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Post by deuce on Dec 22, 2017 13:08:14 GMT -5
Thuvia, by Whelan...  |
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Post by Von K on Jan 9, 2018 12:15:39 GMT -5
I re-read Synthetic Men of Mars recently. Another blastingly good yarn which I devoured at a single sitting.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jan 9, 2018 12:48:53 GMT -5
I re-read Synthetic Men of Mars recently. Another blastingly good yarn which I devoured at a single sitting. I agree. While that story gets criticized I always find it highly entertaining. Love the part when Tor-dur-bar's head is hanging in the net on the side of the malagor, chatting away at Vor Daj. Hilarious! |
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Post by Von K on Jan 12, 2018 22:04:44 GMT -5
I agree. While that story gets criticized I always find it highly entertaining. Love the part when Tor-dur-bar's head is hanging in the net on the side of the malagor, chatting away at Vor Daj. Hilarious! For sure it's not one of ERB's best, he was going through a tough phase in his writing. I agree with some of the criticisms, though a few of the points I've read seem to depend as much on personal taste as literary sense. I was just glad to be back on Barsoom... |
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Post by deuce on Feb 14, 2018 10:51:10 GMT -5
“Yes, I was a fool, but I was in love, and though I was suffering the greatest misery I had ever known I would not have had it otherwise for all the riches of Barsoom. Such is love, and such are lovers wherever love is known.”
-- John Carter from A Princess of Mars |
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Post by bunty0barbarian on Apr 16, 2018 1:47:23 GMT -5
Finished the first 3 books in the series and enjoyed them immensely.Wild imagination combined with the sense of excitement and adventure Burroughs books have.Gods of Mars is my favorite,crazy set pieces with less repetition but I gotta say compared to other pulp writers like REH,Morrcock,Dent etc ERB's plots are extremely formulaic. The same old kidnap princess-chase princess-rescue princess/cliffhanger ending narrative is quite annoying.
Will continue with the series but after reading Tarzan and The Jewels of Opar.
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Post by johnnypt on Apr 16, 2018 7:09:49 GMT -5
Finished the first 3 books in the series and enjoyed them immensely.Wild imagination combined with the sense of excitement and adventure Burroughs books have.Gods of Mars is my favorite,crazy set pieces with less repetition but I gotta say compared to other pulp writers like REH,Morrcock,Dent etc ERB's plots are extremely formulaic. The same old kidnap princess-chase princess-rescue princess/cliffhanger ending narrative is quite annoying. Will continue with the series but after reading Tarzan and The Jewels of Opar.
The only mitigating factor is for the modern era, Burroughs practically created the formula, then rode it into the ground for the next 25 years! He used the same plot on Mars, Venus, Pellucidar, the moon, the African jungle, the streets of Chicago, you name it, Burroughs put this plot there.
The first two Mars books are especially imaginative. But by the time he gets to Warlord, there are just too many false promises of rescue, then she's gone again. Book probably could've been reduced by a third, but he was getting paid by the word, so...
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Post by finarvyn on Apr 18, 2018 5:14:46 GMT -5
Finished the first 3 books in the series and enjoyed them immensely.Wild imagination combined with the sense of excitement and adventure Burroughs books have.Gods of Mars is my favorite,crazy set pieces with less repetition but I gotta say compared to other pulp writers like REH,Morrcock,Dent etc ERB's plots are extremely formulaic. The same old kidnap princess-chase princess-rescue princess/cliffhanger ending narrative is quite annoying. Will continue with the series but after reading Tarzan and The Jewels of Opar.
The only mitigating factor is for the modern era, Burroughs practically created the formula, then rode it into the ground for the next 25 years! He used the same plot on Mars, Venus, Pellucidar, the moon, the African jungle, the streets of Chicago, you name it, Burroughs put this plot there.
The first two Mars books are especially imaginative. But by the time he gets to Warlord, there are just too many false promises of rescue, then she's gone again. Book probably could've been reduced by a third, but he was getting paid by the word, so...
Not just that he was getting paid by the word, but he was getting paid to release his material in a serial format (if I understand correctly) so that chunks of story would build up to a cliffhanger and then ... hang until next time. I agree that Burroughs' style relied on a standard formula and that plot elements relied on unbelievable coincidences along the way, but the man was creative and had great ideas way before his peers. I read somewhere that he sold more books in the 20th century than any other author, so he must have done something right.  |
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Post by Jason Aiken on Apr 18, 2018 18:56:35 GMT -5
Burroughs definitely had formulaic plots, but he was one of the best-selling authors in the world and pioneered these techniques so he could get away with it.
I don't think today's readers would be so forgiving, but back then they couldn't get enough. And rightfully so. The man's imagination was something special, indeed.
Keep reading the Barsoom series, Chessmen was my favorite.
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Post by bunty0barbarian on Apr 26, 2018 1:43:12 GMT -5
Burroughs definitely had formulaic plots, but he was one of the best-selling authors in the world and pioneered these techniques so he could get away with it. I don't think today's readers would be so forgiving, but back then they couldn't get enough. And rightfully so. The man's imagination was something special, indeed. Keep reading the Barsoom series, Chessmen was my favorite. Will do but I want to try some of his lesser-known works first,his Westerns for instance.Bought the ERB Western Megapck.Thoughts? |
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Post by johnnypt on Apr 26, 2018 6:56:47 GMT -5
Burroughs definitely had formulaic plots, but he was one of the best-selling authors in the world and pioneered these techniques so he could get away with it. I don't think today's readers would be so forgiving, but back then they couldn't get enough. And rightfully so. The man's imagination was something special, indeed. Keep reading the Barsoom series, Chessmen was my favorite. Will do but I want to try some of his lesser-known works first,his Westerns for instance.Bought the ERB Western Megapck.Thoughts?
The Mucker is the one that would immediately spring to mind, among his best and probably lesser known simply for the name. Beyond Thirty aka Lost Continent is also interesting.
Megapack is an interesting way to describe 4 novels I actually should pick it up since I haven't read Bandit or Deputy (Rocky Balboa has me beat there).
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Post by finarvyn on Jun 2, 2018 6:00:38 GMT -5
I was at Barnes & Noble and saw that they have a leatherette special edition of the first 5 Mars books. (I've seen their inexpensive hardback of the first 5, but I think this was the first time I saw the fancy one.) Too bad that they aren't all public domain, because it would be nice to get the whole series in the same format. (I have a well-loved set of the SFBC Barsoom books with the Frazetta illustrations; those are hard to beat.) EDIT: Darn. Can't get the picture to show up.   |
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Post by deuce on Jun 10, 2018 13:57:21 GMT -5
As was revealed in the ERBian scriptures, today is the 50th anniversary of Mars Day... I met him in the Blue Room of the Transoceanic Liner Harding the night of Mars Day—June 10, 1967. I had been wandering about the city for several hours prior to the sailing of the flier watching the celebration, dropping in at various places that I might see as much as possible of scenes that doubtless will never again be paralleled—a world gone mad with joy. There was only one vacant chair in the Blue Room and that at a small table at which he was already seated alone. (...)
--- Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Moon MaidKAOR! Happy Mars Day, y'all. Kaor! |
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Post by finarvyn on Jul 25, 2018 7:48:30 GMT -5
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Post by paulmc on Jul 25, 2018 9:43:31 GMT -5
It's been a few years. If ERB put one out per year, then it might be up to seven now.
Or, it could be an illegal collection. |
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