The Solar Queen Series

by Andre Norton

 

Sargasso of Space ~ 1955;

“Worlds for Sale!”
Was the startling cry that electrified Dane Thorson of the space trader Solar Queen. But who’d be crazy enough to buy the newly discovered planet? The data is sealed: the planet could be a treasure trove or a radioactive desert – and only a crew as desperate as that on the Solar Queen would risk such a gamble. Somewhere out there, far beyond the Milky Way, was the world they had bought sight unseen, with the ominous name Limbo….

 

Plague Ship ~ 1956;

Lured by exotic gems and valuable oils, the crew of the space trader Solar Queen landed on the newly discovered planet Sargol, only to find their most ruthless competitor there ahead of them. Still, they tried for fair trade, even according to the sly rules of the strangely feline natives Salariki.
But after the takeoff they found they had a plague on board, the treachery of someone who’d been on Sargol. Although they’d begun to run out of supplies, they couldn’t land or they might start an interplanetary epidemic…
… And the galaxy had ordered that the Solar Queen be destroyed on sight!

 

Voodoo Planet ~ 1959;

In Voodoo Planet, Dane Thorson, Medic Tau, and Jellico, captain of the Solar Queen, are invited to Khatka for pleasure-hunting in the planet's legendary jungles. However, their pleasures are short-lived as they encounter the incredibly evil power of Lumbrilo, a witch doctor who seeks to take over the planet and destroy the spacemen in the process. The men are thrown back upon their own physical and spiritual resources and are faced with the do-or-die challenge of mastering exotic magic.

 

Postmarked the Stars ~ 1969;

Trouble started early for the free-trader Solar Queen the moment cargo master Dane Thorson collected a package for transit from Xecho to Trewsworld. What was in the package Dane did not learn until after he had been kidnapped, knocked out, and a dead man bearing his credentials had been substituted for him aboard ship.
Efforts to find out the reasons for the mysterious switch seemed hopeless until they made the ghastly discovery that their precious cargo of alien embryos had been subjected to secret radiation, causing them to regress genetically into monster forms.
Only after Dane and his fellow spacemen had endured a series of nightmare adventures on their port of call did they begin to fit the puzzle together- to realize that they had stumbled upon a criminal operation that involved a whole cluster of stars.

 

Redline the Stars ~ 1993;

When the interstellar trade ship Solar Queen lands at Canuche in Halio, Captain Jelico and his crew are faced with a plague of rats that threatens to decimate the ranks of the visiting spacefarers. And a major crisis is brewing at the heavy industrial docks, where a freighter loaded with explosive chemicals could blow up the Solar Queen along with the rest of the planet. And to top off the problems facing the Queen’s crew, there is Rael Cofort, the mysterious half-sister of their most powerful rival. Along for the ride to Canuche, she’s a medic, a talented, experienced spacer, and she wants to sign aboard the Queen. She seems to be the perfect shipmate, except somehow, all the trouble started when she arrived….

 

Derelict for Trade ~ 1997;

The Solar Queen is in real trouble. They’ve just saved thousands of lives in near disaster and are on the way to cash in on their newfound hero status with some profitable trade. But when they drop out of hyperspace and almost crash into a deserted ship, it’s all they can do not to become a wreck like the one they’ve stumbled across. Luckily, the Starvenger has just enough fuel to get both ships to the nearest port, a space habitat that is home to humans and two other races. Unfortunately, when they attempt to file for scavenger rights, a crooked syndicate of bureaucrats takes an interest and threatens to scuttle Captain Jellico's crew and their claim to the derelict.

 

A Mind For Trade ~ 1997;

Hesprid IV can’t be that bad. Especially when it holds such a huge deposit of lucrative cielanite ore. Or so thinks Dane Thorson and the rest of the crew of the Solar Queen, and its new sister ship, the recently recovered derelict North Star. The plan seems simple: make landfall, mine ore, leave.
But when huge electromagnetic monsoons strike, and a strange lifeform makes deadly attacks on the miners, the mining grinds almost to a halt. Then the real treat arrives: the crew of the North Star, long ago stranded here, wants off the planet… at any cost.

 

The Solar Queen ~ 2003;

Omnibus featuring Sargasso of Space and Plague Ship

 

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View a proposed Movie outline (PDF)