The Martian Circe: Restored Classics to Go Edition

· Otbebookpublishing
Ebook
63
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

In a smoky Martian tavern called Starhouse, Captain Roal Hartford of the Solar Bureau of Investigation hears Alayna, the "Queen of the Silver Stars," sing a haunting song that stirs a dangerous longing for Earth, home, and ordinary peace. But beneath the music lies a harder world of narcotics, alienation, and fear, and Roal soon suspects that the tavern is tied to harmeena, a deadly drug spreading madness through the starways. Disguised as a miner, he follows the trail of the elusive Starhouse through the System, only to find that its glamour is a trap. Alayna seems both performer and prisoner, and when a drugged vapor nearly overwhelms him, Roal is forced to fight hallucinated "silver demons" with a secret SBI antidote before collapsing. Dumped in the Martian desert, he survives with uneasy help from strange natives, then returns to report his findings—only to be told the whole ordeal was an illusion. Fingerprint evidence and a photograph prove otherwise: Alayna is Mariana Sebours, a famous singer who has vanished from public life. As Roal digs deeper, he uncovers a hidden family secret, a missing father, and a towering stranger whose image becomes the key to a system-wide manhunt. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
In a smoky Martian tavern called Starhouse, Captain Roal Hartford of the Solar Bureau of Investigation hears Alayna, the "Queen of the Silver Stars," sing a haunting song that stirs a dangerous longing for Earth, home, and ordinary peace. But beneath the music lies a harder world of narcotics, al...

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About the author

Raymond F. Jones was an American science fiction writer whose career helped shape the genre during the mid-twentieth century, a period when readers were eager to imagine the scientific and social possibilities of the future. Born in the early 20th century and active across magazines, novels, and popular speculative fiction, he built a reputation for stories that combined adventure, invention, and clear-eyed curiosity about human nature. He became especially admired for his ability to take big scientific ideas and ground them in recognizable emotional and ethical conflicts, making his work accessible to general readers as well as devoted science fiction fans. Across his writing, Jones returned often to themes of discovery, responsibility, the promise and danger of technology, and the question of how ordinary people respond when confronted with the unknown. Those concerns still feel strikingly current in an age shaped by rapid scientific change, artificial intelligence, space exploration, and anxieties about progress outrunning wisdom. His legacy lies in the way he helped popularize thoughtful, idea-driven science fiction that entertained while also asking readers to consider the consequences of innovation and the resilience of the human spirit. Today, Raymond F. Jones remains a rewarding author for readers who enjoy classic speculative fiction, inventive plots, and stories that balance wonder with moral reflection.

Raymond F. Jones was an American science fiction writer whose career helped shape the genre during the mid-twentieth century, a period when readers were eager to imagine the scientific and social possibilities of the future. Born in the early 20th century and active across magazines, novels, and ...

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