Pesky Pirates and Purple Prose: Brigands of the Moon by Ray Cummings tor.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tor.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.
Leigh Brackett was undoubtedly one of the most entertaining science fiction authors of the 20
th century; while other authors shied away from the action and adventure that marked the pulp origins of the genre, she embraced those qualities. And late in her life, she returned to her roots and brought back one of her greatest heroes in fact, one of the great protagonists of the entire planetary romance sub-genre Eric John Stark. This wandering hero, raised by a primitive tribe and shaped by a lifetime of combat, might suffer setbacks and injuries, but remains a force of nature whose adventures never fail to entertain the rea