''Richard Blade'' is an adult fantasy paperback novel series produced by American publisher

Pinnacle Books Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender ...

between 1969 and 1984. The 37 books of the series were written by

Roland J. Green Roland James Green (September 2, 1944 - April 20, 2021) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He wrote as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published under the pen name 'Jef ...

, Ray Nelson, and

Manning Lee Stokes Manning Lee Stokes (June 21, 1911 – January 5, 1976) was an American novelist who worked under a large number of pseudonyms. He specialized in pulp fiction, especially in the genres of mystery, detective fiction, westerns, sleaze, spy fiction ...

, all using the pseudonym Jeffrey Lord.Fantastic Fiction entry for Jeffrey Lord
/ref> The novels were also released as audio books, and as trilogy sets, each set having edited versions of three novels on six cassettes (running nine hours, or approximately three hours per novel), and later on CDs (one per book, three per trilogy set), with the name "Richard Blade Journeys". These were released as Americana Audiobooks by Americana Publishing in English.

Plot

The novels were a series of fantasy adventures featuring the titular character (special agent Richard Blade of the British intelligence agency "

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

A"), who was

teleported Teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. It is a common subject in science fiction literature and in other popular culture. Teleportation is oft ...

into a random alternate dimension at the beginning of each novel and forced to rely on his wits and strength. During the story, he would have explicitly described sexual encounters with beautiful women (both in England and in the alternate dimensions), and would usually return from his adventure with some item, or bit of knowledge useful to Britain (the ostensible reason for his being sent). All of the stories are set in England (at least at the beginning and end, with Blade’s being teleported to some other dimension for the bulk of each tale). The series was translated into several languages, including

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Swedish, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, and Greek.

Books of the series

Sources:Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry for Richard Blade Adventures
/ref> # ''The Bronze Axe'' (1969) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''The Jade Warrior'' (1969) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Jewel of Tharn'' (1969) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Slave of Sarma'' (1970) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Liberator of Jedd'' (1971) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Monster of the Maze'' (1973) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Pearl of Patmos'' (1973) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Undying World'' (1973) (Manning Lee Stokes) # ''Kingdom of Royth'' (1974) (Roland J. Green) # ''Ice Dragon'' (1974) (Roland J. Green) # ''Dimension of Dreams'' (1974) (Roland J. Green) # ''King of Zunga'' (1975) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Golden Steed'' (1975) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Temples of Ayocan'' (1975) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Towers of Melnon'' (1975) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Crystal Seas'' (1975) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Mountains of Brega'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''Warlords Of Gaikon'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''Looters of Tharn'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''Guardians Of The Coral Throne'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''Champion of the Gods'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Forests of Gleor'' (1976) (Roland J. Green) # ''Empire of Blood'' (1977) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Dragons of Englor'' (1977) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Torian Pearls'' (1977) (Roland J. Green) # ''City of the Living Dead'' (1978) (Roland J. Green) # ''Master of the Hashomi'' (1978) (Roland J. Green) # ''Wizard of Rentoro'' (1978) (Roland J. Green) # ''Treasure of the Stars'' (1978) (Roland J. Green) # ''Dimension of Horror'' (1979) (Ray Faraday Nelson) # ''Gladiators of Hapanu'' (1979) (Roland J. Green) # ''Pirates Of Gohar'' (1979) (Roland J. Green) # ''Killer Plants Of Binnark'' (1980) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Ruins of Kaldac'' (1981) (Roland J. Green) # ''The Lords of the Crimson River'' (1981) (Roland J. Green) # ''Return to Kaldak'' (1983) (Roland J. Green) # ''Warriors of Latan'' (1984) (Roland J. Green)

Russian and French editions

During the early 1990s the Russian publishers could secure the rights only to the first six books of the series, and asked the translator, Mikhail Akhmanov, to write the further adventures of Richard Blade.
/ref> Together with then young science fiction author

Nick Perumov Nick Perumov (russian: link=no, Ник Перумов) is the pen name of Nikolay Daniilovich Perumov (russian: link=no, Николай Даниилович Перумов; born 21 November 1963), a Russian fantasy and science fiction writer. Bi ...

and others, Akhmanov composed more than sixteen sequelsLiveLib entry for Jeffrey Lord
/ref> to the adventures of Richard Blade, and then, after creating Russian sequels to the saga of Conan, created numerous original characters and plots. Like the Conan sequels, the Russian Richard Blade sequels are not available in English. Akhmanov is currently the author of more than fifty fantasy and science fiction novels. Blade was released in France in 1974, presented by Gérard de Villiers. The first thirty-seven volumes were France-Marie Watkins translations of the original novels. After that Richard D. Nolane wrote a total of 43 novels, first anonymously, then using his real name of Olivier Raynaud. The series had 206 titles in August 2012, with The Secret of the Winged Lions marking the end of the saga. The French authors since December 2007 have been Arnaud Dalrune, Patrick Eris, then Nemo Sandman from 2010. The series has also been authored by recognized authors like Nadine Monfils (author of Commissioner Léon) for Blade #174 ''The Curse Of Shadows 4'' in 2007. The cover illustrations for the French edition were from Loris Kalafat until his death in 2007; since Blade #180 ''The Country on the Other Side of the War'', the illustrations were by Nemo Sandman who was also the author of Blade #195 - The Empire of Tesla and Blade #196 - The Shadow of the Horde, before continuing jointly with Patrick Eris from Blade #198 - Operation Resilience pn. ''The Country on the Other Side of the War'', the illustrations are signed by Nemo Sandman who signed as author Blade #195 ''The Empire of Tesla'' and Blade #196 ''The Shadow of the Horde'' before continuing jointly with Patrick Eris from Blade #198 ''Operation Resilience'' Here is the complete list of "Jeffrey Lord" authors from 1970 to 2010: * Manning Lee Stokes * Roland Green * Lyle Kenyon Engel * Ray Faraday Nelson * Richard D. Nolane * Christian Mantey * Arnaud Dalrune * Yves Cheraqui * Gerald Moreau * Paul Couturiau * Olga Tormes * Amelina Defontaine * Didier Le Gais * Yves Bulteau * Raymond Audemard * Nadine Monfils * Frederic Szczepaniak * Patrick Eris * Nemo Sandman The series experienced difficulties in 2007: first the death of Loris Kalafat, its early illustrator, to whom tribute was paid in episode no. 179. His replacement was Nemo Sandman, director of music videos. Similarly, after years of good and loyal service, the author Yves Chéraqui withdrew and Patrick Eris, author of more than ten novels, came to complete the team from No. 179 with Arnaud Dalrune . Latest news in 2010, Arnaud gives way to Nemo who becomes an illustrator and author. He forms with Patrick Eris a duo dedicated to offering quality popular literature (in the noble sense of the term). All the cover illustrations for the French edition were signed by Loris Kalafat until his death in 2007; since Blade #180 ''The Country on the Other Side of the War'', the illustrations are signed by Nemo Sandman who signed as author Blade #195 ''The Empire of Tesla'' and Blade #196 ''The Shadow of the Horde'' before continuing jointly with Patrick Eris from Blade #198 ''Operation Resilience''.

References

{{reflist American novel series Novel series by featured character Novels about parallel universes Pinnacle Books books Pulp fiction Science fiction book series Works published under a pseudonym