Transit to Scorpio
Cover of first edition
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| Author | Kenneth Bulmer |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Tim Kirk |
| 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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1972 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | none |
| Followed by | The Suns of Scorpio |
Transit to Scorpio is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers, volume 1 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 1972.
Bulmer's choice of the setting for the book, and for the series as a whole, is a subtle tribute to the Martian series of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the prototypical Sword and Planet romance. The star Antares, similar in brightness and hue to the planet Mars in the night sky, was given its name (meaning "like Mars") by early astronomers to compare it to and help distinguish it from the planet. Bulmer is signalling that his series is similar to that of his model. 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 first volume in the series as a whole, Transit to Scorpio is the initial volume in the Delian Cycle, which introduces the reader to a number of different Kregen locales as Prescot struggles to find his place in this strange new world and to win the hand of Delia, the love of his life.
The novel features the story of Dray Prescot, an English sailor of Lord Nelson's navy, and his miraculous teleportation to the planet Kregen. There he is trained as an agent for the mysterious Savanti, an apparently benevolent secret society devoted to improving the lot of humanity among the many intelligent species of Kregen. Among the benefits conferred on him is immersion in an apparently miraculous pool, Kregen's equivalent of the Fountain of Youth, which heals all wounds and confers a greatly extended lifespan on the bather. During Prescot's sojourn among the Savanti an offhand reference is made to the continent of Gah in Kregen's opposite hemisphere, whose distasteful customs are an obvious dig at another sword and planet series, the Gor series of John Norman.
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