Dray Prescot series
Encyclopedia
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels and a number of associated short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
of the subgenre generally classified as sword and planet
Sword and planet
Sword and Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The name derives from the heroes of the genre engaging their adversaries in hand to hand combat primarily with simple melee weapons such as...
, written by Kenneth Bulmer
Kenneth Bulmer
Henry Kenneth Bulmer was a British author, primarily of science fiction.-Life:Born in London, he married Pamela Buckmaster on 7 March 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and were divorced in 1981...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Alan Burt Akers.
The sequence is made up of eleven cycles of novels, each cycle essentially forming a series within the series. Four novels and three short stories are stand-alone narratives falling outside the system of cycles. Each tale is narrated in the first person by the main protagonist, Dray Prescot. To support the illusion that the fictional Prescot was the actual author, later volumes were bylined "by Dray Prescot as told to Alan Burt Akers."
Publication
The first thirty-seven volumes were published by DAW BooksDAW Books
DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
from December 1972 to April 1988; to date, print editions of the later volumes have been published solely in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag from 1991 to 1998. English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
ebooks of volumes 38–41 were later issued by the now-defunct electronic publisher
Electronic publishing
Electronic publishing or ePublishing includes the digital publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in...
Savanti from September 1995 to December 1998; ebooks of volumes 1–45 have since been issued by another electronic publisher, Mushroom eBooks, which projects issuing the entire saga in ebook form. While its website continues to list 2008 as the hoped-for completion date of the project, as of 28 June 2011 only the first forty-five books of the series are available from this source. A 3 October 2009 blog entry on the website cites family illness and difficulty in locating the manuscripts as responsible for the delay in publishing the remaining volumes. While some of the manuscripts were still missing as of 27 January 2011, the publisher hoped at that time to complete publication of the series in 2011.
On April 3, 2007, Bladud Books, a division of Mushroom Publishing, began re-releasing the series in print, in both paperback and hardcover, with the intention of publishing omnibus volumes of each cycle of books in the series. As of 4 January 2010 the Delian Cycle, The Havilfar Cycle in two parts, and the Krozair Cycle, the Vallian Cycle, and the Jikaida Cycle are available. Some of these volumes are also available in electronic form. All are listed on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Setting
The series is set on the fictional world of Kregen, a planet of the AntaresAntares
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy and the sixteenth brightest star in the nighttime sky . Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic...
star system in the constellation of Scorpio
Scorpius
Scorpius, sometimes known as Scorpio, is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is . It lies between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east...
. Antares is envisioned as a double star
Double star
In observational astronomy, a double star is a pair of stars that appear close to each other in the sky as seen from Earth when viewed through an optical telescope. This can happen either because the pair forms a binary star, i.e...
system consisting of a large red giant
Red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower...
(Antares A) and a smaller green star (Antares B). Antares B is in reality blue, though often described as green, probably owing to a contrast effect. Presumably some similar effect, or perhaps some quality of Kregen’s atmosphere, makes it appear green from the planet’s surface. Kregen has a multiple moon system.
Bulmer's choice of the setting for the series is a subtle tribute to the Martian series
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
, the prototypical Sword and Planet
Sword and planet
Sword and Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The name derives from the heroes of the genre engaging their adversaries in hand to hand combat primarily with simple melee weapons such as...
romance. The star Antares, similar in brightness and hue to the planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
in the night sky, was given its name (ant(i)-Ares, meaning "opposite Mars" or "equal to Mars") by early astronomers to compare it to and help distinguish it from the planet. The premise is furthered in that while on Earth, Prescot meets an unnamed "gentleman from Virginia" who is implied to be John Carter, the protagonist of Burroughs' Martian series.
Physically, Kregen is similar to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, being comfortably habitable by human beings. It has seven major continents and nine continental island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
s similar in size to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in addition to innumerable smaller islands. The scene of all the action is Paz, a grouping of four major continents and four continental islands in one hemisphere
Sphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
. The remaining land masses, in the opposite hemisphere, are little known.
Most of the land masses forming Paz are separated by narrow seas, indicating that in geologically
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
recent times it was a supercontinent
Supercontinent
In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.-History:...
, since broken apart by tectonic
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
forces. The continents of Paz are fairly compact in comparison to those of Earth, without connecting land bridges. They include Turismond to the northwest, Segesthes to the northeast, Loh in the center, and Havilfar to the southeast. Turismond and Havilfar both contain large inland seas similar to the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. The continental islands of Paz include Vallia between Turismond and Segesthes, Pandahem between Loh, Segesthes and Havilfar, Unrdrin to the northeast of Turismond, and Mehzia to the east of Segesthes. Of the continents and continental islands of the opposite hemisphere, the only one named in the series is the continent of Gah, mentioned in Transit to Scorpio
Transit to Scorpio
Transit to Scorpio is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers, volume 1 in his extensive Dray Prescot series of sword and planet novels, set on the fictional world of Kregen, a planet of the Antares star system in the constellation of Scorpio...
as a place of distasteful sexual customs (an obvious dig at another sword and planet
Sword and planet
Sword and Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The name derives from the heroes of the genre engaging their adversaries in hand to hand combat primarily with simple melee weapons such as...
series, the Gor
Gor
Gor , the Counter-Earth, is the alternate-world setting for a series of 30 novels by John Norman that combine philosophy, erotica and science fiction...
series of John Norman
John Norman
John Frederick Lange, Jr. , better known under his pen name John Norman, is a professor of philosophy and an author. He is best known for his Gor novel series.-Biography:...
).
At some time in the past Kregen was apparently seeded with intelligent life-forms
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
from many other worlds by either the Star Lords or the Savanti (for whom see below), or both, presumably by the same mysterious means by which Prescot is brought to the planet. In Paz the dominant species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
is usually the human race, known locally as Apim. Other intelligent species
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
are known collectively as Diffs. Culturally, the more advanced nations are at a level on par with Earth’s European Renaissance, though firearms are unknown and a few nations manufacture aircraft. The opposite hemisphere is apparently dominated by Shanks, savage fish-headed sea-raiders who periodically ravage the peripheral coastlands of Paz.
Notable polities of Paz include the decadent kingdom of Walfarg in northern Loh, remnant of a formerly vast empire, the island empire of Vallia, the smaller kingdoms of northern Pandahem and southern Segesthes’ Balintol subcontinent, the imperialistic empire of Hamal in the northeast Havilfar and the petty states of the Dawn Lands to its south, the more isolated kingdom of Djanduin in southwestern Havilfar, and the perpetually warring Zairim and Grodnim to the north and south of the Eye of the World, the Mediterranean-like sea bisecting Turismond. More primitive areas marginalized from the civilized belt by geography or topography include the Great Plains of Segesthes, the Hostile Territories of Eastern Turismond, the Wild Lands of north central Havilfar, and the jungles of South Pandahem and central Loh.
Storyline
The series features the story of Earthman Dray Prescot, an English sailor of NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
's navy, and his miraculous teleportation to the planet Kregen. There he is trained as an agent for the mysterious Savanti, an apparently benevolent secret society devoted to improving the lot of humanity among the many intelligent species of Kregen. The Savanti are the guardians of a miraculous pool which both heals wounds and extends life, similar to the Fountain of Youth
Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus, the Alexander romance, and the stories of Prester John...
in Earth legend. Prescot falls from grace for using this pool to heal Delia, an injured supplicant to the Savanti, and incidentally the princess of the island empire of Vallia. Thanks to their immersion in the pool Prescot and Delia gain extended natural lifespans of a thousand years, but by violating the sanctity of the pool both are banished back to their homelands—in Prescot’s case, Earth.
Returned to Kregen through the agency of the Star Lords, an even more mysterious rival group of unknown motivations, Prescot becomes a pawn in their schemes, sent willy-nilly to various locations on the planet to serve their ends and capriciously returned to Earth when his task is done or when he manages to offend them. Despite this handicap he usually rises to a position of power in whatever society he is thrust into, and is able to renew and further his relationship with Delia. Eventually they are able to wed and found a family.
Aside from carrying out his missions for the Star Lords, securing his place on Kregen, and winning (and returning) to Delia, Prescot’s ongoing goals include the suppression of slavery in Paz and building a coalition against the marauding Shanks, a Viking-like race of fish-headed Diffs who raid the coasts of Paz from a base in the opposite hemisphere of Kregen.
The text is ostensibly a transcript by “Akers” of a series of audio tapes recorded by Dray Prescot on periodic returns to Earth, which come into his hands by a variety of means over a number of years. Supposed gaps in the tapes allow the author the opportunity of occasional jumps in the narrative, leaving teasing mysteries for the reader as to just what might have happened in between.
The cycles into which the sequence is divided form substories within the overall storyline, sometimes arranged topically and sometimes by setting. These sequences include:
- The Delian Cycle, which relates Prescot’s earliest sojourns on Kregen, introduces a number of the main Kregish settings, and resolves his initial quest for the hand of Delia.
- The Havilfar Cycle, set on the continent of Havilfar, unseen in the earlier cycle, which deals mainly with Prescot’s quest to learn the secret of manufacturing vollers, or airships, a monopoly of Havilfar’s expansionist empire of Hamal.
- The Krozair Cycle, which returns Prescot to the Eye of the World, a Mediterranean-like locale first visited in the Delian Cycle, where he is now outlawed for having failed to aid his fellow members in the warrior brotherhood of the Krozairs of Zy (he was on Earth at the time).
- The Vallian Cycle, which plunges the empire of Vallia into civil war, which only the exertions of Prescot can resolve.
- The Jikaida Cycle, which finds him as a sort of gladiator condemned to fight in living games of Jikaida, ordinarily a chess-like board game played by the peoples of Kregen. The game of Jikaida was inspired by JetanJetanJetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
, or Martian Chess, invented by Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
for his MartianBarsoomBarsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
novels. - The Spikatur cycle.
- The Pandahem Cycle, dealing mainly with the affairs of the island continent of Pandahem.
- The Witch War Cycle, concerning Prescot's efforts to combat a magical curse placed on Vallia.
- The Lohvian Cycle, set primarily on the continent of Loh.
- The Balintol Cycle, set primarily on the subcontinent of Balintol.
- The Phantom Cycle, the final group of Dray Prescot novels.
The story never catches up to the present, although from Prescot’s mysterious appearances and disappearances in the present day it can be presumed that his role as a pawn of the Star Lords continues. Prescot learns more of the rival Star Lords and Savanti as the series progresses, though their mysteries are never fully resolved.
It was Bulmer’s expressed intent to resolve the sequence in volume 53 by having Prescot and Delia experience a sort of apotheosis, possibly raising them to the level of Star Lords themselves, to be revealed in a final visit to Earth by their son Drak, thus accounting for the unfinished nature of the narrative. This volume remains unpublished in English.
Delian cycle (Der Delia-Zyklus)
- 1. Transit to ScorpioTransit to ScorpioTransit to Scorpio is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers, volume 1 in his extensive Dray Prescot series of sword and planet novels, set on the fictional world of Kregen, a planet of the Antares star system in the constellation of Scorpio...
(Dec. 1972; Transit nach Scorpio) - 2. The Suns of Scorpio (Apr. 1973; Die Sonnen von Scorpio)
- 3. Warrior of Scorpio (Aug. 1973; Der Schwertkämpfer von Scorpio)
- 4. Swordships of Scorpio (Dec. 1973; Die Armada von Scorpio)
- 5. Prince of Scorpio (Apr. 1974; Der Prinz von Scorpio)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Delian Cycle (Apr. 2007; omnibus including vols. 1-5)
Havilfar cycle (Der Havilfar-Zyklus)
- 6. Manhounds of Antares (Aug. 1974; Die Menschenjäger von Antares)
- 7. Arena of Antares (Dec. 1974; In der Arena von Antares)
- 8. Fliers of Antares (Apr. 1975; Die Flieger von Antares)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Havilfar Cycle I (Apr. 2007; omnibus including vols. 6-8)
- 9. Bladesman of Antares (Aug. 1975; Die Waffenbrüder von Antares, 1977)
- 10. Avenger of Antares (Dec. 1975; Der Rächer von Antares)
- 11. Armada of Antares (Apr. 1976; Die fliegenden Städte von Antares)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Havilfar Cycle II (Apr. 2007; omnibus including vols. 9-11)
- "Wizard of Scorpio" (Jul. 1976; Der Zauberer von Scorpio, 1982) (stand-alone short story)
Krozair cycle (Der Krozair-Zyklus)
- 12. The Tides of Kregen (Aug. 1976; Die Gezeiten von Kregen)
- 13. Renegade of Kregen (Dec. 1976; Die Abtrünnigen von Kregen, 1979)
- 14. Krozair of Kregen (Apr. 1977; Krozair von Kregen, 1980)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Krozair Cycle (Apr. 2007; omnibus including vols. 12-14)
Vallian cycle (Der vallianische Zyklus)
- 15. Secret Scorpio (Dec. 1977; Geheimnisvolles Scorpio, 1980)
- 16. Savage Scorpio (Apr. 1978; Wildes Scorpio)
- 17. Captive Scorpio (Aug. 1978; Dayra von Scorpio, 1982)
- 18. Golden Scorpio (Dec. 1978; Goldenes Scorpio)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Vallian Cycle (Apr. 2009; omnibus including vols. 15-18)
Jikaida cycle (Der Jikaida-Zyklus)
- 19. A Life for Kregen (Apr. 1979; Ein Leben für Kregen, 1986)
- 20. A Sword for Kregen (Aug. 1979; Ein Schwert für Kregen, 1986)
- 21. A Fortune for Kregen (Dec. 1979; Ein Schicksal für Kregen, 1986)
- 22. A Victory for Kregen (Apr. 1980; Ein Sieg für Kregen, 1987)
- The Saga of Dray Prescot: The Jikaida Cycle (Aug. 2009; omnibus including vols. 19-22)
Spikatur cycle (Der Spikatur-Zyklus)
- 23. Beasts of Antares (Aug. 1980; Die Bestien von Antares, 1987)
- 24. Rebel of Antares (Dec. 1980; Der Rebell von Antares, 1987)
- 25. Legions of Antares (Aug. 1981; Die Legionen von Antares, 1987)
- 26. Allies of Antares (Dec. 1981; Die Verbündeten von Antares, 1987)
Pandahem cycle (Der Pandahem-Zyklus)
- 27. Mazes of Scorpio (Jun. 1982; Die Labyrinthe von Scorpio, 1988)
- "Green Shadows" (Aug. 1982) (stand-alone short story)
- "Lallia the Slave Girl" (Sep. 1982) (stand-alone short story)
- 28. Delia of Vallia (Dec. 1982; Delia von Vallia, 1988) (stand-alone novel)
- 29. Fires of Scorpio (Apr. 1983; Die Feuer von Scorpio, 1988)
- 30. Talons of Scorpio (Dec. 1983; Die Klauen von Scorpio, 1989)
- 31. Masks of Scorpio (Apr. 1984; Die Masken von Scorpio, 1989)
- 32. Seg the Bowman (Oct. 1984; Seg der Bogenschütze, 1989) (stand-alone novel)
Witch War cycle (Der Hexenkrieg-Zyklus)
- 33. Werewolves of Kregen (Jan. 1985; Die Werwölfe von Kregen, 1989)
- 34. Witches of Kregen (Apr. 1985; Die Hexen von Kregen, 1990)
- 35. Storm over Vallia (Aug. 1985; Sturm über Vallia, 1990) (stand-alone novel)
- 36. Omens of Kregen (Dec. 1985; Die Omen von Kregen, 1991)
- 37. Warlord of Antares (Apr. 1988; Die Kriegsherr von Antares, 1991)
Lohvian cycle (Der Loh-Zyklus - originally published in German only)
- 38. Scorpio Reborn (Wiedergeborenes Scorpio, 1991; English ebook edition Sep. 1995)
- 39. Scorpio Assassin (Meuchelmörder von Scorpio, 1992; English ebook edition Feb. 1996)
- 40. Scorpio Invasion (Invasion von Scorpio, 1992; English ebook edition Aug. 1996)
- 41. Scorpio Ablaze (Scorpio in Flammen, 1992; English ebook edition Dec. 1998)
- 42. Scorpio Drums (Die Trommeln von Scorpio, 1992; English ebook edition Apr. 2008)
- 43. Scorpio Triumph (Der Triumph von Scorpio, 1993; English ebook edition Jun. 2008)
Balintol cycle (Der Balintol-Zyklus - originally published in German only)
- 44. Intrigue of Antares (Die Intrige von Antares, 1993; English ebook edition Jul. 2008)
- 45. Gangs of Antares (Die Banditen von Antares, 1994; English ebook edition Jul. 2008)
- 46. Demons of Antares (Die Dämonen von Antares, 1994)
- 47. Scourge of Antares (Die Geißel von Antares, 1994)
- 48. Challenge of Antares (Die Fehde von Antares, 1995)
- 49. Wrath of Antares (Der Zorn von Antares, 1996)
- 50. Shadows over Kregen (Schatten über Kregen, 1996) (stand-alone novel)
Phantom cycle (Der Phantom-Zyklus - published in German only)
- 51. Murder on Kregen (Mord auf Kregen, 1997)
- 52. Turmoil on Kregen (Aufruhr auf Kregen, 1997)
- 53. Betrayal on Kregen (Verrat auf Kregen, 1998)
An unpublished eleven page fragment.