Messenger of Zhuvastou (Berkley Medallion, March 1973). Cover by Jeff Jones

Part I of The Sword and Planet of Andrew J. Offutt is here.

I’ve read two unabashed Sword & Planet novels from Andrew J. Offutt, Messenger of Zhuvastou, and Chieftain of Andor. I thought I had a sequel to the Andor book in my TBR piles but on closer examination it’s the same book with a different title: Clansman of Andor.

Messenger of Zhuvastou features an Earthman named Moris Keniston, the son of a Senator, although this is on a future Earth where humans have begun to spread to the stars. He heads for a primitive, barbaric world called Hellene in search of Elaine Dixon, a woman he is in love with who has been taken there — either voluntarily or involuntarily. Since the planet is supposed to be left undisturbed by galactic civilization, Moris undergoes plastic surgery to make him fit in with the humanoid natives. We already know he has been an Olympic level athlete and is a trained fencer.

Once Moris reaches Hellene, called Sovold by the natives, I was hoping for a lot of S&P action, but we don’t really get much. We get lots of ogling of the local, well-endowed female natives, but Moris seems to gain some maturity along the way.

Unfortunately, the book was too long and needed more action. There are several different editions. Mine, shown above, is 1973, from Berkley, with a great cover by Jeffrey Catherine Jones.

Chieftain of Andor (Dell, May 1976). Cover artist unknown

Chieftain of Andor was better than Messenger, with quite a bit more action. It features an Earthman hero named Robert Cleve. Since “Cleve” is a common pseudonym of Offutt, it makes me suspect that Offutt saw himself in this particular hero.

“Robert” Cleve is a throwback on Earth and seeks adventure. In a twist on the usual story, it is only his mind that is sent to another planet, not his body. His mind inhabits the body of a local named Doralan Andrah (humanoid, of course). This reminded me of Lin Carter’s Under the Green Star, published in 1972, in which an Earthman crippled by polio sends his spirit/mind across the immensity of space to inhabit the body of a hero of the Green Star. I don’t know if Carter’s story influenced Offutt but there’s the possibility.

Clansman of Andor (Magnum, 1979). Cover by Geoff Taylor

The first edition of Chieftain was published by Dell Books, 1976. ISFDB doesn’t list any cover artist for it but I rather like this cover.

In 1979, the book was republished in the UK from Magnum Books. The title was changed to Clansman of Andor, perhaps because the concept of “clans” is more resonate for the people of the UK than Chieftain is. This one had a cover by Geoff Taylor. The cover isn’t bad though I personally like the original cover better.

Offutt’s contributions to Sword & Planet fiction are minimal, but he did much more with Sword & Sorcery. My first encounter with his work was Conan: The Sword of Skelos (Bantam, 1979), a pastiche based on Robert E. Howard’s character. My copy was the one with the great Bob Larkin foldout cover (blue background), although he’s not credited. The other cover artist is unknown. Both books have the same interior map drawn by Tim Kirk.

I went on to read two more Conan pastiches by him, Conan the Mercenary and Conan and the Sorcerer (Ace 1980 & 1978), both with excellent covers by Sanjulian with some wonderful interior illustrations by Esteban Maroto. Turns out Skelos is the last of a trilogy, with Sorcerer first, followed by Mercenary. I don’t think that makes any difference reading them. They were published out of order anyway.

At the time I bought these, I was in a group called REHupa, the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, and was collecting everything REH wrote as well as other writers playing in Howard’s house. I bought and read a bunch of Conan pastiches, including the ones by Robert Jordan, who went on to Wheel of Time fame.

Offutt actually captured the character of Conan better than just about everyone else who tried their hand. His Conan had the brutal edge and earthiness I associated with Howard’s character.

Offutt went on to write six novels about another of REH’s characters, Cormac Mac Art, who REH based loosely on a legendary Irish king. There is both a Zebra and an Ace printing of these books.

I have a mix. They are:

Sword of the Gael (Zebra, 1975) — Jeff Jones cover
The Undying Wizard (Zebra, 1976) — Jeff Jones cover
The Sign of the Moonbow (Ace, 1980) — Doug Beekman cover
The Mists of Doom (Zebra, 1977) — Doug Beekman cover
When Death Birds Fly (Ace, 1980, with Keith Taylor) — Ken Kelly cover
The Tower of Death (Ace, 1982, with Keith Taylor) — ISFDB lists Glenn Lord as the cover artist but I’m sure that’s not true. I’ve also seen Jeff Jones listed but this one doesn’t look quite like a Jones to me.

I also have a second copy of The Undying Wizard from Ace Books with Romas Kukalis for the cover.

I’ve read four of the six and enjoyed them, although the books suffer somewhat from padding. Howard was a master of brevity and action and his books and stories were generally short and tight. Offutt’s Conan pastiches followed that pattern but some of the Cormac books are much longer. Offutt wrote plenty of S&S of his own, but none so memorable as his Howard pastiches.

However, Andrew Offutt’s very big contribution to Sword & Sorcery fiction was the five book anthology series he edited called Swords Against Darkness. I covered them in an earlier post here at Black Gate last year.

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.