Sky Pirates of Callisto
Sky Pirates of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the third in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in January 1973, and reprinted twice through April 1974. The first British edition was published by Orbit Books in 1975.[1] It includes an appendix ("Glossary of Characters in the Callisto Books") collating background information from this and previous volumes.
Plot summary
Jonathan Dark (Jandar), earthman mysteriously transported to the Jovian moon of Callisto (or Thanator), has in concert with the native Ku Thad succeeded in freeing the city of Shondakar from the occupying Black Legion and the opportunistic Zanadarian Sky Pirates. The only fly in the ointment is that Shondakar's rightful ruler, the princess Darloona, has been abducted by the fleeing Prince Thuton of Zanadar.
To free Darloona, Jandar adopts the wild plan of taking one of the Sky Pirates' own captured airships to raid the enemy city. A Zanadarian prisoner brought along to help operate the craft treacherously scuttles the scheme by throwing Jandar overboard and sabotaging the airship.
Plopped into the Corund Laj, Thanator's greater sea, Jandar finds himself close enough to land to swim to safety, only to be enslaved by the mercantile Perushtar who rule its waves. Ironically, this results in him reaching his destination after all, as he is sold to the Zanadarians as gladatorial fodder. He has his hands full simultaneously surviving as a gladiator, hiding his identity as the Sky Pirates' arch enemy, and stirring up a revolt among his fellow slaves.
As the revolution ignites and he is found out, his allies' airship, now repaired, swoops in to administer the coup de grace. Zanadar is destroyed and the menace of the Sky Pirates ended by the explosion of the pocket of "lifting gas" over which the city is built and on which its air power is based. Best of all, Jandar at last finds favor with the rescued Darloona, whose relationship with him amid the perils and reverses of the previous books has been decidedly rocky.
Reception
Reviewing this book along with the preceding two volumes, Lester del Rey found the series to be "fairly entertaining reading," but noted that Carter had "copied every trick of Burroughs, including those that are faults."[2]
Den Valdron, assessing the series in ERBzine, calls this book, along with the other two volumes in the series's first trilogy, "quite good." He notes "[t]he world and the hero are fairly vivid, the action moves quickly. It's hardly deep, but it is fun."[3]
References
- ^ Sky Pirates of Callisto title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- ^ Del Rey, Lester. "Reading Room", If, June 1973, pp.169-70.
- ^ Valdron, Den. "Lin Carter's Callisto Series (Part 1 of a series of 12)" in ERBzine 1731.
External links
- Fantastic Fiction entry
- Sky Pirates of Callisto title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- v
- t
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- Jandar of Callisto (1972)
- Black Legion of Callisto (1972)
- Sky Pirates of Callisto (1973)
- Mad Empress of Callisto (1975)
- Mind Wizards of Callisto (1975)
- Lankar of Callisto (1975)
- Ylana of Callisto (1977)
- Renegade of Callisto (1978)
- Under the Green Star (1972)
- When the Green Star Calls (1973)
- By the Light of the Green Star (1974)
- As the Green Star Rises (1975)
- In the Green Star's Glow (1976)
- The Flame of Iridar (1967)
- "The Martian El Dorado of Parker Wintley" (1976)
- The Valley Where Time Stood Still (1974)
- The City Outside the World (1977)
- Down to a Sunless Sea (1984)
- The Man Who Loved Mars (1973)
- The Nemesis of Evil (1975)
- Invisible Death (1975)
- The Volcano Ogre (1976)
- The Earth-Shaker (1982)
- Horror Wears Blue (1987)
- Journey to the Underground World (1979)
- Zanthodon (1980)
- Hurok of the Stone Age (1981)
- Darya of the Bronze Age (1981)
- Eric of Zanthodon (1982)
- The Wizard of Lemuria (1965/69)
- Thongor and the Dragon City (1966/70)
- Thongor Against the Gods (1967)
- Thongor in the City of Magicians (1968)
- Thongor at the End of Time (1968)
- Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)
- Young Thongor (2012)
- The Sword of Thongor (Robert M. Price) (2016)
Novels |
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Short works |
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Collections |
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- "Exile of Atlantis" (1967)
- King Kull (1967)
- The Warrior of World's End (1974)
- The Enchantress of World's End (1975)
- The Immortal of World's End (1976)
- The Barbarian of World's End (1977)
- The Pirate of World's End (1978)
- Giant of World's End (1969)
- Kesrick (1982)
- Dragonrouge (1984)
- Mandricardo (1987)
- Callipygia (1988)
- The Quest of Kadji (1971)
- The Wizard of Zao (1978)
- Kellory the Warlock (1984)
- Tara of the Twilight (1979)
- The Tired Tailor of Oz (2001)
- The Merry Mountaineer of Oz (2004)
- Beyond the Gates of Dream (1969)
- Lost Worlds (1980)
- The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter (1997)
- Lin Carter's Simrana Cycle (2018)
edited
BAFS and Doubleday anthologies |
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Flashing Swords! |
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Year's Best Fantasy |
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Weird Tales |
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Other |
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- Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings" (1969)
- Lovecraft: A Look Behind the "Cthulhu Mythos" (1972)
- Imaginary Worlds (1973)
- Sandalwood and Jade (1951)
- Galleon of Dream (1953)
- Letter to Judith (1959)
- Dreams from R'lyeh (1975)