Transit to 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.

Plot summary

The novel features the story of Dray Prescot, an English sailor of Lord Nelson's navy, and his...
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