A hooded war-lord lec the hordes of M e ft I against the Ancient Doom.. A Novel of Warrior Worlds - A, LEIGH BRACKET VOL 4, NO. II • A FICTION HOUSE MAGAZINE • MARCH, 1951 ^ PouA&ifful Novel o£ the Red tyJasdcL BLACK AMAZON OF MARS Leigh Brackett 72 Grimly Eric John Stark slogged toward that ancient Martian city—with every step he cursed the talisman of Ban Cruach that flamed in his bloodstained belt. Behind him screamed the hordes of Ciaran, hungering for that magic jewel—ahead lay the dread abode of the Ice Creatures—at his side strode the whispering spectre of Ban Cruach, urging him on to a battle Stark knew he must lose! ^ *7uta Sfiace-/lcLue*tUttoe Nooeleti. THE STAR-SAINT A. E. Van Vogt 16 Mark Rogan could travel the airless Void without spaceships. He would answer on appeal for help from anywhere in the Golaxy—If it interested him. And he had a strange talent for dealing with alien life-forms—such as the terrible, invisible Destroyer that stalked eight-hundred colonists on far-off Ariel . ASTEROID OF FEAR Raymond Z. Gallun 40 All space was electrified as that harsh challenge rang out . but John Endlich hesitated. For he saw beyond his own murder—saw the horror and destruction his death would unleash—and knew he dared not fight back! ^ *Jlt>vee *Jh/iUL+uf, SU&U Sto>UeA DUEL ON SYRTIS . Poul Anderson 4 Bold ond ruthless, he was famed throughout the System as a big-game hunter. But his trophy-room lacked one item; ond now Riordan swore he’d bag the forbidden game that roamed the red deserts ... a Martian! THE ENVOY, HER H. B. Fyfe 31 The Emperor must be getting old, they thought, to deal so mercifully with the up- true. start Jursan Rebels—which was quite He was not too young to dream . THE DIVERSIFAL Ross Rocklynne 62 Entore, a creature not yet born, and Bryan Barret, rebel, radical, diversifal—to- gether they worked to prevent a world of probability that would destroy the human race! © 1945 by Lore nominees Pub. Co.. Inc. r ^ Pla*tet A Perfulasi tf-eatusie THE VIZIGRAPH—Letters from Readers 2 T. T. SCOTT, President JEROME BIXBY, Editor MALCOLM REISS, Genera! Manager PLANET STORIES: Published bi-monthly by Love Romances Pub. Co., Inc., 180 W. 42 St., New York 18, N. Y. The entire eontenti of thl» magazine are copyrighted, 1951, by Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc. Reentered as second class matter August 16, 1950, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the art of March 3, 1879. All rights reserved. While due care is always exercised, the publishers will not be responsible for the return or unsolicited ma nuscripta. Price 25* per copy. For advertising rates address: Adver tiling Director, Fiction House, Inc., 130 W. 42 St., New York 18. N. Y. Printed in D. S. A. —- . : . — THE VIZIGRAPH is just not again? His, Whitey’s, too. Hmmmmm? A letter column for letters ; so we’ll say and “Hi,” name the pic-award winners—1) De La Vizi brought up some good epistles this time, Weese; 2) Chabot; 3) Ganley—and git along. but I picked out three that seemed most worthy Happy New Year! hand out the pix to 1) Hapke 2) Gibson 3) (for no other reason than the vagaries of my mind) BEMS OF DISTINCTION Asimov. With an ‘s’. By the Way — I think CARRY ME HOME was Box 493, as good as MITKEY, putting the two of ’em on Lyn Haven, Fla. top. Brother Bixby: All the shorts were good, genuine spacepics, It was with trepidation that I knocked on the pleasing me no end. me, but didn’t you drop door. There being no reply, I knocked again—this Hmmmm Pardon while? so, to time, with my knuckles. I steeled myself as I PS's Feature Flash for a If glad see it back. And now, why not radiate a recall for heard sounds within . This had been a harrowing day, but at last I Guy Gifford’s Ringers? please with stardust on it, was nearly thru. This would be the final call. The And please, pretty thing opened the door and we exchanged a few please stop those Adam and Eve endings ! I can whispered words. With a relieved sigh and a hur- stand the post-atom Adam and Eve idea much explanation ried “Thank you,” I jotted some figures in my better than just one after another of how the original pair got here. notebook and scurried away. That proved it ! Yes, briefly, illos that proved it. In a dimension-wide interview, 9 Now, the out of 10 prominent Bems said they read Planet McWilliams, McWilliams, McWILLIAMS! Stories more than any other mag! Yes, more (A slight hint that I want an artist named M, c, i, double i, a, m, s It isn’t that I don’t like Bems read Planet than ever before! (Musical W, 1, ! ) Mayan, but I prefer and want more, more of— background and a chorus singing: P—L, A—N, Oh. Yes, it is kinda repetitious ... Anyhoo, you E—T !) All join in for: Planet Stories hits the spot— now know who I mean . Six a year now, that’s a lot Vestal ! Artist Vestal, please step to the rear of Two thin dimes is all you need— the class. Who, may I ask, ever heard of a rocket with pistons? Ain’t yo’ done tole you that Planet Stories is the mag to read 1 momma (Editor’s revision: pistons are used in internal combustion engines? Two thin dimes, and a nickel too— There’s—well—a slight difference . Planet Stories is the mag for you!) Now to go back to my canvassing. I’ve got to see some flying cupcakes about how PS suits their Yes, it is ; and I did ! The Nov. ish, to be precise. And good it was, too. MITKEY RIDES AGAIN T zone — T for thrills, T for thud (as in thud was nearly as good as STAR MOUSE, which was and blunder) and T for Terra . a pleasant surprise. Too often, with sequels, that Cerely, just ain’t so. 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In no words, but in a dim pulsing of dread which echoed through Kreega’s that roamed the red deserts . brain, the warning ran a Martian! They are hunting again. 5 6 PLANET STORIES Kreega shuddered in a sudden blast of dwarfed the unkempt room with his size wind. The night was enormous around and the hard-held dynamo strength in him, him, above him, from the iron bitterness of and his cold green gaze dominated the the hills to the wheeling, glittering constel- trader. lations light-years over his head. He “It’s illegal, you know,” said Wisby. reached out with 'his trembling perceptions, “It’s a twenty-year sentence if you’re tuning himself to the brush and the wind caught at it.” and the small burrowing things underfoot, “Bah 1 The Martian Commissioner is at letting the night speak to him. Ares, halfway round the planet If we go Alone, alone. There was not another at it right, who’s ever to know?” Riordan Martian for a hundred miles of emptiness. gulped at his drink. “I’m well aware that There were only the tiny animals and the in another year or so they’ll have tight- shivering brush and the thin, sad blowing ened up enough to make it impossible. This of the wind.