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Richard Blade #1
The Bronze Axe
Lost World
Catapulted into an unknown dimension of time and space by the wizardry of modern science, Richard Blade finds himself at the feet of a strange and beautiful woman. She is Taleen, Princess of Voth, and she is running for her life from the savage Albs who had kidnapped her. Without clothes or weapons of any kind, Blade was in trouble himself--but the seductive Taleen needed help....
Strange experiences were nothing new to Blade, but he was ill-prepared for his trial by fire and sword, the secret cannibal rites of the Drus, the unquenchable lusts of the evil Queen Beata, and the maddening allure of the virgin Taleen.
Catapulted into an unknown dimension of time and space by the wizardry of modern science, Richard Blade finds himself at the feet of a strange and beautiful woman. She is Taleen, Princess of Voth, and she is running for her life from the savage Albs who had kidnapped her. Without clothes or weapons of any kind, Blade was in trouble himself--but the seductive Taleen needed help....
Strange experiences were nothing new to Blade, but he was ill-prepared for his trial by fire and sword, the secret cannibal rites of the Drus, the unquenchable lusts of the evil Queen Beata, and the maddening allure of the virgin Taleen.
218 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1973
10 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Manning Lee Stokes
35 books3 followersAlso wrote Nick Carter: Killmaster series under Nick Carter alias with Mike Avallone and others
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
February 5, 2008
This book is unintentionally hilarious!
Imagine James Bond being transported "Robert E. Howard style" to a world of high fantasy.
That's what this book is all about. Richard Blade (a.k.a. James Bond) gets transported through a crackpot experiment to another world, meets a semi-naked damsel in distress and fights a ton of bad guys, each larger and more dangerous than the one before.
It's a quick read and quite enjoyable on an ironic level. If you're wanting dark fantasy or something to take the place of the Robert Jordan/Terry Goodkind/George RR Martin epic fantasies, you'll be disappointed.
If you're a fan of pulp fantasy or are merely amused by the florid prose of pulp fantasy, you'll enjoy this book.
Imagine James Bond being transported "Robert E. Howard style" to a world of high fantasy.
That's what this book is all about. Richard Blade (a.k.a. James Bond) gets transported through a crackpot experiment to another world, meets a semi-naked damsel in distress and fights a ton of bad guys, each larger and more dangerous than the one before.
It's a quick read and quite enjoyable on an ironic level. If you're wanting dark fantasy or something to take the place of the Robert Jordan/Terry Goodkind/George RR Martin epic fantasies, you'll be disappointed.
If you're a fan of pulp fantasy or are merely amused by the florid prose of pulp fantasy, you'll enjoy this book.
November 29, 2013
The Bronze Axe is the first of 37 books in the Richard Blade adventure series - pulp sword and sorcery adventures written by 4 different writers under the pseudonym of "Jeffrey Lord"
This first tale is a total guilty pleasure. We have Richard Blade (basically James Bond) called upon by his superior J. to aid his country by submitting to the experiments of a mad scientist who wants to interface the human brain with a computer.
Things go wrong and Blade gets transported (a la ERB's John Carter) to a parallel dimension "a strange crepuscular world" of barbaric splendour. He rescues the nubile and scantily clad princess Taleen and the rest of the book details his journey to return her to her father king Voth.
Blade kills (if male) and screws (if female) his way through a parade of villains, gaining the bronze axe of the title and the heart of the heroine along the way.
This is a cross between Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Norman with lashings of sex, and gladiatorial style combat. It's deeply misogynistic although the heroine Taleen does manage to hold her own. She pushes rival for Blade's affections evil Drusilla off a ship and towards the end gives as good as she gets. Blade doesn't come off nearly so well, he's callous of women, arrogant, cocky and reckless -
"Stubborn, combative, at times inconsistent, given to sudden rages and quick regretting. Restless and impatient of fools. A sensual man of vast sexual appetite. Loyal friend and deadly foe. Large of body and huge of spirit, capable of love and lust, of mercy and cruelty. Not a man moulded to adorn a church and yet no friend of the Devil."
the perfect pulp hero!
The writing is varied and you can tell its been penned by multiple authors one of which has definitely swallowed a dictionary. We're in Lin Carter territory with Blade having an atavistic reaction to the tenebrific shadows, he suffers a mingled wrath of darkness and falls for a woman "evanescent against the linear pearl light from the east" - Luckily this verbal mire peters out early on and once we get into the sex and fighting the writing becomes more functional and the pace picks up.
There's quite a high volume of sex for these types of story - gone is the moral, monogamous fibre of ERB. Blade has a sex marathon with the evil bisexual queen Beata, he gets a blow job from the murderous druid queen Drusilla Canace and manages to sleep with the beautiful Taleen - He is in fact transported back to the secret base under the Tower of London mid coitus which is rather funny and so typical of Blade.
These are wonderful escapism and firmly stuck in the era they were written - you just don't hear expressions like "infra dig" any more! If you like your heroic fantasy pulpy check out the blade series. Its sexy, it's violent and very much a guilty pleasure.
This first tale is a total guilty pleasure. We have Richard Blade (basically James Bond) called upon by his superior J. to aid his country by submitting to the experiments of a mad scientist who wants to interface the human brain with a computer.
Things go wrong and Blade gets transported (a la ERB's John Carter) to a parallel dimension "a strange crepuscular world" of barbaric splendour. He rescues the nubile and scantily clad princess Taleen and the rest of the book details his journey to return her to her father king Voth.
Blade kills (if male) and screws (if female) his way through a parade of villains, gaining the bronze axe of the title and the heart of the heroine along the way.
This is a cross between Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Norman with lashings of sex, and gladiatorial style combat. It's deeply misogynistic although the heroine Taleen does manage to hold her own. She pushes rival for Blade's affections evil Drusilla off a ship and towards the end gives as good as she gets. Blade doesn't come off nearly so well, he's callous of women, arrogant, cocky and reckless -
"Stubborn, combative, at times inconsistent, given to sudden rages and quick regretting. Restless and impatient of fools. A sensual man of vast sexual appetite. Loyal friend and deadly foe. Large of body and huge of spirit, capable of love and lust, of mercy and cruelty. Not a man moulded to adorn a church and yet no friend of the Devil."
the perfect pulp hero!
The writing is varied and you can tell its been penned by multiple authors one of which has definitely swallowed a dictionary. We're in Lin Carter territory with Blade having an atavistic reaction to the tenebrific shadows, he suffers a mingled wrath of darkness and falls for a woman "evanescent against the linear pearl light from the east" - Luckily this verbal mire peters out early on and once we get into the sex and fighting the writing becomes more functional and the pace picks up.
There's quite a high volume of sex for these types of story - gone is the moral, monogamous fibre of ERB. Blade has a sex marathon with the evil bisexual queen Beata, he gets a blow job from the murderous druid queen Drusilla Canace and manages to sleep with the beautiful Taleen - He is in fact transported back to the secret base under the Tower of London mid coitus which is rather funny and so typical of Blade.
These are wonderful escapism and firmly stuck in the era they were written - you just don't hear expressions like "infra dig" any more! If you like your heroic fantasy pulpy check out the blade series. Its sexy, it's violent and very much a guilty pleasure.
August 23, 2008
This is the first in the Blade series, about a guy named Richard Blade, an Englishman, who is sent into alternate dimensions to explore and learn about them and ends up having adventures, often in primitive conditions. I gave this three stars primarily because it's the first in the series. Some of the later ones are actually better written.
January 23, 2016
Richard Blade travels to new worlds and never fails to find danger and love. Good quick men's adventure read. Recommended
March 10, 2015
Πρώτο βιβλίο της σειράς με ήρωα τον Άγγλο κατάσκοπο Ρίτσαρντ Μπλέιντ που μεταφέρεται από τον δικό μας κόσμο σ'έναν άλλο, στον οποίο θα ζήσει πολλές περιπέτειες, θα γνωρίσει σκληρούς άντρες και τρομερές γκόμενες που είναι είτε ιέρειες είτε πριγκίπισσες και οι οποίες θα πέσουν θύματα της γοητείας του.
Όπως μπορείτε να φανταστείτε, πρόκειται για μια παλπ σειρά φαντασίας, με τραβηγμένη από τ'αυτιά βασική ιστορία, σκληρούς διαλόγους ανάμεσα σε σκληρούς τύπους, μπόλικη γραφική βία και λίγο σεξ. Ο Ρίτσαρντ Μπλειντ είναι ένας κλασικά όμορφος, γυμνασμένος και γεροδεμένος άντρας, πράκτορας των μυστικών υπηρεσιών της Αγγλίας, που δέχεται να γίνει πειραματόζωο για το καλό της πατρίδας. Κάτι δεν πάει καλά όμως στο πείραμα και ο Μπλέιντ μεταφέρεται γυμνός σ'έναν κόσμο το ίδιο σκληρό με αυτόν του Κόναν του Βάρβαρου.
Μην περιμένετε και πολλές πειστικές απαντήσεις σε απορίες του είδους πως στο καλό έγινε αυτή η μεταφορά του Μπλέιντ από τον ένα κόσμο στον άλλο ή πως εγκλιματίστηκε ο Μπλέιντ σ'αυτόν τον σκληρό κόσμο τόσο γρήγορα, δεν θέλει και πολλή σκέψη, απλά αφεθείτε σε μια ανάγνωση δίχως κάψιμο πολλών εγκεφαλικών κυττάρων.
Η γραφή δεν είναι και τόσο άσχημη, έκανε αρκετά καλά τη δουλειά της, αλλά μέχρι εκεί. Οι χαρακτήρες μονοδιάστατοι, η ιστορία γεμάτη κλισέ και δίχως κάτι το καινούργιο να πει και η πλοκή μάλλον προβλέψιμη. Η ώρα πάντως πέρασε γρήγορα και χωρίς να το καταλάβω και η ατμόσφαιρα ήταν ωραία, θύμισε ελάχιστα από Κόναν.
Έχω στη συλλογή μου και το δεύτερο βιβλίο της σειράς, θα το διαβάσω και αυτό λίαν συντόμως, και ίσως πάρω και τα επόμενα δυο-τρία βιβλία για να δω πως συνεχίζει το όλο κόνσεπτ (υποθέτω στο ίδιο μοτίβο). Έτσι και αλλιώς το κόστος είναι πολύ χαμηλό, οπότε ούτε τόσα πολλά χρήματα θα χάσω ούτε τόσο πολύ χρόνο...
Όπως μπορείτε να φανταστείτε, πρόκειται για μια παλπ σειρά φαντασίας, με τραβηγμένη από τ'αυτιά βασική ιστορία, σκληρούς διαλόγους ανάμεσα σε σκληρούς τύπους, μπόλικη γραφική βία και λίγο σεξ. Ο Ρίτσαρντ Μπλειντ είναι ένας κλασικά όμορφος, γυμνασμένος και γεροδεμένος άντρας, πράκτορας των μυστικών υπηρεσιών της Αγγλίας, που δέχεται να γίνει πειραματόζωο για το καλό της πατρίδας. Κάτι δεν πάει καλά όμως στο πείραμα και ο Μπλέιντ μεταφέρεται γυμνός σ'έναν κόσμο το ίδιο σκληρό με αυτόν του Κόναν του Βάρβαρου.
Μην περιμένετε και πολλές πειστικές απαντήσεις σε απορίες του είδους πως στο καλό έγινε αυτή η μεταφορά του Μπλέιντ από τον ένα κόσμο στον άλλο ή πως εγκλιματίστηκε ο Μπλέιντ σ'αυτόν τον σκληρό κόσμο τόσο γρήγορα, δεν θέλει και πολλή σκέψη, απλά αφεθείτε σε μια ανάγνωση δίχως κάψιμο πολλών εγκεφαλικών κυττάρων.
Η γραφή δεν είναι και τόσο άσχημη, έκανε αρκετά καλά τη δουλειά της, αλλά μέχρι εκεί. Οι χαρακτήρες μονοδιάστατοι, η ιστορία γεμάτη κλισέ και δίχως κάτι το καινούργιο να πει και η πλοκή μάλλον προβλέψιμη. Η ώρα πάντως πέρασε γρήγορα και χωρίς να το καταλάβω και η ατμόσφαιρα ήταν ωραία, θύμισε ελάχιστα από Κόναν.
Έχω στη συλλογή μου και το δεύτερο βιβλίο της σειράς, θα το διαβάσω και αυτό λίαν συντόμως, και ίσως πάρω και τα επόμενα δυο-τρία βιβλία για να δω πως συνεχίζει το όλο κόνσεπτ (υποθέτω στο ίδιο μοτίβο). Έτσι και αλλιώς το κόστος είναι πολύ χαμηλό, οπότε ούτε τόσα πολλά χρήματα θα χάσω ούτε τόσο πολύ χρόνο...
February 22, 2013
Pulp fiction. Surprisingly not as bad as I think. But not impressive either. Well, what do you expect from a pulp fiction.
First, the author is a pseudonym used by multiple author. So, do not blame Jeffrey Lord if you don't like this book, because he does not exist as an individual.
Second, the story is just one escapade followed by another escapade. Do not expect a complex plot with twist and turn. It is linear with expected ending (and expected sexual scene too).
Surprisingly it's well written, it even used some heavy vocabulary. It showed that the author knew what he was doing.
The last one, the genre is mixed between a sci-fi and fantasy. But I don't think that genre matters for this prose. It is simply a pulp fiction, something that you read and than you throw out. A fast food book. Makes you full with full carbo without essential nutrients.
First, the author is a pseudonym used by multiple author. So, do not blame Jeffrey Lord if you don't like this book, because he does not exist as an individual.
Second, the story is just one escapade followed by another escapade. Do not expect a complex plot with twist and turn. It is linear with expected ending (and expected sexual scene too).
Surprisingly it's well written, it even used some heavy vocabulary. It showed that the author knew what he was doing.
The last one, the genre is mixed between a sci-fi and fantasy. But I don't think that genre matters for this prose. It is simply a pulp fiction, something that you read and than you throw out. A fast food book. Makes you full with full carbo without essential nutrients.
August 10, 2016
Wow - ya - sometimes I totally dig pulp, but this one just wasn't for me.
July 25, 2018
A great men's adventure story. I'm looking forward to reading the others.
January 9, 2013
Review of the whole Richard Blade series as much as The Bronze Axe: These books are a guilty pleasure. I think I own/have read nearly all of them. Dated a bit, preposterous many times, sexist at other times, and so on, but you know what? They are fun escapism. Who wouldn't want to be James Bond sent to alternate worlds where you get to kill the bad guys with swords/lasers/bare hands and bed hot babes right and left? The 13 year old boy I was when I discovered these did, and that lingering part of my brain still appreciates these for what they are. A few even rise to the level of darn good writing, cliffhangers, and sci-fi on occasion.
June 8, 2016
Page after page of unintentional(?) hilarity that, despite being only 200 pages and despite being filled with quite a bit of sex and violence, still took me thirteen weeks to finish.
I highly recommend reading protagonist Richard Blade in Troy McClure's voice. Extra points for that.
I highly recommend reading protagonist Richard Blade in Troy McClure's voice. Extra points for that.
February 7, 2017
This reads like the NC-17 edition of John Carter - Warlord of Mars.
January 13, 2025
Classic men's adventure pulp.
You kind of know what to expect when you pick up a novel like this. Overpowered and extremely lucky main character, check. Hot girl in need of rescue/protection, check. Frequent brutal, hopeless battles, check. Dark, dangerous, terrible, villains, check. Humor sprinkled here and there throughout, check. Occasional (mildly) spicy scenes with hero and this or that girl, check.
The framework which allows this adventure to take place is pretty tenuous scientifically speaking and doesn't really make a lot of sense to us today with current knowledge but it probably seemed more plausible to readers when this book came out. That is really one of the charms of a story like this, though, honestly. You can sit back, slip into the ridiculous, let go and have fun.
The plot involves the hero, Richard Blade (think Doc Savage, Conan, or some similar character) being sent to a world that exists in another dimension due to a computer malfunction in his world. This new world is a fairly standard sword and sorcery setting...medieval setting, dark sorcery, dangers lurking everywhere, etc. He arrives naked and immediately runs into the requisite virginal princess who is suitably impressed at the sight of him. The plot moves along in a fairly standard way from one seemingly deadly or impossible situation to the next as Blade tries to figure out where he is and how to survive.
This book doesn't do much original or try to reinvent the wheel. Unless this is the first book of this genre that you have read, you won't find much to surprise you or any real suspense. What you will find is a good time. The story is well written and enjoyable. The plot is engaging. The pacing is pretty good most of the way through. The characters (both good and bad) are fun. There are a few fairly mild spicy scenes but not many and they are relatively tame (again pretty standard for the time that this was written).
Some people may be offended by the way female characters are sometimes handled in the story, but if this is you, I'm absolutely certain this is not the first time you will have been offended by a similar book. The misogyny here is par for the course (although there are a couple of scenes that maybe test the credibility of that statement) and is not excessive.
This is the kind of book that doesn't try to break out of any molds but it does provide a quality example of what this type of book is about. If you like these types of stories, you will almost certainly like this book. It's fun. It's exciting. It's even a bit better than average for this genre.
You kind of know what to expect when you pick up a novel like this. Overpowered and extremely lucky main character, check. Hot girl in need of rescue/protection, check. Frequent brutal, hopeless battles, check. Dark, dangerous, terrible, villains, check. Humor sprinkled here and there throughout, check. Occasional (mildly) spicy scenes with hero and this or that girl, check.
The framework which allows this adventure to take place is pretty tenuous scientifically speaking and doesn't really make a lot of sense to us today with current knowledge but it probably seemed more plausible to readers when this book came out. That is really one of the charms of a story like this, though, honestly. You can sit back, slip into the ridiculous, let go and have fun.
The plot involves the hero, Richard Blade (think Doc Savage, Conan, or some similar character) being sent to a world that exists in another dimension due to a computer malfunction in his world. This new world is a fairly standard sword and sorcery setting...medieval setting, dark sorcery, dangers lurking everywhere, etc. He arrives naked and immediately runs into the requisite virginal princess who is suitably impressed at the sight of him. The plot moves along in a fairly standard way from one seemingly deadly or impossible situation to the next as Blade tries to figure out where he is and how to survive.
This book doesn't do much original or try to reinvent the wheel. Unless this is the first book of this genre that you have read, you won't find much to surprise you or any real suspense. What you will find is a good time. The story is well written and enjoyable. The plot is engaging. The pacing is pretty good most of the way through. The characters (both good and bad) are fun. There are a few fairly mild spicy scenes but not many and they are relatively tame (again pretty standard for the time that this was written).
Some people may be offended by the way female characters are sometimes handled in the story, but if this is you, I'm absolutely certain this is not the first time you will have been offended by a similar book. The misogyny here is par for the course (although there are a couple of scenes that maybe test the credibility of that statement) and is not excessive.
This is the kind of book that doesn't try to break out of any molds but it does provide a quality example of what this type of book is about. If you like these types of stories, you will almost certainly like this book. It's fun. It's exciting. It's even a bit better than average for this genre.
October 30, 2023
I discovered the Richard Blade series as a teen while scouring used bookstores for more SF and fantasy to devour, the local and school libraries being somewhat bare in that genre. Used paperbacks were a great bargain. For the price of a couple of sodas, I could get something to keep me occupied for a couple of hours or an evening. This was back when I could read a couple of novels a day. Of course, it helped that I wasn’t reading anything really difficult. Most of my fare consisted of action/adventures like the Doc Savage books. Richard Blade fit into that mold, but with an important difference for a boy just post-puberty: these novels had sex scenes.
The first book sets the formula for the series. Blade is a secret agent of the British government, a James Bond clone, who is “recruited” to test an experimental computer-brain interface that is supposed to increase his knowledge exponentially. The experiment does something else: it enables Blade to see and exist in another dimension (how this is accomplished while his body stays in the home dimension is handwaving—these are science fantasy books, the science doesn’t have to be believable). When Blade arrives in these dimensions, it’s just him—no clothes, no equipment. But because he’s such a splendid physical specimen, not to mention able to master many martial arts, he is able to hold his own, and often more than that. In this first book, he rescues a princess, goes mano-a-mano with a seasoned warrior, is captured with his companions and defeats three large bears, and challenges and defeats a pirate. When the battle is all said and done, he finally returns but someone brings back something from the dimension: a large, pure black pearl.
Is it good? Not really, in plot, characterization, or depiction of sex. The latter is more lurid than arousing, the characters have limited dimensions, and you know from the start that Blade is going to prevail (else, how could there be a book two?). This type of book is like cotton candy. You know it’s just sugar and bad for you, but you still read it as a treat even though you know it will likely give you a tummyache.
The first book sets the formula for the series. Blade is a secret agent of the British government, a James Bond clone, who is “recruited” to test an experimental computer-brain interface that is supposed to increase his knowledge exponentially. The experiment does something else: it enables Blade to see and exist in another dimension (how this is accomplished while his body stays in the home dimension is handwaving—these are science fantasy books, the science doesn’t have to be believable). When Blade arrives in these dimensions, it’s just him—no clothes, no equipment. But because he’s such a splendid physical specimen, not to mention able to master many martial arts, he is able to hold his own, and often more than that. In this first book, he rescues a princess, goes mano-a-mano with a seasoned warrior, is captured with his companions and defeats three large bears, and challenges and defeats a pirate. When the battle is all said and done, he finally returns but someone brings back something from the dimension: a large, pure black pearl.
Is it good? Not really, in plot, characterization, or depiction of sex. The latter is more lurid than arousing, the characters have limited dimensions, and you know from the start that Blade is going to prevail (else, how could there be a book two?). This type of book is like cotton candy. You know it’s just sugar and bad for you, but you still read it as a treat even though you know it will likely give you a tummyache.
September 10, 2025
Amazing how some once-successful series are now almost forgotten. The Richard Blade books fall under that category, as they were once highly popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and are now relegated to almost obscurity except among die-hard fans of men’s adventure pulps. (Yes, I know the series continued in non-English entries published in Russia and France, but we are talking about the original 1969-1984 Pinnacle books run.)
The Bronze Axe was the first book in the series, and it debuted Richard Blade, a spy who did more than hop around the globe. He hopped DIMENSIONS. Plus, he jumped from his spy gig to becoming a sword-and-planet type character! As so many others have noted, the Richard Blade series is an odd mashup of James Bond and Conan. The Bronze Axe sets the stage for what would become formula-driven entries that ranged in quality. As the debut entry, The Bronze Axe gives us an interesting character who, tragically, would become one-note with subsequent entries.
Blade engages in a unique experiment that transfers his mind and body to another dimension, where he becomes entangled in a battle between warring tribes. All in all, The Bronze Axe is a fine pulpy adventure from the pre-video game era, where readers looking for escapist entertainment could find it in a second-hand bookstore.
The Bronze Axe was the first book in the series, and it debuted Richard Blade, a spy who did more than hop around the globe. He hopped DIMENSIONS. Plus, he jumped from his spy gig to becoming a sword-and-planet type character! As so many others have noted, the Richard Blade series is an odd mashup of James Bond and Conan. The Bronze Axe sets the stage for what would become formula-driven entries that ranged in quality. As the debut entry, The Bronze Axe gives us an interesting character who, tragically, would become one-note with subsequent entries.
Blade engages in a unique experiment that transfers his mind and body to another dimension, where he becomes entangled in a battle between warring tribes. All in all, The Bronze Axe is a fine pulpy adventure from the pre-video game era, where readers looking for escapist entertainment could find it in a second-hand bookstore.
October 9, 2024
O!M!G! This is such a fond memory from my youth! I found all these books just recently and I am rereading them now.
Such Campy wonderfulness! Such 1970s spaghetti western level writing! I loved these as a teen many, MANY years ago.
This series was written late 70s to just barely start of the 80s. The basic plot is.... Richard Blade is a cross between super James Bond level secret agent and a world class MMA fighter. Any weapon, from Bronze age battle axes to lazer rifles, he is an expert....Hand to hand unarmed, Grand master level in ALL of them.....
So, he gets picked by a super secret government agency to test a new computer / mind interface. The system blurps and he gets zapped into an Alternate dimension.
He has to fight all the bad guys and..... Pleasure...... all the ladies to stay alive until the computer gets fixed and he gets zapped back home.
The rest of the series is the government trying to figure out how this happened and how to profit off of it so they keep sending him into these other dimensions where he has to....... Fight all the bad guys and pleasure all the ladies until he gets zapped back home!
Such a great fluffy escape read!
Such Campy wonderfulness! Such 1970s spaghetti western level writing! I loved these as a teen many, MANY years ago.
This series was written late 70s to just barely start of the 80s. The basic plot is.... Richard Blade is a cross between super James Bond level secret agent and a world class MMA fighter. Any weapon, from Bronze age battle axes to lazer rifles, he is an expert....Hand to hand unarmed, Grand master level in ALL of them.....
So, he gets picked by a super secret government agency to test a new computer / mind interface. The system blurps and he gets zapped into an Alternate dimension.
He has to fight all the bad guys and..... Pleasure...... all the ladies to stay alive until the computer gets fixed and he gets zapped back home.
The rest of the series is the government trying to figure out how this happened and how to profit off of it so they keep sending him into these other dimensions where he has to....... Fight all the bad guys and pleasure all the ladies until he gets zapped back home!
Such a great fluffy escape read!
May 27, 2019
This is the first book in the Richard Blade series. Richard Blade is a British Spy who becomes embroiled with a Top secret MI6A program that seeks to interface the human brain directly with a computer. What no one knows, in that doing so, remakes the molecular structure of the brain allowing one to see and interact with other dimensions.
In layman's terms,what begins as a unique experiment in a secret lab beneath the Tower of London with super spy Blade as an unwitting guinea pig, results in Blade being catapulted into another dimension entirely!
Each book in the series deals with Blade's adventures in weird dimensions, with strange cultures,monsters and foes to fight. For fight Blade does. Action runs through each story gripping one with a page turning frenzy. These stories to me are addictive and I simply can not put one down,once I have started one!
In layman's terms,what begins as a unique experiment in a secret lab beneath the Tower of London with super spy Blade as an unwitting guinea pig, results in Blade being catapulted into another dimension entirely!
Each book in the series deals with Blade's adventures in weird dimensions, with strange cultures,monsters and foes to fight. For fight Blade does. Action runs through each story gripping one with a page turning frenzy. These stories to me are addictive and I simply can not put one down,once I have started one!
August 13, 2024
She's looking out at you from the cover with an expression of "what the hell did I do to deserve this?" on her face. That's Richard Blade with his back to us, swinging his mighty, um, sword. The savages charging him don't have names. They don't stick around long. Swords swing and heads roll. Richard Blade is a British spy who somehow managed to get sent into another dimension. I've got 4 books in this series. They're probably a bit like the GOR novels, of which I remember reading a few as a kid. This is the first in the series. Richard Blade goes to Dimension X through some kind of teleportation from a laboratory in London. It's not really clear how and it probably doesn't really matter why. He's just sent there, that's all. And he arrives with no clothes. Let the swordplay begin!
April 26, 2022
Do you like James Bond? What about Conan the Barbarian? If you answered yes to both, this is the book for you. Wearing it’s influences on it’s sleeves (or rippling biceps in this case), The Bronze Axe is the first of a series which ask what would happen if an oversexed super spy was dropped into a Conan the Barbarian world.
This books is five stars to the right person (me) but honestly may be 1-2 stars if the premise isn’t your bag.
It’s a charming story, highlighting the pulp ideas of science and sex at the time of writing. Again, this is the perfect book for the right person.
This books is five stars to the right person (me) but honestly may be 1-2 stars if the premise isn’t your bag.
It’s a charming story, highlighting the pulp ideas of science and sex at the time of writing. Again, this is the perfect book for the right person.
September 6, 2017
Special Branch man gets transported to an alternate universe from the Tower Of London's secret lab in the basement. Once there he becomes a Conan type who does battle with barbarians, kings, Drus, a coven of female witches, gonorrhea and syphilis because he sleeps with damn near every woman in this book. Pretty nice action throughout. This does drift of in the realms of tedium from time to time, but is rescued nicely with more bloodshed and sex.
December 23, 2022
Trashy, pulpy, classic escapism. I loved it.
Richard Blade is connected to a giant super computer and transported to an alternate dimension where he uses his muscles to solve disputes and charm the ladies.
My favorite character within is definitely Sylvo. A murderous liar/cheat/thief, basically an all around scumbag. He is probably the most developed character as he has personality that isn’t limited to just ‘big man with muscles’ or ‘powerful woman who wants dick’.
Richard Blade is connected to a giant super computer and transported to an alternate dimension where he uses his muscles to solve disputes and charm the ladies.
My favorite character within is definitely Sylvo. A murderous liar/cheat/thief, basically an all around scumbag. He is probably the most developed character as he has personality that isn’t limited to just ‘big man with muscles’ or ‘powerful woman who wants dick’.
June 17, 2023
Oof, I really wanted to like this one more, but it's too much of a relic of its time even for me--a swinging 60s fantasy with some pretty iffy content. Our James Bond-esque ubermensch hero easily conquers every challenge, and has lots of rather explicit female conquests along the way. Most comic books are more grounded than this. There are many "modern man gets transported to a dangerous fantasy world and has to beat the evil overlord there" stories, and most are far better than this.
April 28, 2019
I read all this series when I was a kid in the 70s I wish I still had the collection but my parents was in military and we moved alot list the paperbacks I am looking to get them back but very hard to find and real expensive
April 7, 2019
was worth the effort thats about all really
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
March 12, 2023
Once you get past the premise of how he got transported it’s actually a engrossing story akin to a Conan or John Carter novel. Some sex scenes so be wary for younger readers
March 24, 2023
Exciting fantasy. However, not my favorite author.
April 20, 2023
The main hero, Richard Blade is the exact copy of James Bond, but with the body and fighting prowess of Conan the Barbarian. He is transported from London into a strange medieval fantasy dimension. The story contains everything that a male teenager (and maybe even older ones) would enjoy: machismo, violence and sex.
The story, while entertaining, is kinda repetitive. It's mostly Blade becoming prisoner in various ways and then making bold challenges to his captors to earn his freedom. He usually does this by killing various champions. There are also a couple of seductive women in the story, who marvel at Blade's "size" while he lusts after them, and eventually, ends in bed with them, even though he is engaged in the "real" world.
The writing is OK, even though sometimes it contains these weird archaic sentences, as if the writer was trying to imitate the English language of the 13th century.
The Bronze Axe is trash, but is an enjoyable trash. Actually, with more character development and different plot lines, I could see this being a decent fantasy. As it is, it is pure pulp fiction.
The story, while entertaining, is kinda repetitive. It's mostly Blade becoming prisoner in various ways and then making bold challenges to his captors to earn his freedom. He usually does this by killing various champions. There are also a couple of seductive women in the story, who marvel at Blade's "size" while he lusts after them, and eventually, ends in bed with them, even though he is engaged in the "real" world.
The writing is OK, even though sometimes it contains these weird archaic sentences, as if the writer was trying to imitate the English language of the 13th century.
The Bronze Axe is trash, but is an enjoyable trash. Actually, with more character development and different plot lines, I could see this being a decent fantasy. As it is, it is pure pulp fiction.
October 11, 2016
I liked this one, but not as much as I wanted to. There are a lot of small and petty things I could list that I didn't like about this particular story but I think that I'll refrain. Super spy Richard Blade is selected to participate in a super secret project which of course goes awry. This was written in the '60's, so from this story computers, and what they are capable of, are more fiction than science. Finding himself somewhere unexpected and naked barely seems to hamper Blade. Much fighting and sex seem to follow him where ever he goes. The fist fight with Redbeard, the pirate king, stands out most from this story in two ways. Mainly because Blade isn't able to quickly vanquish this foe. Additionally, that the fight is bare knuckles and brawn without the aid of weapons. Overall a decent adventure read and I look forward to the sequel The Jade Warrior.
March 25, 2016
This series was developed into a sort of a modern (well, 1970s) John Carter of Mars with a lot of fucking. It's interesting what was going on in men's adventure series in the 1970s and '80s, when a few men's genre adventure books (including the Western boink-o-ramas such as the Longarm series) became guilty pleasures with graphic sex tossed in, often liberally. These books would make a lad look both ways to see if anybody saw him reading this stuff. I don't remember much to differentiate the Richard Blade books. I recall them being sort of good when I read them as a boy, and of course naughty. It's an adventure book, mom!
October 31, 2023
Oh dear Lord, there are 36 more of these!
Richard Blade is a cross between Arnold Shwarzenegger and John Holmes.
His secret agent credentials are largely inconsequential but through this I did learn that in 1969, the “boffins” in Britain were called “brains” in America.
It is to fantasy, what Mills and Boon is to drama. Entertaining, probably for the wrong reasons and actually reasonably well written considering the drivel that makes up the plot and content.
It did also introduce me to the word “fellatrix,” which will come in handy.
Richard Blade is a cross between Arnold Shwarzenegger and John Holmes.
His secret agent credentials are largely inconsequential but through this I did learn that in 1969, the “boffins” in Britain were called “brains” in America.
It is to fantasy, what Mills and Boon is to drama. Entertaining, probably for the wrong reasons and actually reasonably well written considering the drivel that makes up the plot and content.
It did also introduce me to the word “fellatrix,” which will come in handy.
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