Books Front Lines and Frontiers Space Pirates and Action-Packed Pulp: Starwolf by Edmond Hamilton A thrilling space opera trilogy that offers fun twists on old clichés… By Alan Brown | Published on August 4, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement. It is summer, and for me, time to pull some fun adventure fiction of the shelf and read it while floating on a raft in my swimming pool. And what could be more fun than an omnibus edition of a trilogy about a space pirate written by one of the pioneers of space opera, an author nicknamed “The World Wrecker”? And even better, every book in the trilogy has elements that subvert some of the old clichés of the genre and brought something fresh to the proceedings. The Starwolf omnibus, published in paperback by Ace Books in 1982, collects three short novels that had been published separately (also by Ace): The Weapon from Beyond (1967), The Closed Worlds (1968) and World of the Starwolves (also from 1968). While the design of the title and cover type are attractive, the paperback features an uncredited cover painting that looked like it owed more to the Battlestar Galactica TV show than the book it appears upon, which made me wonder how much the art director or artist paid attention to the story itself? About the Author Edmond Hamilton (1904-1977) was a science fiction author whose career started before the term “science fiction” had entered popular parlance, and a prolific pulp writer whose specialty was space opera. He created the magazine character Captain Future, and wrote comic books for DC. I’ve touched on Hamilton’s work a few times in this column. The first was when I compared his first Captain Future book with a reboot by Allen Steele. The second was a collection of his wife Leigh Brackett’s work that he edited; the third was when I reviewed his classic space opera novel The Star Kings, the fourth was his short novel A Yank at Valhalla, and the most recent was the novel City at World’s End. You can find more biographical information in those reviews. Like many authors whose careers started in the early 20th century, you can find a number of Hamilton’s stories at Project Gutenberg. Writers Versus Entropy When I was in high school, we used to get into passionate discussions about music, and some of my friends had a theory that a musician or group generally had one or two good albums in them, and they either presented that good material right away, or broke it up into a number of albums over their career, each with a few good numbers on them. At some point, as a science fiction reader, I began to wonder if the same principle applied to authors. There are many authors who produce a few good books early on, but for whatever reason, their later work does not live up to that original promise. Sometimes they try to recycle their ideas, either by producing similar works, or by producing a series of sequels. Sometimes they stick to styles that have become stale, or try unconvincingly to keep up with new trends. One exception to this pattern is Edmond Hamilton, and I am convinced that his improvement over time owes a lot to his wife, the incomparable Leigh Brackett (you can find links to all my reviews of her work here). Before their marriage, his fiction sometimes read like he was pumping it out to earn a paycheck, with indifferent quality. But over the years, he began to produce stories that were better plotted and more tightly written. And the Starwolf trilogy is a good example of this improved writing. It’s still space opera in the classic style, but the writing is better quality, the plots are more convincing, the action fast-paced, and the characters compelling. Hamilton might have been nearing the end of his long career, but he was going out with a bang. The Weapon from Beyond Morgan Chane begins the book facing what appears to be certain death. The human son of a missionary couple who died on the heavy gravity world of Varnan, he had been raised as a member of that planet’s raiders, the Starwolves. Faced with treachery from someone he thought a friend, he’d killed him in self-defense, and is now on the run. He detects a ship that might rescue him, and destroys his own craft to hide his connection to the Starwolves—something that would mark him for death in most societies. He is picked up by a group of Mercs, mercenaries from Earth who work for whoever is willing to hire them. Their leader, John Dilullo, immediately sees through Chane’s subterfuge. But the old and seasoned Dilullo also sees Chane could be a good addition to his group, so he keeps his secret. Their first mission is to work for the Kharali, whose foes, the Vhol, seem to have discovered an alien superweapon in a far corner of space. Chane, having gotten into trouble during shore leave on Kharal and thrown in prison, is able to help a Vhol escape in order to lead the Mercs to the weapon. And here, Hamilton does something interesting, which takes this story from being a routine adventure tale and makes it something special. When the Mercs find the artifact, it is not a weapon, but a wrecked exploration vessel full of treasures from a plethora of worlds. The Vohl in charge of the expedition is not a warrior, but a frustrated scientist who had been trying to convince his superiors that there is no weapon here at all. The crew of the ship are still alive in suspended animation, and an automated distress signal has been going out. An alien rescue vessel arrives, and the humans are reduced to helpless bystanders by a forcefield that renders their devices and weapons inoperable, watching as the crew is recovered and the treasures gathered. Finally, the aliens destroy the wrecked ship, something Dilullo has the presence of mind to film. He takes that evidence back to the Kharali to show that the threat has been destroyed, and they pay the Mercs for their services. Instead of a clichéd battle, the book ends with a scene that fills the reader with a sense of wonder, as the humans are confronted by aliens who are so far beyond them, they are ignored as irrelevant. The Closed Worlds The Mercs return to Earth, with Chane now a member of their team, although Dilullo’s stocky second-in-command, Bollard, still has his doubts about him. Chane, however, rescues Dilullo from murderous thieves, and the two begin forming a strong bond. They take a job from a wealthy businessman, James Ashton, whose brother Randall has disappeared on the mysterious “Closed Worlds.” Before they leave, Chane travels to Wales, birthplace of his parents, and finds camaraderie in the local pub. As they travel to the closed world of Arkuu, there is a humorous passage where the cautious master of the vessel the Mercs hired clashes with the bold spaceman hired to pilot the craft, one of the many spots where Hamilton spends some time fleshing out characters that in other space opera tales might have been left as cardboard cutouts. On Arkuu, government representatives stonewall the Mercs, and then drive them off the planet with an attack. But at the same time, they had seen a flashing light signaling “Ashton,” so they sneak back. Chane is attacked by a beautiful blonde woman, Vreya, and knocks her unconscious. They find the prisoner who had signaled them—it is not Ashton, but another member of his party. They awaken Vreya, and find that Ashton had been seeking out a mysterious device known as the Free-Faring. They go to look for the device in nearby ruined cities, and after encountering fierce humanoids known as the Nanes, Chane begins to bond with Vreya. One of her roles in the story is to be a love interest, but I like the fact that, instead of relegating her to being threatened or kidnapped, and then rescued, Hamilton has made her a strong character with plenty of agency. The Mercs are then attacked by fanatics who want all traces of the Free-Faring, and any who seek it, destroyed. They must fight their way past the fanatics and more of the Nanes until they find what they are looking for. Like in the previous book, the story eventually takes a turn toward a big science fictional idea. It turns out the Free-Faring is a device that allows people’s spirits to travel, nearly instantaneously, between the stars. But in doing so, it also causes them to ignore their bodily needs, and many have died after falling prey to its seductive powers. Whole cities of people have been lost, and it is no surprise the fanatics want to destroy it. The Mercs find Randall Ashton still alive but emaciated after spending too much time in the thrall of the device. Only the strong-willed Chane and Vreya can use the machine and break free of it. The fanatics attack again, and are defeated, but the Mercs’ flying craft is destroyed, and they must fight their way back to civilization through hordes of Nanes, with Randall Ashton in tow. When they leave, Chane says goodbye to Vreya, who has plans to use the Free-Faring for the benefit of her people. He says he might return, but she teases him by saying she won’t wait for him. It is another successful mission, and the Mercs head back to Earth. World of the Starwolves Dilullo, who is feeling his age, has decided to take his pay from their last few jobs, retire to his hometown, and build a house. But when Chane goes to see him, he finds Dilullo sitting in a vacant lot, unwilling to start construction. As it turns out, Chane has other ideas for the future. The precious set of jewels called the Singing Suns have been stolen from Achernar by the Starwolves, who then sold them to a variety of buyers. Achernar is offering a massive reward for their return, a reward Chane wants badly, but the old Merc team won’t accept Chane as their leader, and he needs Dilullo to come back. Dilullo, tempted by the idea of one last job with a huge reward, agrees. To get access to the planets they need to visit, the Mercs decide to pose as asteroid miners. Amid the dangerous Argo Spur, they find rocks that include massive carved statues with ugly tentacled faces. Dilullo thinks they are memorials of the dead, and tells the team to stay away from them. Chane, who does not believe in supernatural forces, starts to dig at one, only to be confronted by a telepathic voice. Fortunately, the other Mercs have collected enough ore, and Dilullo calls Chane back before he can awaken some sleeping threat. They go to the planet Mruun, and find a man who they interrogate with an illegal device. He tells them the Singing Suns have been sold to a variety of buyers, including a delegation from the planet Qajar, a world unknown to Chane and Dilullo. The team travels to Rith, but runs afoul of the dictator, Eron, and they are all imprisoned. They find that the jewels have all been resold to the planet Qajar, a planet that is full of all sorts of treasures, but also a planet so heavily defended, it would take a battle fleet to get there. One of the Qajar defenses is a network called the Lethal Worlds; entire planets filled with explosives that can be detonated to destroy any attackers. Chane feels guilty for involving Dilullo in a job that has gone horribly wrong, and he hatches a desperate plan. Despite the death sentence that had been placed on him when he fled their world, he will return to the Starwolves and convince them to plunder Qajar, asking only for the Singing Stars as his cut of the booty. The audacity of this plan is breathtaking. Chane is risking almost certain death from the clan of the Starwolf he killed, and is willing to entice an entire planet into battle, simply to help his friend. What follows is a long interlude that brings Chane back to Varnan, where he gets an audience with the Starwolf leadership Council that results in any feud duels being postponed until he can present his case. He finds an old mentor, Berkt, who takes his side, and others who sympathize with his cause. And he spends some happy moments with a female Starwolf, Graal, who had been his friend in his youth. Interestingly enough, the Starwolves are described as being very cat-like, which raises the question of why Hamilton called them “Starwolves,” but I guess the name had a better ring to it than “Starcats.” The council agrees to Chane’s plan, and they head out with a fleet to attack Qajar. I won’t go into more details, but the book gallops into a giant battle that involves exploding worlds, waves of missiles, and clashing fleets of warships. And of course, Chane goes on his personal mission to claim the Singing Stars so he can free his friends from captivity. It is a thrilling end to a fun series of novels, and it left me wishing that there could have been more books to follow up the trilogy. Final Thoughts The Starwolf trilogy is well written and entertaining, with lots of action and adventure, and also some interesting science fiction concepts that made for some clever twists and turns. I was sad to reach the end of the last book, as I would have been happy to read further adventures featuring Chane, Dilullo and the Merc crew. If you’re familiar with the three books of the Starwolf trilogy, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts, or for that matter, your thoughts on other pulp adventure books in general. And if you can think of other authors who got better as their careers went along, I’d like to hear about them.[end-mark] The post Space Pirates and Action-Packed Pulp: <i>Starwolf</i> by Edmond Hamilton appeared first on Reactor.