Planetary Adventure. Interplanetary Romance. Sword and Planet. My favorite genre or venue. And an out of date one.

When I decided that “I wanted to do just what I wanted to do”, which was to create a heavily illustrated novel, I followed my heart to the sword and planet venue.

I entered the field through A Princess of Mars (1911), which is where it really started. ( I am STILL not over the movie shelving ) I promptly fired through Burroughs by the bucket load. Burroughs created the bulk of of the genre with his Mars and Venus novels, but he was not alone. Otis Adelbert Kline, Lin Carter, Michael Moorcock and Leah Brackett have all worked within the field, but Burroughs was the template, and most original of them all.

Reading these old books again ( or some for the first time ) I find a wonderful freedom from the modern conventions of science fiction and fantasy. Romanticism and chivalry,a hint of exotic mysticism, pseudo-science, exotic worlds, and lots of sword play all wrapped up in one delightful package.

Granted it is almost a 100 years later, and many other authors and ideas have gone into the pot that is The Fire Gods of Venus,( I never set out to write a pastiche ) but what a wonderful place it has been to begin from.