Sojan the Swordsman & Under the Warrior Star

Even fans of Moorcock (Elric: The Stealer of Souls) and Lansdale (Flaming Zeppelins) will find these pulp SF novellas unimpressive. Moorcock's "Sojan the Swordsman" is a set of linked episodes, first published in the 1950s and expanded here, in which Sojan, a peripatetic soldier on another planet who is the reincarnation of a WWII Allied commander, survives a desert crossing, pirates, rebels, and sea demons in a series of bland action sequences. Lansdale's "Under the Warrior Star," a modern homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs, recounts the adventures of Braxton Booker, who is transported to another universe where he fights giants and a spiderlike creature alongside primitive humanoids. The best of the pulps had suspense and depth that these scant tales notably lack, and the authors' considerable talent is never really displayed. (Feb.)