The Valley of Creation
New York : Lancer Books, 1967. –
159 p. ; 18 cm. – (Lancer ; 73-577)
Cover: Emsh
“Alien forces struggle to rule a strange, forgotten world …. Great fantasy-adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs” — Cover
Beasts, men … or aliens?
In that hidden valley, land of strangely forbidding beauty, Eric Nelson, soldier of fortune, faced a battle weirder and more savage than any he had ever fought.
He was hired to fight for humanity, against beings that seemed to be both more and less than human.
The weapons of the enemy included centuries-old powers of magic and superstition . . . but Nelson fought grimly, even when his mind was helplessly trapped in the body of a wolf.
Then came the climactic test of his allegiance, the knowledge that more than just humanity was at stake . . . and the final mind-shattering discovery of an alien secret that lay buried in the Cavern of Creation!
Here is a masterpiece of sword-and sorcery that belongs on your shelves next to those of Burroughs, Eddison, and R.E. Howard.
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The Valley of Creation (Lancer)
The Valley of Creation
New York : Lancer Books, 1964. –
159 p. ; 19 cm. – (Lancer Science Fiction Library ; 72-721) NUC: 78-64694
Cover: Emsh
“Alien forces struggle for mastery in a forgotten land where beasts have more-than-human powers” — Cover
Beasts, Men…Or Aliens?
In that hidden valley, land of strangely forbidding beauty, Eric Nelson, soldier of fortune, faced a battle stranger than any he had ever encountered.
He was hired to fight for humanity, against beings that seemed to be both more and
less than human.
The weapons of the enemy seemed to include centuries-old powers hinted at in tales of
magic and superstition, but he fought on … even when helplessly trapped in the body of a savage wolf.
Then came the climactic test of his allegiance, the knowledge that more than just
humanity was at stake … and the final mind-shattering discovery of the alien secret that lay buried in the Cavern of Creation!
Book Reviews:
- Analog. 74(6):90. Februry 1965. (P. Miller)
The Sun Smasher (Ace Double)
The Sun Smasher (aka: Starman Come Home)
New York : Ace Books, 1959. –
110, 146 p. ; 17 cm. – (Ace Double Novel Books ; D-351) pbk.
Cover: Emsh NUC: 70-105061; 80-367147
Bound With: Starhaven (146 p.) / by Ivar Jorgenson (=Robert Silverberg)
“The ultimate weapon of an uncrowned king” — Cover
A CROWN FOR THE STAR-CROSSED
“It can’t be true! It must be some kind of hoax!” These were the words that went spinning through Neil Banning’s mind when the Greenville authorities told him that the house he had grown up in, the aunt and uncle who had raised him, had never existed.
So Banning found himself in jail, charged with disturbing the peace—and maybe insanity. But when a stranger from outer space came to his cell at midnight and hailed him as the Valkar of Katuun, then Banning decided that maybe the authorities were right, maybe he was crazy. Because the only alternative was to believe the impossible explanation of the Outworlder — that he really was the exiled ruler of a remote star-world, and the personality of Neil Banning was an elaborate fraud.
It didn’t really matter, though, who was right. Banning was on his way to Katuun whether he liked it or not. And as Banning — or the Valkar — he would have to save that star-world from the terror of THE SUN SMASHER . . . or perish with the loyal subjects he might never even have known!
Book Reviews:
- Astounding Stories. 64(3):153. November 1959. (P. Miller)
Man Who Missed the Moon (The Star of Life)
The Star of Life (Canadian edition)
The Star of Life
Toronto : Dodd, 1959. –
The Star of Life (Crest)
The Star of Life
Greenwich : Fawcett, 1959.10. –
187 p. ; 18 cm. – (Crest Book ; S-329) (Fawcett World Library) NUC: 70-72300
Cover: Powers
“The strange and terrifying adventure of the first man in orbit around the moon” – Cover
How Long Had He Been Lost In Space?
Slowly, Kirk Hammond pushed his way back to consciousness. He remembered then that there had been trouble – that his ship Explorer 19, earth’s first manned satellite, had failed to orbit properly – that he had gone astray in space.
Hammond looked up at the sky to get his bearings. He was a man who knew the constellations thoroughly, but it seemed to him there was a something wrong with the stars. Something terribly, insanely wrong.
Frantically he checked again. No, the vast star clock did not lie.
The Truth hit him then like an icy belt of terror. Either he was mad, or dead – or he had been asleep in space for nearly a thousand centuries!
Book review
- Heatley, Tom, in: Vector, no. 9, Sep 1960
The Star of Life (Book Club Edition)
The Star of Life (Book Club Edition)
New York : Distributed by Dodd-Mead, 1959.4. –
192 p. ; 22 cm. – (A Torquil Book) LCCN: 59-6638
Note: No price
Note: “BOOK CLUB/EDITION” at the lower right corner of the front flap of the original, first printing dust jacket is unclipped. — Currey
Note: Has printing code “4” on page 192 — Currey
Note: A second printing has printing code “A14” on page 192 — Currey
Kirk Hammond was a man alone.
He had been chosen to ride in the first manned satellite to go out around the Moon and back to Earth. But when the satellite failed to orbit properly, it went on past the Moon into the vastness of outer space, and a whole world watched helplessly as he was borne toward an unthinkably lonely death.
Yet destiny decreed that Kirk Hammond should suffer, not death but a pseudo-death. And he awoke from it to find that a hundred centuries had passed and that the space age which had begun in the 20th Century had now grown into a vast galactic civilization that had carried the sons of Earth to countless stars and worlds. But, unexpectedly, the conquest of space had changed Man himself, and the human race had become not one but several species.
Hammond was plunged into the climactic struggle between the new races. And in his quest with a desperate band for the mysterious Star of Life that was the key to the struggle, in his relations with the strange and beautiful Thayn Marden who was not a human woman, in his odyssey through the mighty suns and earthly worlds of the galaxy, a man of the 20th Century found himself facing the dangers of the great space age which he himself helped pioneer.
The Star of Life (Torquil)
The Star of Life
New York : Distributed by Dodd-Mead, 1959.2. –
192 p. ; 22 cm. – (A Torquil Book) LCCN: 59-6638
Note: First edition, trade issue, the earliest, with price 2.95 at upper right corner of front dust jacket flap — Currey
Note: Has printing code “4” on page 192. – Currey
Book reviews:
- Analog. 64(4):152. December 1959. (P. Miller)
The Star of Dread (CF#15)
Stark and the Star Kings (SK#1, SK#2, and SK#3)
Stark and the Star Kings
Royal Oak : Haffner Press, [2003]. – p. ; cm. –
Contents: The Star Kings (SK#1)
Queen of the Martian Catacombs
Enchantress of Venus
Black Amazon of Mars
Return to the Stars (SK#2)
Stark and the Star Kings (SK#3)
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, Hamilton’s Star Kings and Brackett’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.
Book review:
- Locus, Nov. 2005, by Nick Gevers