Transit to Scorpio (Dray Prescot #1; Delian Cycle #1) (1972)

by Alan Burt Akers (AKA Kenneth Bulmer) Dray Prescot, an English sailor and valiant warrior of the 19th Century, is transported to the distant planet Kregen by powerful beings as a champion for humanity, who live there among many intelligent species. Thus begins Kenneth Bulmer’s 52-volume tribute to ERB’s Barsoom series. Kenneth Bulmer Even Bulmer’s choice of pseudonym, Alan Burt Akers, has the same cadence as Edgar Rice Burroughs. After his mysterious transit, he is immersed in a liquid that grants a 1000-year lifespan by a secret society called the Savanti, who live in the isolated Swinging City of Aphrasoe. Here some of Bulmer’s humor shines through; for a reader of the 70s, a “swinging city” would be sure to have a racy connotation, but the Savanti literally swing from building to building in their arboreal metropolis. "Destination Scorpio" (Italian) Here, Dray also meets his version of Dejah Thoris, Delia of Vallia, whom he rescues in defiance of the S...