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Star Kings #1.33 & 1.66
The Last of the Star Kings: The Lost Finale to the Cosmic Saga [The Two Thousand Centuries]
The newly discovered finale to the Star Kings saga!
As Analog said of The Star Kings, here you will find "Roistering adventure, beautiful heroines, color and imagery, a final world-smashing slug-fest. Good fun.”
Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings (Amazing Stories in 1949) is one of the jewels in the crown of early space opera, rivaled only by E. E. Smith's Lensmen Series and Jack Williamson's Legion of Space Saga. Then in 1957 Hamilton penned two additional novels in the Star Kings universe, that languished undiscovered in the pages of Imaginative Tales, until earlier this year when the editors of FuturesPast Editions found both stories, one (set millennia after the events of The Star Kings) the capstone to the entire saga.
Here, for the first time restored to their place as part of the worlds of the Star Kings, are those two epic tales, The Star Hunter, which tells the story of the founding of one of the great star kingdoms, and The Tattooed Man, the story of a quest for a legendry location that turns out to the long fallen throneworld of the Star Kings empire. Here is one of the three grandmasters of classic space opera, writing at the top of his form, fast-moving, poetic, romantic, cosmic in conception, but at the same time matured in outlook.
The Last of the Star Kings is a FuturesPast pulp reprint "Ultimate Edition". In addition to the original magazine text of the story, this ebook edition features a cover adapted from the original magazine cover, a new introduction, Edmond Hamilton's own chronology covering the two thousand centuries between our own time and that of the Star Kings, plus newly discovered material about the millennia that follow, biographical sketch by Hamilton himself, the magazine covers for The Star Hunter and The Tattooed Man in full color, and notes on how the dates of both stories were established.
As Analog said of The Star Kings, here you will find "Roistering adventure, beautiful heroines, color and imagery, a final world-smashing slug-fest. Good fun.”
Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings (Amazing Stories in 1949) is one of the jewels in the crown of early space opera, rivaled only by E. E. Smith's Lensmen Series and Jack Williamson's Legion of Space Saga. Then in 1957 Hamilton penned two additional novels in the Star Kings universe, that languished undiscovered in the pages of Imaginative Tales, until earlier this year when the editors of FuturesPast Editions found both stories, one (set millennia after the events of The Star Kings) the capstone to the entire saga.
Here, for the first time restored to their place as part of the worlds of the Star Kings, are those two epic tales, The Star Hunter, which tells the story of the founding of one of the great star kingdoms, and The Tattooed Man, the story of a quest for a legendry location that turns out to the long fallen throneworld of the Star Kings empire. Here is one of the three grandmasters of classic space opera, writing at the top of his form, fast-moving, poetic, romantic, cosmic in conception, but at the same time matured in outlook.
The Last of the Star Kings is a FuturesPast pulp reprint "Ultimate Edition". In addition to the original magazine text of the story, this ebook edition features a cover adapted from the original magazine cover, a new introduction, Edmond Hamilton's own chronology covering the two thousand centuries between our own time and that of the Star Kings, plus newly discovered material about the millennia that follow, biographical sketch by Hamilton himself, the magazine covers for The Star Hunter and The Tattooed Man in full color, and notes on how the dates of both stories were established.
- GenresScience Fiction
156 pages, Kindle Edition
About the author
Edmond Hamilton
1,064 books139 followersEdmond Moore Hamilton was a popular author of science fiction stories and novels throughout the mid-twentieth century. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. Something of a child prodigy, he graduated high school and started college (Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania) at the age of 14--but washed out at 17. He was the Golden Age writer who worked on Batman, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and many sci-fi books.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 18, 2024
This book consists of two 1950’s magazine length novellas. Both take place in the Star Kings timeline( very different times) The first, the Star Hunter, is a straight forward action oriented piece. A Terran spy infiltrates an outlaw group outside of any galactic authority to attempt to stop the development of a deadly weapon which would cause galactic chaos. No space opera here. No romantic interest. Straight up action in space in an earlier time than The Star Kings.
The second book, The Tattooed Man, takes place long after the great galactic empire was destroyed. It’s home-world is now a fairy tale. A mysterious man with strange tattoos on his face holds the key to unlock history, or lead to utter destruction. The problem- the man has lost his mind. Nice story with plenty of action, suspense, a very small amount of romance, and some interesting plot lines.
These certainly aren’t in Hamilton’s grand scope Space Operas. But, it’s nice to go back and read stuff from writers like Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, E.E. Doc Smith etc. It was a time where dreams were built on a grand scale. The entire galaxy was a canvas. Good and evil were clearly defined, even if some of the protagonists had roguish qualities. Every now and then, you can find an independent modern author that understands and mimics this style. Unfortunately , a lot of modern science fiction/science fantasy suffers from needless, endless pages of boring details, plot and timeline jumping every chapter, horrendous characters on all sides , and the like.
The second book, The Tattooed Man, takes place long after the great galactic empire was destroyed. It’s home-world is now a fairy tale. A mysterious man with strange tattoos on his face holds the key to unlock history, or lead to utter destruction. The problem- the man has lost his mind. Nice story with plenty of action, suspense, a very small amount of romance, and some interesting plot lines.
These certainly aren’t in Hamilton’s grand scope Space Operas. But, it’s nice to go back and read stuff from writers like Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, E.E. Doc Smith etc. It was a time where dreams were built on a grand scale. The entire galaxy was a canvas. Good and evil were clearly defined, even if some of the protagonists had roguish qualities. Every now and then, you can find an independent modern author that understands and mimics this style. Unfortunately , a lot of modern science fiction/science fantasy suffers from needless, endless pages of boring details, plot and timeline jumping every chapter, horrendous characters on all sides , and the like.
June 12, 2022
That’s one misleading title as these books are set in the same name universe as the two Star Kings novels but separated from them by centuries. In Star Hunter the hero tries to stop an ambitious space tyrant from obtaining the ultimate weapon. In Tattooed Man a rag-tag team finds itself racing a villain for the secrets of humanity’s lost ancestral home. Both fun if you’re into pulp space opera
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews