Birth of Fire by Jerry Pournelle (1976)

Birth of Fire, by Jerry Pournelle (1976)

At left: Paperback original (New York: Laser Books, 1976), #23, 191 p., 95¢. Cover illustration by Kelly Freas. From the back cover:

“Life imprisonment on Earth or transportation to Mars? Convicted of first-degree murder, Garrett Pittson chooses Mars - a colonized world strictly controlled by Earth and the giant mining corporations. But Garrett is not doomed to slavery in the mines. Tough men like him are needed on Mars - to fight for freedom in the outlawed Free Mars Army. With the beautiful Erica at his side, Garrett embarks on a deadly mission to prove that a free Mars has the power to survive and that he is a true Marsman.”

See the entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database for a bibliographic history and specialized book review citations.