In 2006 and 2008, Tor books sought a revival of Sword & Planet fiction with two books by S. M. Stirling. It didn’t quite work out but the readers got some interesting results, including a book that is now in my top ten of S&P novels.

First up was The Sky People, set on Venus in an alternate solar system where the planets are inhabitable and inhabited, much like the solar system of ERB, Brackett, and Moore. In the acknowledgements, Stirling even thanks ERB, Brackett and Otis Adelbert Kline, and mentions the Northwest Smith stories of Moore, as well as ERB’s “Wrong Way” Carson of Venus.

Stirling posits a space race that pits the US and their allies against the Soviets for control of this habitable solar system. When they land on Venus they find a jungle world, much like the Venus of ERB. It turns out to be inhabited by both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, a mystery that is eventually solved. This one is definitely not Sword & Planet. It combines standard SF with hints of Pellucidar’s time lost world of dinosaurs and sabretooths. Fun but not stellar in my opinion.

The second book of this duology was In the Courts of the Crimson Kings and took place on Mars, a Mars long inhabited and resonantly familiar to those of us who love Barsoom. It is S&P through and through, although with many fresh touches. Great action, fantastic and exotic characters, and a dynamite ending. I gave it five stars, although I’ve seen some other reviewers who didn’t like it as much. If you truly love Sword & Planet fiction, though, you probably want to give it a read.

Both covers by Gregory Manchess.

Al Sarrantonio: Masters of Mars. Contains Haydn of Mars, Sebastian of Mars, and Queen of Mars. This is the SF Book Club compendium of these three novels together, published in 2006. Cover by Matt Stawicki.

I bought this because the cover and various blurbs suggested a Sword & Planet kind of adventure, and it is, although it certainly stretches the boundaries of that genre. It takes place on a Mars that will seem familiar in many ways to fans of John Carter, but it doesn’t involve an earthman. It doesn’t even involve a human.

Haydn of Mars, Sebastian of Mars, and Queen of Mars by Al Sarrantonio
(Ace Books, January 2005, October 2005, and June 2006). Covers by Matt Stawicki

In a far distant future, a race of intelligent cat people live on a Mars that was terraformed long before by humans. But the terraforming is starting to fail. The atmosphere is leaking away and the cat folk have to figure out how to reactivate the “oxygenation stations” left behind by the old ones — that being humanity. This, of course, sounds very familiar to fans of John Carter, who has his own adventures with the atmosphere plants that provide air for Barsoom.

Of course, saving the planet isn’t the only thing going on in these novels. There is politics and intrigue, love and betrayal, and quite a lot of fighting, including with swords and tooth and claw. I read the three back to back and enjoyed them, although there is a bit of sameness in the stories that makes it harder for me now to recall the differences. Clearly, though, these works were influenced by ERB’s Mars books and there are quite a few touches throughout to remind you.

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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.