polymorphikos
Scrofulous Fig-Merchant
The Caspak Trilogy (The Land that Time Forgot, The People that Time Forgot, Out of Time's Abyss) by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Although fans might dispute harshly, I believe this to be the best of Burrough's series that I have read. Whilst Tarzan may have the apes and the unforgettable character, and the Barsoom books have Tharks and Dejah Thoris* (two things that would normally be the left and right bower in the hand of eucha that is pulp sf) the Caspak trilogy beats both in it's setting, innovative approach and sheer adventure aspect.
The three books, really just one, build upon earlier works such as The Lost World and Burrough's Pellucidar (to Caspak what Tarzan was to Barsoom), in telling the adventures of a number of individuals, beginning when a young American in the medical corps is taken prisoner by a U-boat during the Great War. After countless twists, fledgling romance and the supression of the determined German leader von Schoenvorts and his crew, the submarine (replete with a number of fishermen taken on board in a skermish) comes to a mysterious island surrounded by treacherous cliffs, passable only by a subterranean stream, and home within to the most bizzare cacaphony of prehistoric life there ever was. Add to this a bizzare secret of origins.
You see the idea then, and as the adventures progress the second book tells of attempts to rescue Bowen the American, and the third of attempts to do both and simply survive. The three novellas form an interlocking series of considerable merit (as a genre piece, anyway) though perhaps not outstripping the Lost World as such tales go.
The stories, which combine monsters, quixotic heroes, lost civilisations and memorable imagery, are a perfect example of how to write a terrible book very, very well. The sheer pulp kick (to paraphrase) is emmense, and since I read it at seventeen it does at least have a vague something to offer adults provided they aren't saddeningly-jaded. Burrough's main strength lies in his story-telling, and he excells to the extent that all of his cliches and improbabilities seem fresh and at least vaguely conceivable. And if nothing else, at least it had a hand in inspiring 1000, 000 Years B.C.
*Authors Note: I actually discovered someone named Dejah the other day. I must find and befriend them. The mockery potential is enormous.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantastic_four
Although fans might dispute harshly, I believe this to be the best of Burrough's series that I have read. Whilst Tarzan may have the apes and the unforgettable character, and the Barsoom books have Tharks and Dejah Thoris* (two things that would normally be the left and right bower in the hand of eucha that is pulp sf) the Caspak trilogy beats both in it's setting, innovative approach and sheer adventure aspect.
The three books, really just one, build upon earlier works such as The Lost World and Burrough's Pellucidar (to Caspak what Tarzan was to Barsoom), in telling the adventures of a number of individuals, beginning when a young American in the medical corps is taken prisoner by a U-boat during the Great War. After countless twists, fledgling romance and the supression of the determined German leader von Schoenvorts and his crew, the submarine (replete with a number of fishermen taken on board in a skermish) comes to a mysterious island surrounded by treacherous cliffs, passable only by a subterranean stream, and home within to the most bizzare cacaphony of prehistoric life there ever was. Add to this a bizzare secret of origins.
You see the idea then, and as the adventures progress the second book tells of attempts to rescue Bowen the American, and the third of attempts to do both and simply survive. The three novellas form an interlocking series of considerable merit (as a genre piece, anyway) though perhaps not outstripping the Lost World as such tales go.
The stories, which combine monsters, quixotic heroes, lost civilisations and memorable imagery, are a perfect example of how to write a terrible book very, very well. The sheer pulp kick (to paraphrase) is emmense, and since I read it at seventeen it does at least have a vague something to offer adults provided they aren't saddeningly-jaded. Burrough's main strength lies in his story-telling, and he excells to the extent that all of his cliches and improbabilities seem fresh and at least vaguely conceivable. And if nothing else, at least it had a hand in inspiring 1000, 000 Years B.C.
*Authors Note: I actually discovered someone named Dejah the other day. I must find and befriend them. The mockery potential is enormous.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantastic_four
