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Apr. 9th, 2006 07:07 pmSo I'm doing something that no sane person would ever do. I'm trying to complete my collection of a very long series of mediocre and unimaginative science fiction adventure novels, that I'll probably never read.
Alan Burt Akers was the psuedonym of Kenneth Bulmer, who wrote the most ambitious of all pastiches of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Barsoom novels. There were a lot of people doing that at one time -- John Norma's GOR series of course, which is much more infamous for the BDSM he included -- as well as many more forgettable series by people like Lin Carter, L Sprague De Camp, etc. (Although even more completely forgettable and unoriginal, one thing I read in one of the Lin Carter books has always stuck with me -- that he described his hero peeing. I mean, who writes that, anyway?) Even Burroughs wrote other series in the same mold that are less memorable than his Barsoom books.
In any case, what makes the Aker's Dray Prescott series stand out, I suppose, is that it went on for 37 volumes. I dunno why I latched on to this series, but I remember that volume 19 was brand new and on the shelves when I was a kid getting into fantasy and science fiction, and I eventually picked it up, then spent several years tryingto fill in the full series. Eventually I had 1-31 and 33. Several years later I picked up volume 35, but that left me 4 books shy of the complete set.
I've made several attempts to read through the full series. My best attempt got me up to volume 16 or so. They're quite readable but you know, it's adventure fluff, hard to read that for 37 issues. As an online reviewer put it, the books are very well-paced and the different cities and societies are well detailed, but the books lack any originality, any character development, or much of a plot other than a series of adventures in which the hero/superswordsman conquers one enemy after another and makes more alliances, only to encounter new, greater enemies. Yadda yadda.
One of the weird bits is that Alan Burt Akers was a pseudonym, but in the fashion of the Barsoom novels, the author was really just transcribing a story sent to him by Dray Prescott. Later on in the series the novels are attributed directly to Dray Prescott -- so it's kind of a double psuedonym.
I got volume 32 in the mail this week, and have now ordered volumes 34 and 36. The last volume, 37, is currently not retailing from any used bookseller on Amazon for less than $25 or so. I'll wait to buy that one I think. I saw it for $5.99 when I decided a month ago to pursue these last few volumes, but I didn't buy it then and that cheap copy disappeared.
For whatever it's worth, which is not much at all, I will one day own the complete series. ^_^
Alan Burt Akers was the psuedonym of Kenneth Bulmer, who wrote the most ambitious of all pastiches of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Barsoom novels. There were a lot of people doing that at one time -- John Norma's GOR series of course, which is much more infamous for the BDSM he included -- as well as many more forgettable series by people like Lin Carter, L Sprague De Camp, etc. (Although even more completely forgettable and unoriginal, one thing I read in one of the Lin Carter books has always stuck with me -- that he described his hero peeing. I mean, who writes that, anyway?) Even Burroughs wrote other series in the same mold that are less memorable than his Barsoom books.
In any case, what makes the Aker's Dray Prescott series stand out, I suppose, is that it went on for 37 volumes. I dunno why I latched on to this series, but I remember that volume 19 was brand new and on the shelves when I was a kid getting into fantasy and science fiction, and I eventually picked it up, then spent several years tryingto fill in the full series. Eventually I had 1-31 and 33. Several years later I picked up volume 35, but that left me 4 books shy of the complete set.
I've made several attempts to read through the full series. My best attempt got me up to volume 16 or so. They're quite readable but you know, it's adventure fluff, hard to read that for 37 issues. As an online reviewer put it, the books are very well-paced and the different cities and societies are well detailed, but the books lack any originality, any character development, or much of a plot other than a series of adventures in which the hero/superswordsman conquers one enemy after another and makes more alliances, only to encounter new, greater enemies. Yadda yadda.
One of the weird bits is that Alan Burt Akers was a pseudonym, but in the fashion of the Barsoom novels, the author was really just transcribing a story sent to him by Dray Prescott. Later on in the series the novels are attributed directly to Dray Prescott -- so it's kind of a double psuedonym.
I got volume 32 in the mail this week, and have now ordered volumes 34 and 36. The last volume, 37, is currently not retailing from any used bookseller on Amazon for less than $25 or so. I'll wait to buy that one I think. I saw it for $5.99 when I decided a month ago to pursue these last few volumes, but I didn't buy it then and that cheap copy disappeared.
For whatever it's worth, which is not much at all, I will one day own the complete series. ^_^
