The Ginger Star

The Book of Skaith #1

by Leigh Brackett

A shorter version of this novel was serialized in IF magazine.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Sword and Planet, Fiction, Adventure, Pulp, Space Opera

186 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Leigh Brackett was born on December 7, 1915 in Los Angeles, and raised near Santa Monica. Having spent her youth as an athletic tom-boy - playing volleyball and reading stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H Rider Haggard - she began writing fantastic adventures of her own. Several of these early efforts were read by Henry Kuttner, who critiqued her stories and introduced her to the SF personalities then living in California, including Robert Heinlein, Julius Schwartz, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton - and another aspiring writer, Ray Bradbury.

In 1944, based on the hard-boiled dialogue in her first novel, No Good From a Corpse, producer/director Howard Hawks hired Brackett to collaborate with William Faulkner on the screenplay of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.

Brackett maintained an on-again/off-again relationship with Hollywood for the remainder of her life. Between writing screenplays for such films as Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Hatari!, and The Long Goodbye, she produced novels such as the classic The Long Tomorrow (1955) and the Spur Award-winning Western, Follow the Free Wind (1963).

Brackett married Edmond Hamilton on New Year's Eve in 1946, and the couple maintained homes in the high-desert of California and the rural farmland of Kinsman, Ohio.

Just weeks before her death on March 17, 1978, she turned in the first draft screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back and the film was posthumously dedicated to her.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a ten year haitus on the planet Hollywood, the “Queen of Space Opera” returned to the form with The Ginger Star (1974), the first volume of the trilogy known as “The Book of Skaith.” A decade of screenwriting work (Eldorado, The Rockford Files, The Long Goodbye, etc.) had made the thoroughly professional Brackett an even more accomplished writer, and in this trilogy—her last science fiction/ fantasy novels—she demonstrates what she has learned.

Eric John Stark lands on Skaith, a world lit by a dying red sun, a world only recently introduced to space travel. He has come there to search for his mentor and foster-father, the diplomat Simon Ashton, who disappeared while on a mission to arrange for group emigration. The planet faces doom, slow but inevitable, by the waning light of its ginger-colored star, but the Lord Protectors of Skaith fear the general chaos--and the loss of control--that would come with mass emigration. Are the Lords themselves responsible for Ashton's disappearance? Stark--a hard man who lives up to his name--is determined to uncover the truth.

This first volume of the trilogy takes us from Stark's arrival at the southern starport Skeg to his arrival at "The Citadel," the Lord Protectors' mythic stronghold in the far north. Along the way we encounter many peoples and tribes—some genetically adapted to the waning of “Old Sun,” some half-crazy with prophecy in the face of doom--as Stark wields destruction and forms alliances while he seeks to discover the fate his old friend.

The astonishing thing about this novel—even more so than many earlier Brackett novels—is the extraordinarily swift story-telling, the inventive world-building, and the way both are accomplished without ever sacrificing credibility, character motivation, or the twilight atmosphere of a declining world.

Brackett is a writer who deserves to be better known. This is required reading for all who love science fiction/ fantasy trilogies, for Brackett shows us how this sort of thing should be done.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rousing sword & planet, sci-fi fantasy that I think sets itself apart. The rich world building is especially captivating. Skaith is an intriguing alien world under a dying sun, with a multitude of strange human and semi-human races, all reduced to a pre-industrial state after the decline of advanced civilizations millennia past. A form of economic slavery has taken hold, with some groups compelled to work and provide for others who serve a kind of divine role as "holy" wanderers and essentially cannon fodder for the ruling elite to mobilize en masse as needed to ruthlessly enforce their will. The story relies heavily on the "chosen one" prophecy trope, which feels overused and tired to me. I think the story would have worked just as well without it. Anyway, the plot is tight and brisk, full of wonderfully crafted adventuring, conflict and action. Eric John Stark, or simply "Stark", is smart, capable and able to tap into an innate animal nature when needed, but refreshingly modest as far as heroes come.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good sword and planet pulp from Brackett! I know I read this decades ago; this features Eric Stark Stark, a Conan-like savage raised in the wilds of Mercury, who features in several of Brackett's novels and novellas. We get the back story on Eric Stark, who was saved from savagery by Simon Ashton, who works for the Galactic Organization as a 'problem solver'. One problem that came up was the (re)discovery of the planet Skaith, whose ebbing sun (a 'ginger star') induced Arctic-like conditions on the world on the way to becoming an iceball. Ashton was kidnapped by the rules of the world, the so-called Lords Protector, and Eric Stark is determined to go there and free him; he is like a father to Erick John Stark, and woe to those who will stand in his way!

Basically, this is a good adventure novel where, in a Burroughs-like manner, Eric John Stark goes from one tight situation to another on his quest to free his 'father'. It seems the Lords Protectors are not happy about the population's desire to leave the freezing world; after all, that would challenge their iron rule on the population..

This is part one of Eric's adventures on Skaith, and I am looking forward to the next two. 3 solid stars!!

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started The Ginger Star years ago and didn't enjoy it, so I set it aside and resolved to give it another chance someday. (There is a little blurb on the cover that says "First time in print," but that's not true. It was first serialized in Worlds of If magazine, and I read some of the first installment there.) Well, I finally got around to it again, and I did mostly enjoy it this time, but I still have reservations. It's a very well crafted story, and Brackett's writing is delightful. She had a way of inserting descriptive words in the narrative that made the setting and situations come to life quickly and unobtrusively and as part of the story, whereas other writers would have stopped for a paragraph or three of description. She created a rich and detailed series of societies and locales for Skaith that are really quite remarkable. There is a large cast of characters in the book, and the reader has to pay close attention to keep all of them (and their backgrounds and relationships with the other characters) straight. The plot is a fast-moving one: Stark's friend Ashton has gone missing on the mysterious planet so he goes to search for him, encountering all manner of strange customs and creatures and conditions along the way. At one point near the end I thought he acted out of character when he abandoned his new lady love in order to escape captivity, which the original Stark would never have done, and I thought it only happened to provide a lead-in to the second book. (I assume he'll set out to rescue her.) My objection is that it's so different from the original Eric John Stark stories. There's really no coherent connection, and much of this book contradicts the earlier ones. In the early stories Stark was a black-skinned man but doesn't appear to be here. In fact, the Steranko cover looks like it would be right at home as the cover of one of Kenneth Robeson's Avenger novels. (To be fair, the illustrators of the early stories didn't make him look black either, but one could have hoped for a less apparently racist attitude that many years later.) The earlier stories were set quite firmly on Mercury, Venus, and especially Mars, and I've read that Ballantine made an editorial demand for a change of setting due to the increase of public knowledge of realistic conditions in our Solar system, which may be true but I think was misguided. I would have enjoyed the story much more if I hadn't kept trying to make it fit in with the earlier continuity. If they would have just used a different name for the character I would have probably thought it was great.

[Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women writers first began to be a significant force in American science fiction in the 1960s. But in the decades before that, a few trailblazing female authors had brought a distaff perspective to the then mostly male-dominated genre. One of these pioneering figures was Leigh Brackett (1915-1978), who had already earned a distinguished name for herself in the SF pulps of the 40s and 50s as a writer of “swords and planet” fiction. (She was also a successful author in two other male-dominated fields, Westerns and hard-boiled mystery, both as a writer of fiction and of notable Hollywood screenplays.) Eric John Stark, the protagonist of The Ginger Star, was originally a series character featured as the hero of three short stories/novellas she wrote in 1949-51. My first introduction to the character (and to Brackett's work) was through the third of these, Black Amazon of Mars, which got five stars from me. This novel (which is only my second exposure to her work) is one of her later writings, published in 1974, just four years before she died of cancer at the relatively young age of 62.

In my Black Amazon of Mars review, I commented that Stark is “a bit more rough-edged than , say, John Carter, and indeed can at times seem almost feral.” His back-story is developed a bit more fully here. (And, as he comments at one point, “I was raised by animals, Jerann. That is why I seem like one.”) Born on Mercury to human parents in a mining colony --Brackett's Mercury has a (barely) habitable belt on the border of the sun-facing side and the dark side-- he was orphaned very young when a mine cave-in wiped out all the humans there. He was taken in and raised by a tribe of Mercury natives, who were sub-human primates with a more limited intelligence than humans and only a rudimentary language; but they were kind to him, and the only family he ever knew. When he was perhaps in his teens (Brackett didn't state the exact chronology), more humans came from Earth, slaughtered his tribe in order to steal their food and water, and put him in a cage as a freak. He was rescued, taught English and “house manners,” and mentored socially and morally by one Simon Ashton, a diplomat and official of the Galactic Union, whose authority Stark's captors didn't dare defy. (The GU, as Brackett portrays it, like Le Guin's Ekumen and the Federation familiar to Star Trek fans, or like the Hegemony in the SF novels of Andrew Seddon, is a galaxy-spanning federated super-government embracing many planets; but it doesn't come across with either the smiley-face faux “benevolence” the creators of the first two endow them with, nor with the totalitarian viciousness of the Hegemony. It's more of a gray, bureaucracy-heavy association mostly interested in fostering peaceful trade; Ashton is one of the very few of its officials with the guts and energy to actually leave headquarters for field work.) The man Stark grew up to be is tough both mentally and physically, sharp-sensed and strong-willed, a fierce fighter with a determination to survive. He's a loner without a people or a home, not comfortable inside walls and unwilling to permanently settle anywhere, who doesn't trust easily. But he's also a man of honor and principle, who respects the rights of others and is intensely loyal to his (few) friends. And there's no friend he values more than Simon Ashton.

Now, Ashton has disappeared on the low-tech planet Skaith, “somewhere at the back of beyond,” a world in the grip of terminal global cooling for at least the past 1,000 years, orbiting a dying sun; the latter's titular reddish “ginger” color is an indication of its relative loss of mass and heat, compared to younger stars like ours. (Like Brackett's Martians, Skaithians are aliens, but very human-like; the only difference is that at least some of them have purple skin, but that's only mentioned once and it's possible that, as with humans, skin colors of different groups may vary, though the author doesn't say so.) Long ago when the effects of the cooling first became marked, as the planet's high-tech civilizations crumbled under the ecological crisis and great social upheavals and southward migrations began, a mysterious and shadowy clerisy of “Lords Protector” set themselves up (backed by their enforcers the Wandsmen) as a kind of self-appointed supranational global government over the various tribes and city-states, with a mandate to protect the weak from the strong and to succor and feed the needy. But even if they started out with that mission, by the time of our story it's become simply a cover for tyranny and exploitation. The only “weak and needy” their thugocracy protects and feeds is the planet's roving bands of social drop-outs (principally the “Farers”), who eschew productive employment for lives of hedonistic leisure, alcohol and drug abuse and loose sex, and who now outnumber the productive part of the population. These latter are essentially enslaved and plundered by the Wandsmen to support the Farers and their ilk, who are ready and willing to act as flash mobs at the Wandsmen's beck and call, to kill and/or torture any of the productive population who make trouble. (Given that Brackett was writing this nearly 50 years ago, it seems increasingly and chillingly prescient.)

Skaith is outside the GU, and was only discovered by the latter about a dozen years ago; but it's begun to engage in limited off-planet trade, through a single spaceport at the seaside city of Skeg, tolerated grudgingly by the Wandsmen because they want some off-world goods. The GU opened a consulate about seven years ago; but as word that there are other worlds in the galaxy and contact is possible has slowly spread, a strong faction has arisen in at least one city-state calling for off-planet immigration by the downtrodden productive. Ashton volunteered to go as emissary to discuss this. But when the Wandsmen learned of his arrival, they forced the closing of the consulate; and he hasn't been heard from since. When our story opens, Stark is en route to Skaith from GU's headquarters planet (where he's boned up on everything known about Skaithian language and culture) with one thing on his mind: to rescue or at least avenge Ashton. He's not working for the GU; but he has their blessing (since they know he's going anyway!) and their request to let them know whatever he finds out.

This is gripping, adventure-oriented SF in the “swords and planets” tradition, to which it contributes honorably. While this sub-genre has similarities to fantasy's swords-and-sorcery tradition, there's no magic element. (Some characters' precognitive abilities and the divining techniques demonstrated in some cultures, like the telepathy manifested at times, are in my opinion explainable as psychic phenomena, not magic; and the “wands” carried by the Wandsmen aren't of the magic sort, but rather ornamental staffs of office.) Action here begins early, and there's a strong narrative drive marked by intense danger and tension. Stark's character development is outstanding, and I rooted for him readily. (The other important characters, and even many secondary ones, are also developed well.) Brackett's world building is vivid and imaginative, but credible; as readers, we really get a feel for the unique (and dangerous) world that is Skaith. Wonderfully descriptive writing brings both its natural and social world to life. There are no logical holes in the plotting nor implausibilities in either the natural or social science reflected here. With a straightforward, linear plot structured as a quest narrative, the book has a forward momentum which, along with the relatively short length at 186 p., makes it a quick read. Most critics will dismiss it as philosophically shallow; but as is often the case with such dismissals, it actually isn't. Its conflict has a solid moral dimension, pitting basic goodness against recognizable evil whose minions genuinely believe that they're good; it can't help but evoke thought about moral and social questions, and we have a protagonist who models significant virtues.

No real content issues present themselves. Violence is frequent but not grisly-gory, and bad language is limited to a single d-word spoken by a character in a situation of great urgency and stress. There's one non-explicit unmarried sexual encounter between a couple who care about and respect each other, under circumstances where it's psychologically very understandable.

Although I knew going into the read that The Book of Skaith is a trilogy, I originally intended to read this first book as a stand-alone. But although it brings the immediate quest here to a sort of conclusion, much is left unresolved, and I can't possibly leave the saga here! So I'll be eagerly looking forward to returning to Skaith for the remaining two books (even though I definitely wouldn't want to actually live there.... :-) ).

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old-time fans of Leigh Brackett's most famous character, Eric John Stark, would have to exercise a great deal of patience after the first three Stark stories--"Queen of the Martian Catacombs," "Enchantress of Venus" and "Black Queen of Mars"--appeared in the pages of "Planet Stories" magazine, from 1949 – '51. It would be a good 13 years before the author revisited her "Conan of the spaceways," and then it was to only revise and expand the first and third tales to create the short novels "The Secret of Sinharat" and "People of the Talisman." Another decade would pass before Brackett touched on the character again (to be fair, Leigh was more of a screenwriter for film and television at this point in her career), but in 1974, the patience of her fans was finally rewarded with the release of "The Ginger Star," the opening salvo of what has since become known as the Skaith Trilogy. Like the earlier Stark outings, the new book was a pleasing mixture of space opera and sword & sorcery-type fantasy; unlike the earlier works, the new book found Stark not on Mars or Venus, but rather, on a world many light-years from his home planet of Mercury. Fortunately for her readers, Brackett's winning way with a robust adventure tale, fleshed out with beautifully descriptive prose, remained most definitely intact. As Scottish sci-fi critic David Pringle would later write of "The Ginger Star," it is "colourful, well-turned escapism in an old-fashioned vein."

In "The Ginger Star," Stark undertakes a mission on his own, with no support from the Galactic Union. His old mentor and savior, Simon Ashton, had disappeared on the planet Skaith while conducting a diplomatic mission. Skaith was a planet that had only recently been contacted. A world in decline, it consisted of various city-states whose populations--as Brackett describes their cultures, architecture, weaponry and the like--would seem to correspond to those of the Europe of Earth's Middle Ages. Now, residents of the city-state of Irnan have made a request to the G.U. to emigrate from their old world, which request has caused the rulers of Skaith--the Lords Protector and their subservient Wandsmen--to shut down the G.U. consulate. Stark is immediately embroiled in trouble upon his arrival, and is ultimately forced to make a journey of many hundreds of miles to locate his old friend, falling in with any number of diverse folk en route. His goal: the mysterious locale known as the Citadel, far in the frozen north, where the Lords Protector supposedly reside. But to reach there, he must first pass through the hostile city of Izvand, the treacherous Darklands, the masked people of the Towers, the paganlike Outdwellers, the metalworkers of Thyra, and the gene-altered, mountain-dwelling Children of Skaith, before finally crossing the Plain of Worldheart and facing the legendary Northhounds. Fortunately for him, he acquires some allies during his lengthy quest: a band of Irnanese fighting for their freedom to emigrate, and Gerrith, a beautiful prophetess, with whom he enters into a sort of passionate affair....

Endlessly inventive, colorful and action packed, "The Ginger Star" is a bravura return for both Eric John Stark and his creator. Brackett, who had spent much of the preceding decade writing scripts for such films as "Hatari!," "El Dorado" and "Rio Lobo" (all directed by Howard Hawks and all starring John Wayne), as well as the Robert Altman-directed neo-noir "The Long Goodbye" (and who would shortly commence work on a little something called "The Empire Strikes Back"), demonstrates in her first novel in 10 years that she had lost not one iota of her authorial prowess. It is a triumphant return to form for the so-called "Queen of Space Opera." Brackett adds many ingenious little touches to her story, such as the genetically modified Children of the Sea, who have elected to return to the oceans to live; the "pod masters," who are in charge of bands of folks undergoing a radical form of group therapy; the "love-weed," which induces instant randiness in its consumers; and the haglike Sun Worshippers of Izvand, naked except for the black bags over their heads.

The author bracket(t)s her novel with two exciting set pieces: In the first, Stark battles one of those monstrous Children of the Sea in the creature's watery domain; in the second, Stark goes up against Flay, the telepathic leader of the Northhounds. "The Ginger Star" is peopled with a large cast of characters, and there is simply no way for the reader to discern which of these characters will be sticking around and which will be summarily dispatched. George R.R. Martin, it would appear, was hardly the first fantasist to shockingly do away with seemingly major characters in his fictions! Brackett employs archaic language on occasion ("We go there somewhiles to trade for tools and weapons") to reinforce the notion of a medieval culture, and indeed, similar to the earlier Stark tales, if it were not for the planetary setting, the genetic sports and those telepathic canines, this could almost be a Conan tale as told by Robert E. Howard. As in "People of the Talisman," one of the book's central mysteries revolves around what lies beyond a high mountain pass; a pass that is guarded by an ancient city. In both instances, the answer is nothing that the reader could ever hope to imagine. The novel in question, I might add, is peripatetic if it is anything, and this reader was more than happy that--as is the case with many of the finest epic fantasies--a detailed map has been included in the book's opening pages. It wasn't absolutely necessary, but it certainly did help me envisage Stark's winding journey.

"The Ginger Star," it should be noted, does not wrap up neatly. By the novel's end, Stark HAS achieved his primary objective of finding his mentor, Ashton, but many plot threads remain unresolved. The plight of the rebellious Irnanese, and the question of Skaith's isolation from or welcoming of the Galactic Union, remain. In addition, by the book's conclusion, Stark's ally, the Irnanese fighting man Halk, as well as the seeress Gerrith, are in the clutches of the tyrannical Wandsmen. Guess I'm going to have to dive into book #2 now, "The Hounds of Skaith," to see what happens next....

(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ...a most excellent destination for all fans of Leigh Brackett....)

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is my third "Eric John Stark" novel by Leigh Brackett (after The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman). By now, I can safely say you know exactly what you are getting with these stories. Good, occasionally great, pulp era sword and planet science fiction story big on adventure and alien landscapes and sparse on character development.

I really like these stories and usually pick one up when I am in the mood for a fast, fun read as they are all less than 150 pages long and are never boring. This is the first story in Skaith storyline and I thought the descriptions of the planet and its inhabitants were interesting. As I have said before, if you think you will like this based on the description above, then you probably will.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book of the "Skaith" trilogy, where the adventurer Eric John Stark ends up on the dying planet of Skaith and has some sword and planet type adventures.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Skaith, book 1.

Stark learns that his foster father Ashton vanished on the planet Skaith. Despite Ashton's official position, nothing can be done. But Stark can do much on his own.

He arrives at the planet, is told to remain in the city, the one place starships are allowed, fishes for information and is contacted for a way out. It is a very conflicted land. The sun is ginger because it is dying (on an unscientifically accelerated time frame, BTW), and trouble is ensuing. Plus the last time the Migrations occurred because of how cold the planet grows, the Lord Protectors established a rule to protect and provide for the weak; alas, over time, most people have gotten themselves into the "weak" group. Some want to escape the planet. Others want to prosper through trade -- including slave trade.

And a wise woman made a prophecy about a dark man who would come in search of Ashton and overthrow the Lord Protectors. She was murdered, but her daughter Gerrith inherited her role. . . .

It includes genetically modified, now non-human races; using the bones of a human sacrifice to divine with; a bridge exploited for extortion; a rescue that is not an improvement; the mobs of Farers and the more efficient mercenaries; Stark's Mercury childhood among non-humans; and more.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

She wrote both science fiction and noir screenplays for the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and she wrote back in the days when most women didn't, how could she not be a hero of mine? So I'm definitely leaning to generous. The story does have something of formulaic in it, and the final guardians of the citadel were a bit disappointing I admit. But the language has moments of transcendence, it's a gripping enough story with a host of cooly imagined characters, and in traditional noir fashion, the hippies are the bad guys. Very enjoyable.

[Asen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather good S&P book, features a very interesting dying world, with a rather fun main character. I like the author's style.
I don't want to put spoilers in, so I'm going to stop here, but it's definitely worth reading!

[C.K.T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric John Stark’s friend and mentor Simon Ashton has disappeared on the planet Skaith on a mission for the Galactic Union. As a masterless man not beholden to anyone, including the Galactic Union, Eric John Stark sets out to find his friend.
Skaith is a dying planet with a lone spaceport and hostility towards the Galactic Union, many of the peoples not even aware of the galactic civilization. The inhabitants live under a dying red star which shapes the climate and societies of the planet. Much of the south is ruled by The Lords Protector from a mysterious stronghold known as the Citadel. It is from here that Wandsmen, enforcers of the Lords Protector, receive their orders and implement the oppression of the peoples of Skaith. As the Galactic Union brings space flight and wonders of the universe to Skaith the more the Lords Protector work to keep power and the more oppressive the Wandsmen become.

Into this world comes Eric John Stark. A masterless man who brings knowledge that men can escape to the stars and not be trapped in a dying world. He finds himself caught in a plan to help the Irnan leave Skaith and escape the tyranny of the Wandsman. In the process becoming an unwilling pawn of a prophecy that could incite revolution for the whole planet of Skaith. Is Eric John Stark the Dark Man of prophecy? Can he save his friend and mentor? What is his connection to the telepathic Northhounds that guard the citadel?

Leigh Brackett has created a wonderful sci-fi/fantasy story of adventure and societal upheaval all set in a world where a red sun, a Ginger Star, affects all the peoples of Skaith. Though there is space flight and a Galactic Union the people and societies of Skaith have no technology- when the people battle, they battle with swords. There are genetically altered peoples, The Children of the Sea and Children of Skaith-Our-Mother, but the genetic technology has been forever lost. There is slow magic and people who find wealth only in metal, betrayal, love in the form of the beautiful seer Gerrith and finally telepathic hounds. Eric John Stark must navigate all these. Though he does seem to get captured rather easily, Leigh Brackett weaves Stark in and out of dangerous and hopeless situations all while showing the reader the rich and inventive environments and societies of Skaith.

This is a 5-star read for me. Leigh Brackett crafts a sci-fi/fantasy adventure with all the enjoyable weirdness of a 1970’s paperback. She writes in a brisk, vivid style that paints the landscapes of Skaith and moves the action along at a fast pace. Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger investing the reader more and more in the exploits of Eric John Stark. Leigh Brackett;’s creativity and imagination come through with an engaging story of planetary upheaval with a protagonist that the reader is invested all in a world rich in scope and history. As with chapters the book ends with more challenges awaiting Eric John Stark, so I am looking forward to delving back into the planet of Skaith.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is something like a cross between Conan the Barbarian and Dune (or maybe Edgar Rice Burroughs). Plus, my old paperback (published in 1974) smells amazing as paperbacks of that age often do.

And the book is pretty good, too! It's pretty engaging, with some cool ideas. The plot sort of dragged a bit for me in the middle, but I love the creatures we meet at the end, and it sounds like they have a big part in the sequel.

Eric John Stark is a character from Brackett's stories going back to the 1940's, but she picked him up again in the 70's for this trilogy. I haven't read the old stories, but I imagine these are a bit more mature (for one thing, they don't take place on a very pulpy Golden Age Mars or Venus, but in another solar system). While Stark is a bit of a gruff hero, he cares deeply for his friend (the whole reason for his quest) and treats the women he meets with respect (another parallel with Conan, who has more depth in the Howard stories than you might think). It does seem that Brackett gave more depth to the women characters (especially the head priestess that Stark meets along the way) than many of her male counterparts in the field at the time.

This is still very much mid-20th century "science fantasy" (a genre you don't see much anymore), so it probably won't appeal to everyone, but it's a great specimen of that species.

See my blog review! https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ginger Star is my first exposure to Eric John Stark, Brackett’s hero from Mercury (where he was raised by a primitive race after his parents were killed) and apparently takes place after the earlier adventures The Secret of Sinharat and Talisman of the People (I believe both are in this volume). The Ginger Star begins an arc of stories taking placing on the world Skaith, a distant planet orbiting a dying sun and ruled by a cruel cabal of wizards known as Wandsmen. The Ginger Star opens with Stark arriving on Skaith looking for Simon Ashton the man who essentially taught him to be human. Along the way he gets wrapped up in the planet’s internal struggles and is caught between a faction that wants to leave the planet and the Wandsmen who wish to maintain their iron control over the populace.



Written in 1974 The Ginger Star is textbook example of a science fantasy. Sure the story opens with Stark’s arrival to Skaith via spaceship and his recollection of his reconnaissance on a city planet but from there on out The Ginger Star is fantasy adventure. There is no heady technological wonders or lengthy exposition regarding the use of technology or science here. Instead, the future of The Ginger Star is as messy as humanity’s past. Rather than speculating on what might come to pass in the future Brackett instead transposes the types of indigenous encounters one might have seen during Earth’s Age of Discovery to distant stars and strange planets. Stark is a character in the vein of Mowgli and Tarzan; operating more by instinct and cunning than anything else.

The Ginger Star is a fast novel that focuses more on pushing the plot and action forward rather than lingering for explanation. In fact one might that the focus on character and action over world-building is one of the things that sets swords and sorcery (or in this book’s case swords and planets) apart from other fantasy genres. Furthermore, perhaps more than epic fantasy, the landscape of the novel is an important role. The Ginger Star is constructed more as a series of interconnected set pieces rather than an intricately woven tapestry and I found it to be a refreshing change of pace. That isn’t so say that Brackett doesn’t spend some time world-building. By and large the action of the novel is driven by the underlying aspects of Skaith’s ruling system. Brackett doesn’t spend time delving into the nitty gritty of the world rather focusing on the larger picture painting in broad strokes to create a background picture just clear enough to frame Stark and Skaith; to place them in context.

I wasn’t completely impressed with The Ginger Star. There was something absent I just could not put my finger on and I kept waiting for something to truly impress itself on me. That isn’t to say there aren’t moments I enjoyed or that stick in my mind. Stark’s aquatic fight with a vicious sharkman and his encounter with the Children of Skaith or Mother were in particular quite awesome. Partly I think I was bothered with how the other characters in the story seemed ill-defined next to Stark; quite frankly they all seemed rather disposable. I’m curious to see where the rest of the story goes and will probably pick up the remaining volumes of the Skaith trilogy but truth is I’m not really in a hurry to do so.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continued impression, with this reread, is of a 'grown up Barsoom', where more thought has been invested in the core considerations of an old and used-up world filled with strange isolated social systems and an outsider shaking things up.

There's a remarkable moment late on where the Diviners of Thyra attempt to (forcibly) extract memories from Stark using some weird-science-assisted telepathic mesmerism. Stark, who has been around the galaxy and seen quite a bit, shrugs off their technique and contemptuously hands them his memory using his own abilities. It's a nice shake-up of the usual thing where the Earthman is shocked and stunned by the weird magic of the lost planet.

And there's this: a power structure with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, while evidence continues to amount that this status quo is unsustainable in light of climate changes and resource depletion.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been bewitched by Leigh Brackett before (who couldn't love a female classic sci-fi author who also co-wrote screenplays for The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, and The Empire Strikes Back, among others), but this is my first taste of her Eric John Stark / Skaith novels. So so so so so so so good. I can't wait to read the other two. Brackett sets up a rich setting and populates it with artfully drawn characters, both big and small. I have the germ of a thesis in my head about how George R.R. Martin had to be inspired by these books when he wrote The Game of Thrones (honorable lead character named Stark, North vs. South, ample use of the word Southron, weird small ancient beings who live in the far north called the Children, the list goes on and on). If you like science fiction or good storytelling, pick this one up.

[Apocryphal Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't planning to write a review of this book, but my friend Ray noticed I was reading it and asked me to report, so here we are. Frankly, it was much better than I expected it do be. The Ginger Star was published in novel form in 1974, and based on a shorter version of the test that was serialized in Worlds of IF.

This is a sword and planet tale set on the planet Skaith - an old, dying world under an old, dying, ginger coloured star. The hero of our story is Eric John Stark, ostensibly an earth man, but raised by wolves and a loner, as much animal as man, by his own description. He arrives on Skaith from Pax, the administrative centre of the Galactic Untion, in the first chapter because he's looking for a friend of his - a sort of father figure - named Simon Ashton. Ashton, a diplomat, has gone missing. This is an official mission for Stark, but also a personal one.

On Skaith, he finds a secretive body called The Lords Protector, some kind of immortals, rule the place from a distance. Their captains and solders are The Wandsmen and The Farers, basically your everyman tyrant on the ground. When Stark arrives on Skaith, his questions about Ashton immediately attract the wrong kind of attention, and in good old S&S fashion, he finds himself stumbling from one adventure to the next in his search, all the while trying (and often failing) to avoid 'the law'. Along the way, he meets various people with curious customs, including refugees, rebels, misanthropic naturists, feral fairies, and more. A theme emerges in the telling about a conflict between people's desire to remain on their endemic but dying planet, or see a new life in the stars. Stark, being a star-man, becomes a symbol of change.

Although this is a sword-and-planet tale, Stark actually uses multiple means to solve his problems, very few of which involve a sword. There's perhaps a little too much reliance on Stark getting captured and needing to escape, but this is balanced by a pretty nice twist near the end.

The pace is brisk, but the writing is very good for this kind of literature. The setting is pretty well realized, and there are some nice bits of description. Overall, I thought there were quite a few interesting ideas in here, and there's a fair amount of good content for a 186 page pocket book. It's definitely a cut above Burrough's Mars books, in my opinion. I see bits of Vance and T.J. Bass in the world-building and events.

Here are a few of the good bits:

Setting:
"...He did not much like the look of the sea... Skaith had no moon, so there were no tides to stir it, and there was a milky, greasy sheen to the surface. Skaith's old ginger-colored sun was going down in a senile fury of crimson and molten brass, laying streaks of unhealthy brilliance across the water. The sea seemed a perfect habitat for the creatures who were said to live in it."

Quirky Culture:
"There was a fire burning inside, and the half-dozen men and women Stark had seen before with Yarrod sat by it in a close group, heads together, arms intertwined. They neither moved nor looked up as Stark and Yarrod entered. "
"Pretty good, aren't they?" said Yarrod. "Or do you know?"
Stark clawed back through his mental file on Skaith. "They're pretending to be a pod. And you're supposed to be a pod-master."
A pod, according to the file, was a collection of people so thoroughly sensitized by a species of group therapy that they no longer existed as individuals but only as independent parts of a single organism. The pod-master trained them, then kept them fed and washed and combed until such time as the hour arrived for Total Fulfillment. That was when one of the components died and the whole organism went, finding escape at last.

Little Sisters of the Sun:
"A band of women forced their way to the steps and began to climb. They wore black bags over their heads, covering their faces. Otherwise they were naked, and their skin was like tree-bark from long exposure.
"Give us the Dark Man, Mordach!" they cried. "Let us take him to the mountain top and feed his strength to the Old Sun."
Mordach held up his staff to halt them. He spoke to them gently, and Stark asked, "What are they?"
"They live wild in the mountains. Once in a while, when they get hungry, they come in. They worship the sun, and any man they can manage to capture they sacrifice. They believe they alone keep the Old Sun alive."
Halk laughed. "Look at the greedy beasts! They'd like to have all of us."

A Dying World:
"And old road," said Amnir. "Once, when Old Sun was young, all this land was rich and there were great cities. This road served them. Folk didn't ride on beasts in those days, or drive clumsy wagons. They had machines, bright and shining things as swift as the wind. Or if they wanted to they could take wing and rush through the sky like shooting stars. Now, we plod, as you see, across the cold corpse of our world."
"For what purpose," asked Stark, "do we plod?"
Amnir had refused to tell them what he intended to do with them.

On Belonging to a place, however doomed:
He glared at the stars as though he hated them.
"One is born on a world. It may not be perfect, but it's the world one knows, the only world. One adjusts, one survives. Then suddenly, it appears there is no need to struggle because one has a choice of many worlds. It's confusing. It shakes the whole foundation of life. Why do we need it?"
"It isn't a question of of whether or not you need it," said Stark. "It's there. You can use it or not, as you please."
"But it makes everything so pointless! Take the Thyrans. I've heard all their ballads, The Long Wandering, The Destruction of the Red Hunters, The Coming of Strayer, ...and so on. The long dark years, the courage, the dying, and the pain, and finally the triumph. And now we see that if they had only known it, they could have run away to a better world and avoided all that." Amnir shook his head. "I don't like it. I believe in a man staying by what he knows."

I'm looking forward to the next installment!

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bad guys tax workers to support a mob of stupid hippies? I wasn't sure I was going to like where this was going... but as the different factions on backwards-ass Skaith reveal themselves, it turns out to be based on just pure misanthropy, not heavy handed libertarianism. Even the telepathy, magic and endless prophecies can't get in the way of the sword-and-planet fun. Stark's Tarzan-meets-Conan backstory is great; I understand that it's probably all detailed in short stories and novels from the so-called Golden Age, but it's nicer probably to just jump in to this 70s weirdness and let the main character's past be revealed in snippets.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like television for the mind. Decent story; a little slow at the middle but picks up considerable steam at the end. Loved the descriptions of Skaith, a world slowly going mad and dying, ruins, etc.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars really...
Leigh Brackett wrote most of her Eric John Stark stories back in the late 40's and into the 50's. Much later, in the late 70's she wrote a new trilogy of Stark novels of which The Ginger Star is the first.

I enjoyed it. It was a very short, very quick read. But I did feel a little frustrated with it sometimes. One problem is there's not much depth to Stark's character. We get a little bit of background on him, but he's pretty much a blank in this novel. Also, he spends the majority of the novel in chains, held prisoner by one group or another, usually getting saved by a Deus ex machina only to be captured by the next group. Fortunately, and coincidentally, each group seems to be headed in the direction Stark wants to go and they carry him along with them. When he finally gets to his goal, the ending is rushed and somewhat anti-climactic. Ashton, the man he came looking for is just standing there and walks over to Stark's side. Then Stark faces the big baddies and basically just tells them to leave...and they do!

The old Eric John Stark stories were set in familiar places such as Mars, depicted as a dying world with ancient cities and vast canals. By the time Brackett was writing this new trilogy, our understanding of Mars and other nearby planets was a lot greater, and there were no canals or ancient ruins. Most people at this point knew this. So her publisher told her to create a different planet for Stark to have his adventures on. This is where Leigh Brackett really shines. Her world, Skaith, is a colourful and exotic world of complex societies and ancient religious cults. The detail which Brackett goes into the describe them and all their interactions is fascinating. Her worldbuilding elevates this book from a rather strait forward adventure into something much more interesting and I really enjoyed this aspect of The Ginger Star.

Book 2, The Hounds of Skaith, which I just started, literally picks up right after the end of the previous novel making it feel like I'm still reading the some book. So perhaps their will be more depth to Stark's character as the story progresses. At any rate, I'm excited to see more of Skaith. And since the big baddies just walked away, they are still out there. I have a feeling Stark hasn't seen the last of them!

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been keen to read more Leigh Brackett – partly because her reputation as a pulp SF author and screenwriter is legend, but mainly because I really liked The Long Tomorrow. This novel is a reboot of her most popular Golden Age SF character, Eric John Stark, sort of a cross between John Carter and Tarzan – an orphan raised in the mines of Mercury by aboriginals, Stark identifies more with them than humans, and after being rescued and raised by Simon Ashton, becomes a mercenary who jets around the solar system and tends to side with locals over the human colonialists when conflict arises.

The Stark stories (like a lot of pulp SF at the time) were set on other planets in the solar system under the assumption that the nearby planets could support human life. By 1974 we knew better, so for this series Brackett created an extrasolar universe run by a Galactic Union to enable Stark to find other planets to have adventures on. In this case, Stark arrives at Skaith, a primitive backwater planet where the GU has recently opened a port for trading purposes. Simon Ashton (now representing the GU) has disappeared, and Stark is on a personal mission to rescue him. Skaith is controlled by the Lords Protector, whose Wandsmen keep the various factions in line. Stark ends up dealing with all of them in his quest to find Ashton – which is problematic as his very presence as an offworlder seems to fulfil a prophecy that an offworlder will overthrow the Lords Protector.

Despite the relocation, this essentially follows the same template as earlier Stark tales – straight sword-fantasy-adventure with very little technology beyond the starships that enables Stark to travel between planets. While this particular brand of SF has never really grabbed me, Brackett is better at it than other authors I’ve sampled. The story moves at a brisk pace, and Stark is well-developed enough as a character that he comes across as more than a Tarzan-in-space knockoff. More interesting is the subtle yet key plot point of a technologically advanced civilization setting up shop in a more primitive one, and how the latter reacts to it, particularly the Powers That Be. Anyway, it’s okay for what it is, and it hasn't discouraged me from reading the next one, so there’s that.

[Jim Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Brackett and her style of planetary adventure. While they never get very cerebral they often point out the problems of primitive civilizations dealing with with the more technically advanced humans of the future. Eric John Stark was one of her creations who is in the mold of and a combination of ERB's Tarzan and John Carter. Stark was raised under very primitive circumstances that gives him strengths and talents no longer seen in the Earth men of the near future and is as handy with a sword as with a ray-gun. He uses these abilities to deal with primitive cultures on other worlds, mainly Mars and Venus in the earlier stories in the 40's and early 50's. She expanded a couple of these earlier stories about Stark in the early 60's but didn't break any new ground. Then after 10 years she went back to writing Eric John Start novels in 1974 with The Book of Skaith series of which The Ginger Star is the first entry. Previously Stark's adventures were limited to planets in the Solar System and while this was good for the 40's and 50's I guess Brackett felt she needed to go interstellar for the next round of adventures. I thought that The Ginger Star was well written for a SF adventure story from 1974 and still holds up today. Stark is on a rescue mission of the man who saved him from degradation on his home world of Mercury but finds out he is part of a prophecy that can result in huge changes to the planet his mission takes him to. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3089599.html

A planetary fantasy, Brackett’s first after a ten-year hiatus, published in the mid-1970s but really belonging to an earlier decade. Our hero, Eric John Stark, lands on the planet Skaith to seek his mentor Ashton, who has disappeared; he himself was raised by primitives on Mercury before Ashton rescued him and educated him in the ways of humans. (His name on Mercury was N’Chaka, which is suggestive.) On his quest northwards he runs into one well-written peril after another, aided sometimes by Gerrith, daughter of Gerrith, whose vision is that he will destroy the regime of the Lords Protector. (Guess what happens at the end?)

Brackett’s earlier stuff (or at least what I have read for Retro-Hugo purposes) was better, but this is still not bad if pulpy, and frankly much better than the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels which inspired it. But it’s curiously out of place in 1974; The Dispossessed, published the same year, a planetary romance much more in tune with the times, won both the Hugo and the Nebula, and I think most people would agree that the voters got it right.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but until the end it mostly got by on an interesting setting and quick pace. The hero is sort of drug along by events more than he's active, until the very end. He gets captured many times. However, he is satisfyingly bad ass in the final two chapters. At a penultimate moment, he's facing down a giant monster, and the barbaric "beastly" side of his personality kicks in, and he tells the monster "I don't die. I kill." That was awesome.

Apparently this is the first in a series. If i find the others in my normal browsing, i'll likely pick them up. There's another Leigh Brackett book in my to-read pile. I believe she wrote the screenplay to "The Empire Strikes Back". Star Wars owes more to this type of pulp sci-fi than it does to mythology and philosophy, so SW fans should check this stuff out.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falls prey to the boring journey syndrome throughout the middle. The last few chapters increased the quality, so hopefully the next two in the series are something better.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sword and Planet fantasy is a sub-genre that I overlooked until quite recently. For the longest time, all I knew of the style were the John Carter novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I didn't get around to reading that series until a couple years back. A positive experience with the first three John Carter novels then prompted me to seek out more of the same, and I was delighted to find that Burroughs' work actually spawned an entire cohort of imitators in the 1960's and 70's. Leigh Brackett was one of those imitators and, seeing as her work frequently appears on genre "best of" lists, I jumped on the chance to acquire a paperback set of her Book of Skaith. Thus far, an excellent purchase. The Ginger Star is the first entry in Brackett’s Skaith saga, and it mostly lives up to its reputation as a first-rate mix of space opera and adventure pulp. Well-written, action-packed, and filled with unique worldbuilding- highly recommend to anybody looking to explore the Sword and Planet scene.

Although it's the first installment in the Book of Skaith, The Ginger Star is merely the start of another adventure for Brackett's long-running space hero Eric John Stark. In this story, our orphan-turned-mercenary heads to the remote planet of Skaith in search of Simon Ashton- a diplomat for the galactic federation who had adopted Stark as a child. Ashton has went missing while attempting to negotiate the emigration of a downtrodden tribe, and when Stark arrives he learns that Ashton is being held by the mysterious Lords Protector of the planet. The novel then transforms into a traditional quest narrative, with Stark travelling across the decaying landscape of Skaith to the Citadel of the Lords Protector, located in the planet's frigid northlands. Complicating Stark's quest are the despotic priests known as Wandsmen and a variety of primitive peoples, all of which have been instructed to capture Stark on site. In addition to your usual Sword and Planet tropes, where a modern man must navigate a primitive alien society, the desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape of Skaith clearly borrows from the Dying Earth subgenre.

The Ginger Star was my introduction to Leigh Brackett, and I can confirm that knowledge of Stark's prior adventures isn't needed to understand to story. It's a self-contained narrative that gives you all the background you need. You also shouldn't need any previous familiarly with Sword and Planet tropes, merely a love for pulpy adventure in a pseudo-medieval setting. Personally, I was especially impressed by Brackett's ability to balance a fast-moving prose style with a sufficient number of character moments. It's truly shocking how much Brackett can stuff into a 200-page book. Stark's tragic backstory also gives The Ginger Star more heart than your typical pulp novel, whereas Brackett is an expert at blurring the lines between technology, mythology, and magic. My only significant complaint about the novel is how its final act feels strangely rushed. It's clear that Brackett was working under a page limit, and needed to reach a certain point by the start of Hounds of Skaith, but the furious rush to the end is at odds with the relatively worldbuilding-heavy front half of the novel. There's also nothing here that stands out as downright inspired. The Ginger Star is merely a book that's very good at every aspect of its storytelling.

With a consistently engaging, well-written story that slightly drops the ball over its final act, The Ginger Star is an obvious candidate for a 4-star rating. An excellent read for anybody who already enjoys the John Carter novels.

[A.L. Sirois · Rating 4 out of 5]

If modern-day readers recognize the name Leigh Bracket, it's probably because of her work on an early version of the script for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, which is widely regarded as the best of the first STAR WARS trilogy, if not the best film in the overall franchise. She died before the film went into production, but elements of her screenplay remained in the final version. She was more famous in her day for writing scripts for The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Long Goodbye (1973). Along with C. L. Moore, Brackett was one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. This book, THE GINGER STAR, focuses on the character of John Eric Stark, who she created years earlier for a series of tales in PLANET STORIES. Stark is an Earthman raised by aboriginals on Mercury who are later exterminated by Earthmen. Adopted and mentored by a kind Terran official, Stark later becomes an adventurer on Mars and Venus, then on the planet Skaith in another star-system. In THE GINGER STAR, Stark's adoptive father has been kidnapped on Skaith, and Stark is sent there to rescue him. It's very much a space-open type of adventure, fast-moving and exciting, with very clear-cut good guys and bad guys. I enjoyed it and intend to read the other two books in this series, THE HOUNDS OF SKAITH (1974), and THE REAVERS OF SKAITH (1976). If you like this sort of thing, THE GINGER STAR is a fast-paced novel that makes few demands on the reader.

[Loren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a kid and enjoyed it during my Conan and Elric phrase, so I wanted to reread it as see if it held up. I am surprised at how readable it still is. Basically a barbarian road trip across a planet beneath a dying sun, The Ginger Star introduces one culture after another, all interdependent. Each has reasons for wanting to flee the planet or to force the others to stay. The cultures feel real, with histories and myths that round them out.

My concern in rereading this was that our spaceman hero, Eric John Stark, would prove a product of the 1970s. While he does hookup with the only unattached woman in the story, he's careful to get her assent beforehand and repeatedly checks in with her afterward. He doesn't judge the societies he encounters, only the people who interact with him. At no point does he feel himself superior by virtue of having coming from the stars.

As the book unfolds, it's revealed that a cataclysm destroyed the technically advanced civilization. It isn't explored in much depth, so it looks like fertile ground for the next couple of books. It's been too long since I read them and I don't remember how the story goes.

This was enjoyable and quick to read. I'm going to look up more of Brackett's work.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent planetary romance from the queen of the genre. Brackett is a seriously underrated author despite the fact that she work on the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back. I have read nearly all of her novels and a good deal of her short fiction, and I have never been disappointed. Previous stories the feature Eric John Stark are set on a Barsoom-like version of Mars. For the Skaith series, Brackett moved the action to a planet on the frontier of the Galactic Union. Not surprisingly, the setting feels a bit like the Star Wars universe including a city-planet named Pax that is virtually identical to Coruscant. Stark travels to Skaith to attempt a rescue of his friend Ashton who has disappeared. On Skaith, Stark meets various rebels, seers, aliens and environmental dangers that keep the action rolling. As always, Brackett's prose is fluid and evocative.

[Jeffrey Doten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strongish start that sort of losses me as Stark and friends wander Skaith. I've read Brackett before and LOVED many of her stories for their characters, exotic settings and themes. I thought that ( he looks it up ) 'Baya' was a key character. We meet her early on, Stark and her seem to be connecting, then she's gone, or I've lost track of her or something. And that's how the book goes. Characters just drop away. I'm sure someone is there to end but I started skimming so I really don't know. I'm not happy about this, and am hoping I enjoy the other Stark tales sitting on my shelf, I've been wanting get into them for a long time and I've got my hands on the lovely Paizo Planet Stories editions. On to the next !