Edgar R. Burroughs

[Addy]

Following on my previous Robert E. Howard question, I'd like to ask the same question about ERB: what should I read?

 

[Theleb K]

Me again! Not so widely read on ERB - but I did read the John Carter/mars series (or most anyway - I seem to remember that there were about fifteen of them!)

Very good indeed!! And if you like these, try Philip Hose Farmer...

 

[Addy]

Me again! Not so widely read on ERB - but I did read the John Carter/mars series (or most anyway - I seem to remember that there were about fifteen of them!)

Very good indeed!! And if you like these, try Philip Hose Farmer...

Thanks. Already did.

 

[steve12553]

The Carson of Venus series is smaller but also in the same vein. They all just require the reader to think younger and have a little stonger "suspension of disbelief". A lot of fun, though.

 

[iansales]

There are 11 books in the Barsoom series:-

1 A Princess of Mars (1912)
2 The Gods of Mars (1914)
3 The Warlord of Mars (1918)
4 Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
5 The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
6 The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
7 A Fighting Man of Mars (1931)
8 Swords of Mars (1936)
9 Synthetic Men of Mars (1940)
10 Llana of Gathol (1948)
11 John Carter of Mars (1964)

... and 5 books in the Venus series:-

1 Pirates of Venus (1934)
2 Lost on Venus (1935)
3 Carson of Venus (1939)
4 Escape on Venus (1946)
5 The Wizard of Venus (1970)

The first 10 Barsoom books are available on the Gutenberg Project.

 

[Addy]

I have actually started reading a A Princess of Mars in the past, downloaded from the Gutenberg site, but got sidetracked. I'm not too hot on reading on my computer for long stretches, so I'd rather get them in hardcopy. But if that's how it's got to be, I'll have to make the effort.

 

[iansales]

AFAIK neither series is still in print, but you can pick up second-hand copies quite easily.

 

[j d worthington]

I have actually started reading a A Princess of Mars in the past, downloaded from the Gutenberg site, but got sidetracked. I'm not too hot on reading on my computer for long stretches, so I'd rather get them in hardcopy. But if that's how it's got to be, I'll have to make the effort.

Well, the Barsoom series has had more printings than a dog has fleas, frankly (not as many as his Tarzan books, perhaps, but I'd say probably pretty durn close) so it shouldn't be too difficult to track them down. The Venerian sequence hasn't had quite so many, but still quite a few. I'd also suggest his Pellucidar series:

Pellucidar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are several others you might enjoy by Burroughs, such as The Monster Men, for example. The man was nothing if not prolific.....

 

[Addy]

Are there any omnibus editions? I tried searching on amazon.com, but a search for his name brings up so much stuff I just couldn't get through all of it quickly.

 

[j d worthington]

Are there any omnibus editions? I tried searching on amazon.com, but a search for his name brings up so much stuff I just couldn't get through all of it quickly.

There is one called A Treasury of Edgar Rice Burroughs:

A Treasury of Edgar Rice Burroughs - SHOP.COM

This does not contain any of the Martian or Venus series, though it does have some of the Pellucidar novels....

There was also a set of the Martian novels through the Science Fiction Book Club (5 with illos and cover art by Frank Frazetta, the last by Richard Corben), and they went through several printings, I believe... those you should be able to find fairly easy. The first was simply A Princess of Mars, the other volumes were two novels each, in order, and titled accordingly.... They also put out a single-volume Land that Time Forgot (if I remember correctly), which had three novels in it....

 

[Addy]

Great. I'll search for those. Thanks.

 

[Snowdog]

I loved Burroughs when I was younger. As well as the series already mentioned - Pellucidar was my favourite - don't forget he also wrote Tarzan, and the first couple of books are definitely worth a read.

Also The Moon Maid and The Moon Men, and The Land That Time Forgot trilogy (forget the film if you saw it, apart from Susan Penhaligon it was pretty ropey).

 

[Addy]

I don't really get the appeal of Tarzan. I never read any of the original books, but the whole idea doesn't really sound interesting to me. Not after the overdose of movies, tv shows, cartoons etc.

 

[Connavar]

As an african kid Tarzan has always seemed lame to me and an insult of sorts was the hole idea about a white man being the king of the jungle, i dunno why...

Not interested in reading the books exactly.

Quality stories wise which of his Barsoom or Pellucidar would you guys recommend?

 

[j d worthington]

Barsoom or Pellucidar? Good question... I think there's a little more originality (taken overall) in the Pellucidar stories, as the Martian novels become a little repetitious plotwise.

As for Tarzan... well, I didn't read any of the books until I was well into my 20s... and, for my money, the books are light-years above any of the film versions. If you enjoy his other work, you'd likely enjoy some of those as well. There's also one of them that is a collection of shorter tales which has some very good things in it as well (there are 24 books altogether, as I recall, to the Tarzan series, though due to circumstances, I only got the first three read before I lost the entire set, and I've never had a chance to pick them up again...)

 

[Snowdog]

As an african kid Tarzan has always seemed lame to me and an insult of sorts was the hole idea about a white man being the king of the jungle, i dunno why...

Not interested in reading the books exactly.

Quality stories wise which of his Barsoom or Pellucidar would you guys recommend?

As far as Barsoom is concerned, you should really start at the beginning, because the narratives follow on to some extent, at least for the first three (although I started at no 7). My favourites though are numbers 6 and 7, Master Mind Of Mars and A Fighting Man Of Mars, in both of which John Carter is only a peripheral figure.

I don't think it's so important with Pellucidar to start at the beginning. I think Tanar Of Pellucidar and Back To The Stone Age are better than the first two books that have David Innes as the central character

 

[GOLLUM]

I got the entire series in HB for less than $5 the other day. Pretty good bargain that!!

 

[murphy]

I don't really get the appeal of Tarzan. I never read any of the original books, but the whole idea doesn't really sound interesting to me. Not after the overdose of movies, tv shows, cartoons etc.

As for Tarzan... well, I didn't read any of the books until I was well into my 20s... and, for my money, the books are light-years above any of the film versions. If you enjoy his other work, you'd likely enjoy some of those as well. There's also one of them that is a collection of shorter tales which has some very good things in it as well (there are 24 books altogether, as I recall, to the Tarzan series, though due to circumstances, I only got the first three read before I lost the entire set, and I've never had a chance to pick them up again...)

As J. D. said, the Tarzan movies really never captured the flavor of the Tarzan books. They're a bit dated in their ideas but I remember enjoying them immensely.

p.s. Hated the Tarzan movies.

 

[ice.monkey]

I recently read 'Tarzan the Terrible' as I happened to pick it up in a second hand shop. The first Burroughs I've read. You really have to remember that it was written in 1921 and it's as much a fascinating insight into those times and the viewpoints the West had towards Africa, as it is a good yarn.

The movies are nothing, nothing like this book. My recommendation? Do not judge Tarzan by the movies - they certainly don't even capture Burroughs' vision of the character.

 

[j d worthington]

I recently read 'Tarzan the Terrible' as I happened to pick it up in a second hand shop. The first Burroughs I've read. You really have to remember that it was written in 1921 and it's as much a fascinating insight into those times and the viewpoints the West had towards Africa, as it is a good yarn.

And the first Tarzan book -- Tarzan of the Apes -- was published in 1912 (in the Munsey magazines).... (John Carter's adventures began the same year; in fact, A Princess of Mars was the first Burroughs tale to be published, as "Under the Moons of Mars".)