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The Barnum System
Series · 3 books · 1943-1974

Books in series

The Fire Eater book cover
#1

The Fire Eater

1970

Great scaly dragons roamed the dunes—unreal beasts resurrected daily in the mirage belt. Illusions created by atmospheric manipulation—and by magic. For although Esmeralda was a backward world, it had a very real and unusual native art—witchcraft! Raker of Soldiers of Fortune, Inc. was being paid well to track down the planet's deadly Fire-Eater—who visited flaming death upon distant enemies. But Raker found himself battling not one wizard, but a whole pack of sorcerers, plague makers, lycanthropes, and fire assassins. And the ones who couldn't kill him with words went at him with battle axes, swords and the like. Raker began to wonder if even a great fortune was going to be just compensation if he couldn't live long enough to collect....
Shaggy Planet book cover
#3

Shaggy Planet

1943

CIVIL WAR THREATENS THE MOST FOULED-UP PLANET IN THE GALAXY—Murdstone is the most backward planet in the entire Barnum System, and Peluda is the most backward and fouled-up territory on Murdstone. Sensible people avoid Peluda—unless they are fond of disappearing at unpredictable moments. When that happens to a Barnum secret agent, his frantic wife finds that his government will do nothing to get him back, so she turns to the notorious Mirabilis Agency. And that turns loose free-lance undercover agent Peter Torres on one of the wildest chases of his career, where the bad guys keep helping him out of trouble and the good guys are out to kill him.
Space Hawk, Inc. book cover
#4

Space Hawk, Inc.

1974

Wonderful front cover. 1974, original mass market paperback edition, DAW Books, NY. 160 pages. Very funny science fiction original. A man named Kip is asked to check out the pesthole of the universe. This planet is awful. There are odd compensations. We have a sex-mad photographer and members of the Boy Scout Liberation Army. One of the real humorists within the science fiction / fantasy field.

Author

Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart
Author · 64 books

Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner. Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award. In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).

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The Barnum System