The Space Western Canon

The first full-length study of emerging Anglo-American science fiction’s relation to the history, discourses, and ideologies of colonialism and imperialism. Nearly all scholars and critics of early science fiction acknowledge that colonialism is an important and relevant part of its historical context, and recent scholarship has emphasized imperialism’s impact on late Victorian Gothic and adventure fiction and on Anglo-American popular and literary culture in general.

The complete adventures of Northwest Smith. A dark haired man with “space bronzed” skin and pale eyes, who wears brown spacer’s leathers and carries a raygun at his side – he is a smuggler and outlaw adventuring through the solar system with his Venusian sidekick, Yarol in their small and unspectacular but surprisingly fast and agile ship, the Maid.

Silver-space-suited galactic marshal Capt. Victor Corsaire is distracted from arresting smalltime crook Gil Terry when infamous (and impeccably dressed) criminal mastermind Space Vulture raids the planet Verlinap. Capturing Corsaire and a “feisty” planetary administrator, Cali Russell, Space Vulture triggers a battle of wits as he seeks to auction the lawman off to 12 of the galaxy’s most wanted criminals.

On the lush alien world of Pandora live the Na’vi, beings who appear primitive but are highly evolved. Because the planet’s environment is poisonous, human/Na’vi hybrids, called Avatars, must link to human minds to allow for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully, a paralyzed former Marine, becomes mobile again through one such Avatar and falls in love with a Na’vi woman. As a bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.

A space cowboy and his partner must rescue a young girl from her captor.

In a distant future, the planets at the outer edges of the galaxy have become a beacon to fortune seekers and those yearning for a better life off world. But there are no guarantees in deep space. Pandora, one of these distant planets, was reported to be rich in untapped mineral wealth, and so drew many hoping to get rich quick, but in the end little was found beyond the scattered ruins of a past alien civilization. With nothing to gain, any who could soon abandoned Pandora, leaving those who remained to deal with the lawlessness of a world gone bust, and the mystery of the long-dead alien civilization.

In the distant future, in the darkest regions of space, the ghosts of the past whisper your name. You are Jim Raynor, a marshal-turned-rebel on a vigilante crusade to bring down the Dominion and its nefarious leader, Arcturus Mengsk. Haunted by betrayal and remorse, some believe you may have given up the fight. But you have promises to keep… and a need for vengeance that’s long overdue.

Bearing a mysterious metal shackle on his wrist, an amnesiac gunslinger wanders into a frontier town called Absolution. He quickly finds that strangers are unwelcome, and no one does anything without the approval of tyrannical Col. Dolarhyde. But when Absolution faces a threat from beyond Earth, the stranger finds that he is its only hope of salvation. He unites townspeople, outlaws and Apache warriors against the alien forces in an epic battle for survival.

Captain James Holden, his crew, and Detective Miller unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl.

When Civil War veteran John Carter mysteriously awakes on the surface of Mars, also called Barsoom, he little expects the adventure that awaits him. Carter reluctantly becomes embroiled in an epic conflict among the red planet’s inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas and Princess Dejah Thoris. As Barsoom is poised on the brink of collapse, war-weary Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that everyone’s fate is in his hands.