Prince of Scorpio
Cover of first edition
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| Author | Kenneth Bulmer |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jack Gaughan |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dray Prescot series |
| Genre | Sword and planet |
| Publisher | DAW Books |
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Publication date
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1974 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Swordships of Scorpio |
| Followed by | Manhounds of Antares |
Prince of Scorpio is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers, and is volume five in his extensive Dray Prescot series of sword and planet novels, set on the fictional world of Kregen, a planet of the Antares star system in the constellation of Scorpio. It was first published by DAW Books in 1974.
The Dray Prescot series is made of several cycles of novels, each cycle essentially forming a series within the series. In addition to being the fifth volume in the series as a whole, Prince of Scorpio is also the fifth and final volume in the Delian Cycle. It is set on the fictional island of Vallia.
The 52 completed novels of the Dray Prescot series were written by Bulmer between 1972 and 1997, when a stroke stopped his writing, also the later Dray Prescot books, after 1988, were originally only published in German. The series is in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series.
Unlike the previous books, Prince of Scorpio does not follow on directly from the previous novel, Swordships of Scorpio. Instead, Dray Prescot finds himself on an unknown beach on Kregen, after having spent some time on Earth without mentioning how long and where.
Prescot has once more been retuned to Kregen by either the Savanti or the Star Lords, this time to save a group of prisoners from a stranded ship who are being killed by their guards. Prescot receives help from another agent of the Savanti, Alex Hunter, the first time he encounters another Earthman on Kregen. Hunter is mortally wounded and dies in Prescot's arms. Prescot, after saving some of the prisoners and killing all the guards, finds out that the prisoners are from Vallia and of the people-based Panval party, arrested for their opposition to the aristocrat-based Ractor party. Prescot, who the prisoners believe to be called Drak, the first time this name is used for him, finds out that he is on the island of Valka, off the coast of Vallia.
Prescot sets off to find help for the stranded former prisoners. He finds the island devastated through slaving raids and roaming mercenaries. The young population has either been enslaved or escaped into the central mountain range. Prescot is made welcome in a simple village full of old people but falls ill from drinking the poisonous canal water of Vallia. While slowly recovering, he has a first-hand experience of the mercenaries taking food from the village, with Presoct unable to interfere because of his illness. Once recovered however, when the mercenaries return he fights and kills them.
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Wikipedia