The Blue Star
Subtitle: The Tale of a Parallel World
Contributors: Ron Walotsky (Illustrator); Lin Carter (Introduction)
Edition: 1st PB edition
Series: Ballantine Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1969
Language: eng
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: Science Fiction & Fantasy - Fantasy
Description: The alternate Earth of "The Blue Star" is no home to swashbucklers or soldiers. It's a carefully worked out society, approximating the 18th-century Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this world, gunpowder has not been discovered, but magic works. The Empire centered around the city of Netzigon is corrupt, collapsing, decadent, and basically tiresome. The novel follows the adventures of Rodvard Bergelin, who begins as an ineffecutal, milquetoast government clerk and becomes embroiled in a massive plot to pull the Empire down and rebuild a free society. Great Stuff! Originally published by Twaine in 1952. This is the first paperback appearance, one of the early entries in the "Adult Fantasy" series that [Lin Carter](/authors/OL1813446A) constructed for [Ballantine Books](/publishers/Ballantine_Books).