Books / Planet Stories®

Sojan the Swordsman & Under the Warrior Star (Trade Paperback)

Paizo Inc.

(based on 2 ratings)

Sojan the Swordsman & Under the Warrior Star

Our Price: $15.99

Unavailable

By Michael Moorcock & Joe R. Lansdale

Planet Stories presents two science fantasy adventures in one volume from literary legends Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale!

Moorcock's Sojan the Swordsman revisits the author's very first published character, the original incarnation of the Eternal Champion. Rewritten and expanded from its original appearance, this is the tale of the hero Sojan Shieldbearer as he travels across the planet Zylor encountering strange races and even stranger monsters in a fast-paced adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett.

In Lansdale's never-before-published novella Under the Warrior Star, Olympic fencing contender Braxton Booker is hurtled into universe in miniature, where he must lead the inhabitants of the forest world of Juna against their oppressive overlord—a tentacled, mind-probing monstrosity known only as The One.

192-page softcover trade paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-288-3

About the Authors

Michael Moorcock is a Grand Master of fantasy whose books featuring the Eternal Champion have been genre best-sellers for decades. A recent reprint series featuring his most popular character, the albino swordsman Elric of Melniboné, has introduced his Eternal Champion to a generation of new readers. Sojan the Swordsman is the very first incarnation of the Eternal Champion, and a key part of Moorcock's multi-decade multiversal continuity.

Joe R. Lansdale is a Grand Master of horror and the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and seven Bram Stoker Awards for excellence in genre fiction. Many of Lansdale's tales have been adapted to film and television, including the cult classic movie Bubba Ho-Tep.

Product Availability

Unavailable

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO8029

Average product rating:

(based on 2 ratings)

Definitely a Mixed Bag

Jhaeman — Jun 13, 2018, 10:32 pm

The 29th book in the Planet Stories series is unique in that it's a so-called "double feature", featuring two "sword and planet" novels by different authors back to back. The elements of the sword and planet genre are aptly summarized in the introduction: an earthman is somehow transported to another planet that contains a mix of futuristic and ancient technology, gets swept up in a war or rebellion, and falls instantly in love with an alien princess. The two novels in this collection fit quite comfortably into this pattern. The first novel, Sojan the Swordsman is actually a collection of short stories written by Michael Moorcock when he was a teenager. Unfortunately, it shows. They are about as flat and one-dimensional as possible, and there is absolutely nothing novel or memorable about Sojan. Sometimes it really is best to let juvenalia stay forgotten! The contrast with the second novel by Joe R. Lansdale, Under the Warrior Star, couldn't be greater. Although Lansdale follows the same formula, he writes with verve and enough originality to keep the pages turning. The alien world he creates, full of trees the size of mountains and a menace that is quite Cthulhuesque, is used as the setting for some quite good action scenes. The characters are still not deep, but they are serviceable. One doesn't see a lot of sword and planet fiction these days; let's hope newcomers weren't turned away by Sojan

Product Discussion (0)