Not only is the Dray Prescot series the longest running Sword & Planet series ever published in English, but it’s also consistently of a high quality. There are quite a few volumes that — for me—rival any of Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom books. Certainly, these two series are my all-time favorites, and together make up the primary influence on my own Sword & Planet series, the five books of the Talera series by Charles Allen Gramlich (Gotta get those “three” names in there.) I’ve posted about the Talera books before, but back to Kenneth Bulmer (who wrote the Prescot series as ‘Alan Burt Akers’) and Dray Prescot now.

I’ve never been one to put a lot of emphasis on covers, but the Bladud books, all five compendiums containing the last fifteen novels, have the same cover image with just a change in the color of the dust jacket. This made me long for the original DAW publications where each vibrant cover was tied directly to the book it illustrated.

Josh Kirby did #1, 3, 14-18. Tim Kirk did #2, 4. Jack Gaughan took over for #5, 6, 7, then did 9 and 10. Richard Hescox started with #8, then did 19-23, 27, 29, 31, 33, 36. Michael Whelan did some great covers on #11-13. Ken Kelly came in for #24, and this is the image used as a cover image for all the Bladud books. Kelly continued with #25, 28, 30, 32, and the final DAW book, #37. Clyde Caldwell did #26, James Gurney #34, and Tim Jacobs for #35.

The original DAW books even had interior illustrations, which I loved, by such artists as Kirk and Gaughan. The excitement of those days, reading those thirty-seven books, has stayed with me. It was one of those experiences you long to repeat.

The setting for the Dray Prescot series is the planet Kregen, which circles the twin suns of Antares, in the constellation of Scorpio. (The image of a Scorpion plays a prominent role in the series.) Although Antares looks like a single star as seen from Earth, it’s actually a binary with one red giant and one younger blue star (often described as green, however).

I remember reading years ago that Antares means “anti-Ares,” with “Ares” being the Greek name of Mars. The color of Antares as seen from Earth is reddish, similar to the coloration of Mars. I don’t doubt that Ken chose Antares for this connection to Mars, just as his series was influenced by the Mars tales of ERB. (While on Earth, Dray even meets a character clearly intended to represent John Carter.)

Book #5 in the series, Prince of Scorpio, is the first DAW volume to contain a glossary at the end. Other volumes expand this. I just loved this, and it helped since the books are full of numerous local terms (Local being Kregen). The glossary lists the red sun as Zim and the blue sun (Seen as green and always referred to on Kregen as green) as Genodras. Religions have grown up around these suns as gods, and there’s even “Opaz,” which is a spiritual force that combines the two suns, with the colors red and green. Everything on Kregen has two shadows, one red, one green.

There are far too many Kregen details to discuss here. Numerous gods, numerous beasts and strange creatures and intelligent races. There’s a local chess called Jikaida. There are two super powerful forces who seem to vie for control of the planet. These are the Star Lords, or Everoinye, and the Savanti. Both sides seek to use Dray Prescot for their own ends, while he resists being controlled by either. Kregen is a sprawling, brawling, chaotic world, a perfect setting for S&P adventures.

And there were plenty of adventures to tell. My personal favorite volumes are the three books of the “Krozair” cycle. These are books 12-14, The Tides of Kregen, Renegade of Kregen, and Krozair of Kregen. (The Krozair are a secret order of warriors, of which Dray becomes a member).

The DAW Science Fiction Reader (DAW, July 1976)

In addition to the fifty-two Kregen novels, there is a single novella (“Wizard of Scorpio”), published in 1976 in The DAW Science Fiction Reader (above), and two short stories: “Green Shadows” and “Lallia the Slave Girl.” I read the short stories originally online but they are available in print or through the Kindle in the compendium volumes The Pandahem Cycle I (Lallia) and The Pandahem Cycle II (Green Shadows) from Mushroom ebooks or Bladud (print).

The Prescot saga has also inspired pastiches, much like ERB’s Barsoom series has. A fellow by the name of Tim Jones wrote the ones that I know of. These were originally published independently by Vandah Books, which I think was Tim’s imprint.

I’ve lost touch with him over the years and can’t find anything online about “Vandah Books.” I saw these books listed on Amazon but as “unavailable.” I don’t know the reasons. The two I have are Beneath the Moons of Kregen and Within the Halls of Kregen, which feature a hero named John Blake who was taken to Kregen and set in search of Dray Prescot.

I previously discussed Dray Prescot in my first two articles for Black Gate, back in 2023.

One of the Best Swordfights in Fantasy: Dray Prescot 20: A Sword for Kregen by Alan Burt Akers
The Mystery of Alan Burt Akers, Author of The Dray Prescot Series

Thus ends my examination of the Dray Prescot series. But there’s much more S&P to discuss.

The previous articles in The Fundamentals of Sword & Planet series are:

Part I: Donald Wollheim, Edwin L. Arnold, and Otis Adelbert Kline
Part II: John Norman
Part III: Michael Moorcock, Michael Resnick, and Robert E. Howard

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for Black Gate was Part III of The Fundamentals of Sword & Planet.