Matthew Carse was a Martian archaeologist turned looter, selling priceless historical relics for his own gain, until the sword of a fallen god sent him hurtling back in time to a Mars still lush with life. Captured by the cruel and beautiful princess of a degenerate empire, Carse must ally with the rebellious Sea Kings and their strange psychic allies in order to defeat the tyrannical people of the Serpent. Yet even if he can conquer the enemy’s alien super-science, Carse still faces an even greater danger—the dark god that lurks inside his own skin.

Talented enough to co-write The Big Sleep with William Faulkner and imaginative enough to pen the original screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, Leigh Brackett never fails to deliver breathtaking worlds and fantastic adventure.

“A love song and eulogy to a planet ...a hymn to the lost past of a Mars that never was.”
—Nicola Griffith, award-winning author of Ammonite and Slow River

“Fiction at its most exciting, in the hands of a master storyteller.”
—George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones