The Ginger Star

In The Ginger Star, Leigh Brackett revives her favorite hero from decades earlier, Eric John Stark, to travel across the galaxy to find his foster father, Simon Ashton, on the dying world of Skaith. On Skaith, Stark meets intrigue complete with genetically engineered monsters, a beautiful traitress, psychic packs of wild dogs, and a secret cabal of men determined to keep Skaith separated from the rest of the world, even if it means the death of everyone on the planet. Stark may or may not be the fulfillment of a prophecy of the Dark Man who will liberate Skaith, but his major concern is overcoming the obstacles in his path to find Ashton. Despite its clear nods to the planetary romance genre that had flourished decades before Brackett conceived and wrote this series, the Skaith trilogy avoids a lighthearted narrative and skewers Marxist economic ideas in a way few SF writers had done before. Like its sequels, this book is dark, bleak, and sad, but that doesn't prevent us from cheering for Stark to achieve his goals. The Ginger Star and the series it spawned are a fine capstone to Leigh Brackett's life and work and a fitting representation of her dark vision of the universe.

The Ginger Star is the first book in the Skaith trilogy, covering the further adventures of Eric John Stark after Secret of Sinharat/People of the Talisman. Stark now finds himself on a barren world orbiting a failing star, searching for his foster father. There has been a prophecy made about this "dark man without a tribe" however, and so Stark is hindered in his search by those wishing him both weal and woe. Despite all this, Stark grimly continues his search, just wishing to find his father and get off-planet (possibly with a love interest at his side). But things are never easy. Written in the 1970's, this book has echoes of the Dying Earth mileau created by Jack Vance. There is a dying world under a dimming sun, and a mixture of fantasy and science fiction which is wholly unsurprising to the characters: prophecy is real and taken (very) seriously, there are dark gods requiring human sacrifice, and fighting is done with swords, tooth and claw rather than laser pistols. But in all that there are starships and aliens, genetic manipulation and remnants of a greater civilisation fallen into decay. In fact, the crux of the story is not so much Stark's search for his father, as the response of Skaith to the arrival of spaceships in the last dozen years, and the effect this has had on social order and power structures. This is a great book to read - the characters are lifelike, the dialogue crackles, and the story well plotted and told. Scenes are memorable - the introduction of Gerrith, the cave of the Skaith-Children, the first meeting with a Wandsman. Brackett was a great storyteller, and she created a wonderful world here to enjoy. This book should be more widely read and loved, as it is a shame that somehow the Skaith stories were lost in the epic fantasies of the 80's.

From the beginning this brisk adventure hooked me and kept me hooked, as the main character Stark barrels through all who would block his quest to save the life of the man who had saved his own humanity. The alienness of the world of Skaith and its inhabitants is a palpable bed in which the plot's action swiftly flows. There are no false notes in Brackett's prose, and the dominance of action does not crowd out the carefully placed details that give the narrative its richness. Thence the cultures convey verisimilitude and the characters retain a sense of individuality (the latter seeming to be particularly difficult for many in this genre). On a perhaps less important, though personally valued, detail, Brackett is one of those writers with the knack for making up fantasy names that feel right, thus adding to rather than distracting from the narrative. Further setting it apart from many works in the genre, there is a subtext (the theme of the nature of humanity) that adds a depth of interest, without grating or coming across as special pleading. Those of us whose introduction to the world of pulp fantasy/sci-fi came even after its silver age, and is therefore spotty at best, owe an ongoing debt of gratitude to Erik Mona for his salvage and rescue operation. He has recovered gems of the past I otherwise would have likely never enjoyed, and Brackett shines among them.

The Dark Mark cometh. The title refers to the color of the sun of the planet Skaith, where this series is based. Stark ventures there looking for an old friend and mentor, someone who was pivotal in his survival and upbringing. Then it gets stranger. Skaith is a backwater, and speak of the Dark Man and other such Robert E. Howard appellations - that is what a prophesy suggests Stark might be - a pivotal figure in the planet's conflict. Once he arrives, he could be in a Burroughs or Howard story, Witchfire story, backstabbing madwomen, tough guy enemies - ok, apart from the telepathic hounds, perhaps. Certainly monster fighting and sword swinging to be done, however. Not a brilliant book by any stretch, as you would probably guess, but it is very compelling, as he who was N'Chaka the wild man, the Wolfshead (has anyone been called by the titles of two Howard stories in one book before?), searches for his friend among many deadly enemies on a planet full of people disinclined to believe in the existence of the outsided Galactic Union. I don't think anyone who likes the whole family of space hero/planetary romance supermen type of story will regret reading these books for a second, as Brackett certainly has more talent than most of the writers of the same. A 3.5 if you like.

The Dark Mark cometh. As part of a most excellent Brackett 'Space Opera Noir from the master' ebook bundle, from Baen. The title refers to the color of the sun of the planet Skaith, where this series is based. Stark ventures there looking for an old friend and mentor, someone who was pivotal in his survival and upbringing. Then it gets stranger. Skaith is a backwater, and speakof the Dark Man and other such Robert E. Howard appellations - that is what a prophesy suggests Stark might be - a pivotal figure in the planet's conflict. Once he arrives, he could be in a Burroughs or Howard story, Witchfire story, backstabbing madwomen, tough guy enemies - ok, apart from the telepathic hounds, perhaps. Certainly monster fighting and sword swinging to be done, however. The book, is introduced by Algis Budrys, and he sets the scene for those not around for the 1974 publication, and a glossary of people and places is given at the end, for this a little out of the ordinary planetary romance on a dying world setting. Not a brilliant book by any stretch, as you would probably guess, but it is very compelling, as he who was N'Chaka the wild man, the Wolfshead (has anyone been called by the titles of two Howard stories in one book before?), searches for his friend among many deadly enemies on a planet full of people disinclined to believe in the existence of the outside Galactic Union. I think you can get them from Paizo and Planet Stories, too, as another option. I don't think anyone who likes the whole family of space hero/planetary romance supermen type of story will regret reading these books for a second, as Brackett certainly has more talent than most of the writers of the same. This is a 3.5+ if you like. 3.5 out of 5