Queen of the Martian Catacombs

"Queen of the Martian Catacombs" by Leigh Brackett is a science fiction novel written in the late 1940s. The story follows Eric John Stark, a rugged Earthman with ties to Mars, navigating a treacherous landscape filled with danger and intrigue as he seeks a path through Martian society and to a city known as Valkis. The narrative touches on themes of survival, power struggles, and Stark's complex relationship with a mystical and haunting woman named Berild. At the start of the tale, Stark finds himself pursued in the Martian desert, where he is forced to confront a group of officers from Earth Police Control who have come to bring him back into custody for past transgressions. The opening chapters introduce Stark’s fierce determination to remain free and his grim acceptance of the harsh realities of his life, which is shaped by both his Earth lineage and his upbringing among Martians. As he encounters old friends and former mentors like Simon Ashton, Stark unwittingly gets drawn into a brewing conflict between various factions in Mars, including the ambitions of the cunning Kynon and the seductive, enigmatic Berild. The stark environment, echoing with ancient Martian legends, sets the stage for Stark's tumultuous journey ahead. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera," she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production.