Star Barbarian (Lancer Books, 1969). Cover by Jeff Jones

I picked up a couple of books by Dave Van Arnam called Star Barbarian and Lord of Blood that have connections to the Sword & Planet genre.

They’re set in a future time after Earth has colonized many planets. Some of those planets have fallen back into barbarism, and that is the case with the planet Morkath. So, the heroes are earthmen on an alien planet, although not modern day individuals transported to that planet.

[Click the images for planet-sized versions.]

I haven’t read these books yet. Scanning them suggests that they’re really Sword & Sorcery, making them more Conan in Space than John Carter.

I have read two other books by Van Arnam that were S&S rather than S&P. These were Wizard of Storms, which I thought was fairly decent, and a novella called The Players of Hell, which appeared in a Belmont double with William Tenn’s A Lamp for Medusa. Players was pretty weak.

I could find very little about Van Arnam. It looks like he was born in 1935 and died in 2002. He was married to a woman named Cindy Heap, who is still alive apparently, although I haven’t been able to locate her.

Wizard of Storms by Dave Van Arnam, and A Lamp for Medusa/The Players of Hell by William Tenn
and Dave Van Arnam (Belmont Books, June 1968 and May 1970). Covers by Marini and Jeff Jones

I’ve heard at least one strange rumor about Van Arnam that I’m not going to repeat until I get some more confirmation.

He was apparently involved in the fanzine scene in the 1950s and 60s, which is where quite a few writers of that era got their start. He seems to have written 9 novels, including a Lost in Space book he co-authored with Ted White under the pseudonym Ron Archer.

Star Barbarian has a cover by Jeff Jones, while the cover artist for Lord of Blood is Jim Steranko. Both very talented artists.

---

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.