In a literary career spanning seven decades, John Jakes established himself as a mainstay of American popular fiction. He started in the pulps, made the bestseller lists and died a millionaire. Two genre categories that Jakes made his mark on—swashbuckling historical adventure and sword-and-sorcery—are directly in the wheelhouse of DMR Blog readers.
Read MoreThe late 1960s and early ‘70s were peak sword-and-sorcery. The Lancer Conan Saga was at its zenith of popularity, eventually selling by some estimates upwards of 10 million copies. And as the ‘60s gave way to the ‘70s a struggling magazine was about to get a signal boost from S&S’s mightiest hero.
Read MoreIn 1970 and 1972, Jakes produced a duo of planetary adventure novels; MASTER OF THE DARK GATE and WITCH OF THE DARK GATE.
Read MoreIn the introduction to this edition, Jakes says that he was strongly influenced by Edison Marshall, and I don’t doubt that at all. This is the story of James the Frank, a half-European/half-Mongol who becomes a soldier in Genghis Kahn’s army.
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