STARBRAT

NEL paperback, 1979. Cover artwork by Joe Petagno.

"DRIVESHIPS ROAM THE STARWAYS, 

carrying outlaws, pirates and slavers, for it is six centuries since the Wroblewski Drive sent men into galactic space, far beyond the solar system. Out on the edges of the unknown, the descendants of Old Earth have settled down with the many races of the galaxy, from the gangling, spidery Lixians to the furry, knee-high Quiplids. But space is a frontier, and all too often the only law is a man with a weapon, as it was in the Bloody Centuries On Old Earth.  

SLAVE TRADERS 

snatched Del Whitby from planet Gilead on the day he learned he was a foundling. From the gladiatorial schools on Tarquin VIII where he learns weapon-skill, to the information banks on Watson's Planet and the barbarities of war-torn Skorat, Del scours the many-peopled worlds of Space for a clue to his origins. 

THE TEEMING GALAXY 

of Starbrat is also the setting for Nail Down The Stars and Under A Calculating Star. John Morressy, whose science-fiction novels have previously appeared in the United States, has written a tale of adventure, humour and ideas, in a far future when men have won the stars but lost the past."