Warlord of Ghandor by Del DowDell (DAW, August 1977). Cover by Don Maitz

The genre of Sword & Planet fiction means a lot to me. I read it; I write it; I review it. And sometimes I find a book in the genre I don’t much care for. I have to say so when that happens, and give my reasons. But I always stress that this is my opinion, and I can be influenced by my mood going into a book. I also know how hard it is to write a book so I have to give credit to anyone who finishes one and gets it published.

That brings me to Del DowDell. Somewhere in the 1980s I stumbled on a DowDell book called Warlord of Ghandor. The cover, by Don Maitz, suggested a Sword & Planet kind of tale, and it was published by DAW, which published the Prescot books I loved.

I took it home and read it. It featured a swordsman named Robert of Eire (Ireland) who, in 1639, was transported to the tenth planet in our solar system via a mist-like portal. Supposedly, Robert was an ancestor of the author.

The adventures of Robert are quite ERBian, but I’m afraid I didn’t find them compelling, for two main reasons. First, the gravity of the planet is so low that Robert is indeed a superman among mortal foes. Second, his sword is of much finer steel than the planet’s natives and cuts through their weapons like butter. ERB had remarked on John Carter’s experiences with Mars’ lower gravity, but that gave him a small advantage, not a huge one. The combination of these two things drained the tension of the story. At least for me. Although I know other readers who have liked the book.

Spearmen of Arn by Del DowDell (Belmont Tower, 1978). Cover art by Doug Beekman

Warlord was published in 1977, and a year later Tower Publications brought out a second S&P book by Dowdell called Spearmen of Arn. The cover art was uncredited but some searching suggests it was Doug Beekman, and it’s much superior to Warlord’s cover.

The writing is also better. An American named Bumper Phillips is flying through the Bermuda Triangle when he disappears through a portal and arrives on the planet Arn where there are two suns and giant birds that remind one of the planets Gor and Kregen.

However, there’s not a lot of action — no swordfights that I remember — and the editing is very sloppy. At least one chapter appears to be completely missing between Chapters 12 and 13. That’s probably not the fault of the author. Though the ideas held promise in both the Dowdell books, the finished product left quite a lot to be desired. At least for me.

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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 a review of the Planet Stories double volume Sojan the Swordsman/Under the Warrior Star by Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale.