction and her works include the classic The Long Tomorrow as well the Eric Stark books which are a prime example of the...

"Mars was old, tired, and steeped in every evil of a dying world. There, to the sinful cities of the Low Canals, came Eric John Stark, adventurer, roisterer, and outlaw from Earth.

But there were evils more ancient and fearsome than could be found in the decadence and vices of the tribes and cities. Far to the north, amid the wastes of bitter snows lay the Gates of Death. And among the wasted ruins of the deserts, the tribes were losing something beyond their utmost dreams of loot and ravage.

To such peril, inevitably, Stark was drawn. Who else could bear the Talisman? What other war leader could the false messiah of the tribes summon?

But Eric John Stark was more than he seemed--more, in fact, than he knew."

(Contains the stories *The Secret of Sinharat* and *People of the Talisman* )