The Tides of Kregen is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers. It is the twelfth volume in his extensive Dray Prescot series of sword and planet novels, set on the fictional world of Kregen, a planet of the Antares star system in the constellation of Scorpio. It was first published by DAW Books in 1976.
The Dray Prescot series is made of several cycles of novels, each cycle essentially forming a series within the series. In addition to being the twelfth volume in the series as a whole, The Tides of Kregen is also the first of three volumes in the Krozair Cycle. It is set on the fictional continent of Turismond as well as the island of Valka and Earth.
The 52 completed novels of the Dray Prescot series were written by Bulmer between 1972 and 1997, when a stroke stopped his writing, also the later Dray Prescot books, after 1988, were originally only published in German. The series is in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series.
Plot summary
The book takes place a number of years after the events of Armada of Antares and the short story Wizard of Scorpio. It begins with an argument between Khe-Hi-Bjanching, a young Wizard of Loh and Evold Scavander about a visitation by Phu-si-Yantong. Prescot is than visited by the Gdoinye, the messenger bird of the Star Lords, to tell him his service will be required soon. He is astonished to hear that his soon Drak was able to see the bird, too, when he thought it invisible to all himself. He shortly after informs Delia that he might be leaving soon.
When a messenger informs Prescot that the Shanks, a mysterious race of raiders have attacked an island of Valka and he rushes out with a small force to beat them back. The small force, including Delia and Drak, are trapped in an island village and under attack when Prescot is teleported away by the Star Lords. He resists and refuses to take up battle in his new location, instead returning to Delia. The Gdoinye warns him of his foolishness to resist and once more he is teleported, arriving for the first time fully armed and clothed. Again he defies the Star Lords and for this he is banished to Earth, seemingly for good.
Prescot spends the next decades on Earth, getting involved in wars out of boredom and growing every more morose and desperate to return to Kregen. He studies science and is eventually introduced to a Madam Ivanovna who reveals herself to be connected to Kregen but to be neither a Savanti nor a Star Lord. She tells Prescot her real name, Zena Iztar and he learns that 18 years have passed on Kregen since his departure. He learns that Drak and Delia survived the attack and that his older twins are now 32 years old and the second set 21, the age Delia was when she met Prescot. He also learns that the Savanti are only interested in the humans of Kregen while the Star Lords goals are broader and that their interests have clashed. She also tells him that it was her who influenced his directions at the Eye of the World when the Star Lords and the Savanti pulled him in opposite directions. Three more years pass before Prescot is finally returned to Kregen in 1871.
Prescot finds himself fighting slavers on a remote island. After fulfilling this task he sets of in a small boat, not knowing where he is. He is eventually rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Xuntal from where he heads home to Valka. He finds all his family dispersed and Delia to have left for the Eye of the World almost a year ago and follows her. Once more Prescot crosses the hostile lands and the Stratemsk mountains of eastern Turismond to reach the inner sea, after a 50-year absence. He heads for Felteraz and Mayfwy, widow of his friend Zorg to gain information. He learns that Delia had indeed been there and that the eternal war between the two sides is going badly for the Zairians, with the South holding up at sea but consistently losing the land battles to the Grodnims.