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Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Pellucidar Saga: Back to the Stone Age

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Pellucidar Saga: Back to the Stone Age

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back-to-stone-age-first-edition-cover-john-coleman-burroughsI’ve now arrived at that period in the Pellucidar series. The period any Edgar Rice Burroughs series eventually reaches: the late 1930s. I took a break from my Pellucidar retrospective to look at Burroughs’s 1913 horror-adventure novel The Monster Men just to delay taking the next step and driving my snowmobile headfirst into the hard ice of the poorest period of Burroughs’s career. But now I’m here and must accept the facts of the late ‘30s and an author trudging through his weakest creative years. Maybe it won’t be so bad. Perhaps I’ll discover a few pleasures in the last three Pellucidar books.

Anyway, enough procrastination. I’m getting on the snowmobile.

Our Saga: Beneath our feet lies a realm beyond the most vivid daydreams of the fantastic … Pellucidar. A subterranean world formed along the concave curve inside the earth’s crust, surrounding an eternally stationary sun that eliminates the concept of time. A land of savage humanoids, fierce beasts, and reptilian overlords, Pellucidar is the weird stage for adventurers from the topside layer — including a certain Lord Greystoke. The series consists of six novels, one which crosses over with the Tarzan series, plus a volume of linked novellas, published between 1914 and 1963.

Today’s Installment: Back to the Stone Age (1937)

Previous Installments: At the Earth’s Core (1914), Pellucidar (1915), Tanar of Pellucidar (1929), Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1929–30)

The Backstory

The ending of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core set the scene for a direct follow-up. Wilhelm von Horst, one of the German members of the O-220 expedition to Pellucidar to rescue David Innes, was still stranded somewhere in the inner world, and Jason Gridley chose to remain in Pellucidar to locate him. But other projects and business concerns prevented Burroughs from moving fast into writing this proposed sequel. He wouldn’t start work on the new Pellucidar novel until January 1935, writing it under the working title Back to the Stone Age: A Romance of the Inner World. It took him eight months to finish the 80,000-word novel, an unusually protracted length for him. And that was only the beginning of the difficulties.

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Vintage Treasures: The Pulp Fantasies of E. Hoffmann Price

Vintage Treasures: The Pulp Fantasies of E. Hoffmann Price

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The Devil Wives of Li Fong-small The Jade Enchantress-small

E. Hoffmann Price is one of the grand old men of the pulps. He published no less than 28 stories in Weird Tales between 1925 and 1950, including a collaboration with H.P. Lovecraft, “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” He continued writing right up until his death in 1988, at the age of 89. He published four SF novels in his Operation series (Operation Misfit, Operation Longlife, etc) with Del Rey in his 80s, producing the last one in 1987.

But he’s perhaps best remembered by modern readers for his pair of Chinese fantasies, The Devil Lives of Li Fong (1979) and The Jade Enchantress (1982), also published by Del Rey, with gorgeous covers by Rowena Morrill and Laurence Schwinger. These books were ubiquitous among adventure fantasy fans in the early 80s, passed around and shared like the tales of Elric and Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser.

The Devil Wives of Li Fong (217 pages, $1.95 in paperback, December 1979) — cover by Rowena Morrill
The Jade Enchantress (297 pages, $2.75 in paperback, June 1982) — cover by Laurence Schwinger

Originally from California, Price began his professional career as a soldier, graduating from West Point and serving in World War I. In his autobiography, Jack Williamson called him a “real live soldier of fortune.” Here’s his colorful bio from the back of these Del Rey paperbacks.

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Rebellion Worlds, Rocklike Aliens, and Cubes from Space: Rich Horton on The Rebellious Stars by Isaac Asimov & An Earth Gone Mad by Roger Dee

Rebellion Worlds, Rocklike Aliens, and Cubes from Space: Rich Horton on The Rebellious Stars by Isaac Asimov & An Earth Gone Mad by Roger Dee

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The Rebellious Stars Isaac Asimov-small An Earth Gone Mad Roger Dee-small

Rich Horton continues his tireless exploration of the Ace Doubles, this time looking at a 1954 pairing of Isaac Asimov’s second novel The Stars, Like Stars (re-titled here The Rebellious Stars), and the only SF novel by Roger Dee, An Earth Gone Mad. Here’s Rich.

The Rebellious Stars is better known as Tyrann, under which title it appeared as a Galaxy serial in 1951. (OK, it’s even BETTER known as The Stars, Like Dust…) In this edition it is about 67,000 words long, and the book is labeled “Complete and Unabridged,” so as far as I know it’s the same as the standard edition….

I was perhaps only 12 when I read The Stars, Like Dust. I’ve always remembered it, if only dimly, with pleasure… The story opens as Biron Farrill, the heir of the Rancher of Widemos on the planet Nephelos, is about to graduate from his university studies on Earth. He is wakened one night by a ticking which he soon determines is a bomb — an assassination attempt. Soon Sander Jonti, a friend of his from the university reveals that his father has been arrested by the Tyranni, the harsh ruling class that controls some 50 planets near the Horsehead Nebula, including Nephelos. It seems Biron’s father was involved in a resistance movement, and Jonti is as well. Jonti convinces Biron that his life is in immediate danger… The plot takes several twists from that point — it is all rather intricately designed — before reaching a somewhat surprising (though dare I say rather guessable) conclusion… while the plot is perhaps overcomplicated, and depends quite a lot on people acting in extremely convoluted ways, it is worked out somewhat satisfactorily in the puzzle-unraveling sense.

Matthew Wuertz reviewed the novel for us in its original Galaxy incarnation from 1951, and noted the similarities to a certain multi-billion dollar SF property.

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In Defense of an Abominable Personage: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

In Defense of an Abominable Personage: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Constantin Film, 2006)

When someone tells you to pick a favorite book, and you’re the type of person who reads with a gnawing ache for a good story, selecting just one can prove daunting. Not so for yours truly.

One day my mom, out of the profound goodness of her heart, surprised me with a spontaneous visit to Half Price Books. There she gave me the gift of Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I fell in love with it the way you fall for the love of your life; a part of me that had hitherto hidden from my reach sewed itself into the fabric of my heart.

I wasn’t accustomed to reading books in which the implied Devil’s spawn lures you through the pages. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the anchor of the novel, has the misfortune of assuming this role due to his absence of a human scent. He thus embarks on a treacherously erotic quest for the perfect odor that can disguise him as an ordinary person.

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We All Need to Read More Le Guin: The Language of the Night by Ursula K. Le Guin

We All Need to Read More Le Guin: The Language of the Night by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The Language of the Night Ursula LeGuin-small

The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
Ursula Le Guin, edited and with introductions by Susan Wood
Perigee Books (270 page, $4.95 in trade paperback, April 1979)
Cover by Mike Mariano

I need to read more Le Guin. It’s a deficiency I freely acknowledge and feel only slightly better about by adding that we all need to read more Le Guin. I know her through her short stories and the Earthsea books (which I will stack up next to the Narnia books any day), but I still have not read The Left Hand of Darkness or her other important science fiction works. I don’t have much of an excuse except time and the fact that I want to be what Le Guin calls a real reader. I want to be someone who truly digests, or rather, responds to what has been read; not, as I spent a good portion of my reading life, someone who simply goes from one book to the next, a consumer of literature, but still only a consumer regardless of the quality of what was consumed. So I read a book like Le Guin’s book of essays slowly, and I try to respond, synthesize, and recollect what she says not only about reading and writing science fiction and fantasy but also about human nature.

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Fantastic Stories of Imagination, February 1962: A Retro-Review

Fantastic Stories of Imagination, February 1962: A Retro-Review

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Fantastic February 1962-small Fantastic February 1962-back-small

The cover for this issue is by Leo Summers. Interior illustrations are by Dan Adkins (who also contributes the back cover) and Walker. The editorial recounts two recent cases of apparently fantastical occurrences in real life — with, in both cases, pretty straightforward mundane explanations. The letter column features letters from Leo A. Brodeur (a professor of French Literature at Laurentian University), discussing SF writers as “the poets of science”; and R. Martinkivi, praising the magazine.

The stories are:

Novelets

“A Bit of the Dark World,” by Fritz Leiber (12,500 words)
“A Silence of Wings,” by Daniel F. Galouye (10,500 words)

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Vintage Treasures: The Ace Novels of D.G. Compton

Vintage Treasures: The Ace Novels of D.G. Compton

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D.G. Compton Ace paperbacks-small

I don’t know nearly as much about D.G. Compton as I thought I did.

Yeah, I have a few of his novels, mostly because I collect early Ace editions. Synthajoy, Chronocules, The Silent Multitude, and his 1970 Nebula nominee The Steel Crocodile, sure. I thought that was about it, until I recently stumbled on a few others.

Curious, I did a quick ISFDB search, and discovered D.G. Compton produced no less than 20 SF novels between 1965 and 1996. Holy cats! Not only am I missing the vast majority of his work, I don’t even have half of his Ace novels. Just to rub salt into the wound, I found out he’s also had successful careers as a crime writer (under the name Guy Compton) and a writer of Gothic romances (under the name Frances Lynch).

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Wolves, Bears, Cats & Dragons: The Best Animal Sidekicks in Fantasy

Wolves, Bears, Cats & Dragons: The Best Animal Sidekicks in Fantasy

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Wolf and Iron Gordon R Dickson wrap

From the OED:

sidekick, n.
…3. orig. U.S. slang. A companion or close associate; esp. a loyal assistant of a more important or powerful person; (also) a partner in crime, an accomplice.

Last spring I published my first novel, Guile. It’s a YA fantasy in which the main character, Yonie, has a talking cat named LaRue for her best friend and quasi-sister. Writing their scenes together made me think about other animal sidekicks I’ve loved in fantasy literature.

Human sidekicks (or humanoid, like Chewbacca) tend to have defined roles such as friend, colleague, or employee. With animal sidekicks the relationship is often closer. They may enjoy a unique bond with their human, sometimes even sharing their thoughts. Their emotional closeness is often reflected physically — an animal sidekick may act as a steed for a human, or if it’s small it may ride on the human’s shoulder.(*)

Here are some of my favorite books that have animal sidekicks, broken down roughly by intelligence level of the animal. I’m focusing on sidekicks, but please take it as given that these books also have wonderful settings, original ideas, and main characters to cheer for!

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I Became a Science Fiction Fan at Exactly the Right Time: The Sixties

I Became a Science Fiction Fan at Exactly the Right Time: The Sixties

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A Treasury of Great Science Fiction-small

I’m convinced I became a science fiction fan at exactly the right time, the 60s. That was just long enough ago that there was so little science fiction (compared to now), that a young fan had to read the “classics” because there wasn’t the flood of new stuff appearing each month.

I don’t know how, exactly, I started reading E.E. Doc Smith, for example. His books originally appeared in the 30s and 40s. I bought the Skylark and Lensmen books in paperback, though, so they were still being reprinted. I read all of Edgar Rice Burroughs, also a writer who started in the early 1900s. Both the Tarzan and Barsoom stories started in 1912. Yet in the early 60s, the books were still coming out in reprints (with really cool covers).

I read H.G. Wells and Jules Verne because they were among the relatively few science fiction choices in our public library. At this time, I read science fiction exclusively. I read Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle because they scratched the science fiction itch without always exactly being science fiction. I didn’t discover H. Rider Haggard and Robert E. Howard until later. I also joined the Science Fiction Book Club in the 60s. One of my first purchases was the double-volume A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, edited by Anthony Boucher and published in 1959 (I bought it because it counted as a single choice–I think it’s possible that part of my love for short fiction started with that awesome collection).

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Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1953: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1953: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy October 1953-smallGalaxy Science Fiction began its fourth year of publication with the October, 1953 issue. Editor H. L. Gold kept up a great pace of monthly issues, each one containing all original stories, many of which were later reprinted. I applaud Gold for his efforts as I do editors of today’s fiction markets, who, like Gold, are striving to deliver great works of fiction to the world.

The Caves of Steel (Part 1) by Isaac Asimov — Lije Baley is a police detective in New York — an immense city spread over two thousand square miles (compared to the mere 300 of the early 21st century). Covered by a roof and walled in, like all other Cities, it’s like a cave.

Those who had ventured into space to colonize beyond Earth are known as Spacers. Over time, their technology advanced beyond the people on Earth, and when some of them returned to establish their own territory on Earth called Spacetown, no one on Earth had the power to stop them.

The police commissioner summons Baley to inform him that a Spacer was murdered in Spacetown. If they can’t find the murderer, the Spacers could ask Earth to pay indemnity fees, which would only fuel further outrage toward Spacers. Or if Earth refuses to pay, the outer world governments could use their advanced technology to harm the Earth in other ways.

Baley agrees to investigate, but the commissioner tells him the Spacers will only keep the murder confidential if one of their agents helps on the case — a robot named Daneel Olivaw.

Asimov has created an amazing world with this novel — imaginative yet gritty with tension. I can’t wait to see how the story continues to unfold. It’s been a great ride so far.

“The Model of a Judge” by William Morrison — A colony on one of Saturn’s moons holds a baking contest. The judge is a reformed carnivore named Ronar whose sense of taste is well beyond that of any human. He’s confident in his ability to choose a winner, but he’s amused by the varying ramifications in choosing each of the three finalists.

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