I just read "Tarzan of the Apes"

[shilsen]

Man, it's been crazy days for me. My job went super-nova-crazy in about August, I ended up on a madcap business trip to Costa Rica (hoo boy) and then my lung sort of collapsed and my project manager quit and my pal who maintains my website moved and I had to publish Tiny Terrors and Barsoom might be wrapping up for good and for all this very weekend.

Your lung "sort of collapsed"?

 

[barsoomcore]

Your lung "sort of collapsed"?

Yeah. It didn't ACTUALLY collapse (which it did five years ago), but my body reacted as though it had -- crippling pain across my upper torso.

Not sure how, had my lung ACTUALLY collapsed, that would help in any way, but that's how the body reacts, it seems.

At least I didn't have to have a two-foot-long needle inserted into my chest. Boy howdy THAT will wake you up in the morning, no kidding.

 

[shilsen]

Yeah. It didn't ACTUALLY collapse (which it did five years ago), but my body reacted as though it had -- crippling pain across my upper torso.

Not sure how, had my lung ACTUALLY collapsed, that would help in any way, but that's how the body reacts, it seems.

At least I didn't have to have a two-foot-long needle inserted into my chest. Boy howdy THAT will wake you up in the morning, no kidding.

Heh! Your comparison of it to the two-foot needle sounds like my method of looking on the bright side. When my colleagues complain about having a bad day at work, I tend to say something like, "Hey, at least it's not a tsunami." Somehow most people don't buy my theory

 

[Warrior Poet]

then my lung sort of collapsed

Hope you're feeling better.

and Barsoom might be wrapping up for good and for all this very weekend.

Wow. That's heavy. Maybe not collapsing-lung heavy, but heavy. Well, if it is, congratulations to you and you're players. From the writings, it sounds like it was one helluva game.

Keep breathing,

Warrior Poet

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I fully credit ERB for my Fantasy laden life. Even before I read The Hobbit, It was the John Carter of Mars series that sent my head reeling as a child. Tarzan was OK, but Barsoom was the bomb diggity, yo.

I was in a book store as a pre-teen, and must confess that the cover of the first JCWoM book drew me in with it's cheese - you may remember the one, with John Carter holding a deliciously unclad, bonzed Dejiah Thoris? With tremendously huge 4 armed Tharks menacing in the background? I had to hide that book from my mother.

I don't remember ERB as being particularly racist, but I do remember some of his values and perceptions to be failry dated. Weren't those books written in the early 1900's?

Then I got into Moorcock, and it was all over. The perfect anti-hero to JC's Paladin-like goody 2 shoes.

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, thanks! I'll be looking for a copy myself.

It shouldn't be hard to score a copy. Both Amazon and Abebooks have lots of listings where the S&H is literally more than the actual cost of the book.

Man, it's been crazy days for me. My job went super-nova-crazy in about August, I ended up on a madcap business trip to Costa Rica (hoo boy) and then my lung sort of collapsed and my project manager quit and my pal who maintains my website moved and I had to publish Tiny Terrors and Barsoom might be wrapping up for good and for all this very weekend.

Wow, ouch. Those don't sound like very good things (well, Tiny Terrors does, and I know that Barsoom was scheduled to wrap up from a long time ago, so it's not like it just collapsed or anything.) I hope you feel better lungwise too.

Sigh. I'm tired. How's with you?

I can imagine. I'm fine, thanks. Mostly the same old same old for me. I've actually been rereading (and reading for the first time) a lot of planetary romance ala ERB, including many of his imitators. Most of them are obviously inferior, but not all of them--and let's face it, as imaginative as he was, and as much as I love him, ERB only had a handful of plots that he recycled over and over again, and he's not winning any awards for his beautiful prose anytime soon.

I recently read Michael Moorcock's Barsoom imitation series, as a matter of fact. Finished it last night. It was absolutely dreadful. I read a version where all three books were collected in one (Kane of Old Mars, collected and re-published by White Wolf in the 90s), and it was probably the worst book that I've allowed myself to finish reading in more than fifteen years. I chalk it up to "planetary romance scholarship," though. I'm trying to get my hands around the sub-genre. Heck, I even wrote a Wikipedia article on it called "Sword and Planet", an alternate title for the subgenre coined by Don Wollheim--editor of Ace and DAW Books who publised most of the second wave of it.

 

[Desdichado]

I do remember some of his values and perceptions to be failry dated. Weren't those books written in the early 1900's?

ERB was born in 1875, and wrote his first story in 1911 (which was "Under the Moons of Mars", published in All-Story. Later republished as the novel A Princess of Mars.) He died in 1950, and was still publishing stuff up until 1948 or so at least. A few other books were found and published posthumously in the 1960s for the first time.

But yeah, it's easy to note where the books have aged. Surprisingly (to me, anyway) is that the appeal of them seems fairly timeless. Despite the age, A Princess of Mars is still one of my favorite books of all time.

 

[Warrior Poet]

I recently read Michael Moorcock's Barsoom imitation series, as a matter of fact. Finished it last night. It was absolutely dreadful.

I used to be a Moorcock apologist, but over the years I've revised my opinion of his work. I think the core Elric stories are excellent examples of a different take on traditional fantasy, and I think Moorcock did a great job of painting a truly strange world where Chaos (in particular) felt like a tangible force.

But he's really hit-or-miss, it seems to me. A few years ago I tried to read Blood: A Southern Romance, which sounded like a really cool concept (the idea of raw color as an energy source, and a society of renowned gamblers, and confronting racism, etc.), but the execution was . . . lacking.

I don't know. I think he's a solid writer on some things, less so on others. Many writers are that way, though, and that's fine. But I have sea-changed from a major Moorcock advocate (I still think the core Elric stuff is outstanding) to a more measured, even cautious opinion. I didn't realize he'd written a Barsoom imitation. What was it called (I'm not going to read it; I'll leave Barsoom to Burroughs, but just curious)?

I haven't kept up with much fantasy fiction in the last 10 years or so. Are there any good, classic sword-and-sorcery/sword-and-planet style writers producing today?

Warrior Poet

 

[Desdichado]

I didn't realize he'd written a Barsoom imitation. What was it called (I'm not going to read it; I'll leave Barsoom to Burroughs, but just curious)?

That's actually a more complicated question than it should be. It was originally published under the pen-name of Edward Powys Bradbury as three little novels, called Warriors of Mars, Blades of Mars and Barbarians of Mars. They were later republished under his real name with completely different titles--City of the Beast, Lord of the Spiders and Masters of the Pit. The version I read was all three novels combined into one (it was still only 350 pages or less--they were pretty small novels. As was normal for sci-fi published in 1965, I guess) and was called Kane of Old Mars published by White Wolf in the 90s. That version is actually harder to get a hold of than the earlier ones (well, more expensive anyway) but I found a copy at the public library in the community just north of us. Because we have a sharing agreement with them, I popped up there, validated my local library card with their system, and brought it home.

I haven't kept up with much fantasy fiction in the last 10 years or so. Are there any good, classic sword-and-sorcery/sword-and-planet style writers producing today?

Neither have I. It seems the thing that's selling these days is all this epic pseudo-Tolkienian soap opera. Which, don't get me wrong, some of it I enjoy, but I'm finding that my tastes have branded me as "old fashioned" anymore. That's why I'm writing my own Sword and Planet stories. I'm trying to not just rehash Burroughs though--if I can't bring something new to the table, why bother? I have no ambition to publish them; I don't think anyone's buying Sword and Planet these days, so I'll just post them online. I'm just writing them for fun anyway.

 

[Desdichado]

Heh! Your comparison of it to the two-foot needle sounds like my method of looking on the bright side. When my colleagues complain about having a bad day at work, I tend to say something like, "Hey, at least it's not a tsunami." Somehow most people don't buy my theory

The comparison is a bit more immediate in this case, though--if your lung actually collapses, they do stick a two-foot long needle into your torso. Trust me, it's no fun. Luckily, I only know that second-hand, not first-hand, but I'd bet barsoomcore would validate that feeling.