The Stellar Legion

By Leigh Brackett

No one had ever escaped from Venus’ dread Stellar Legion. And, as Thekla the low-Martian learned, no one had ever betrayed it and—lived. Leigh Brackett was the undisputed Queen of Space Opera and the first women to be nominated for the coveted Hugo Award. She wrote short stories, novels, and scripts for Hollywood. She wrote the first draft of the Empire Strikes Back shortly before her death in 1978.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Nov 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649741066

Reviews for The Stellar Legion

[altheaann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read as part of the Retro-Hugo 1941 Voter Packet.

If you've read and enjoyed George R.R. Martin's "Old Venus" anthology, you owe it to yourself to read this, because this (and, of course, other stories like it) is exactly what inspired those stories.

The Stellar Legion, fighting on Venus against the natives, is quite the opposite of stellar. Rather, they're the dregs of the service, the psychotic, the criminal, the dishonored. But when the young commander Lehn encounters one of his new underlings, MacIan, he senses that something about him is different. MacIan seems like an honorable and brave soldier. Still, when it turns out that someone in their company is a traitor, and it looks like MacIan, Lehn is willing to admit that his instinct might've been wrong. But was he really wrong?

The story is characterized by plenty of action and ingenious solutions to desperate situations.