Burroughs Books

This is the parallel text to The Soft Machine and Nova Express. But the qualities of these two almost unreadable but awesome works of art are only partly presented here. It shows that Burroughs did a lot of rewriting on this one, the repitions seem not all intended, and what he added to or changed in the original, which would have been a beautiful further view in the repelling cut up universe, undermines the visionary character of the trilogy. Technical prose about recorders and idealistic musings about what you can do with them makes this book sound dated. The idea itself, revolving around a prerecorded universe and how to unrecord it, is essential, but it gets a too political and too oneminded unhumorous treatment here and there. Where he can be such a laugh if he tries. The attacker of preachers falls prey to preaching. But then this turning into your own enemy is inherent to his work. Those who haven't yet read the first two novels of the cut up trilogy should start there, although there is no chronological need to do so. In the end you will have to read this as well, if you come as far. The hypnotising power of the trilogy shines through despite 'the dr frankenstein goes for recorders' pasages.

this book is an outerlandish(outer space) type of bizarre nuclear book... it has what few books lack visual impact, and adventure..and keeps exploding with action (unlike few books that stick to one place for a million hours..and emotions, it jumps countlessly with entertainment and never fails at that.

Out of the three books in Burroghs' "cut-up" trilogy (the soft machine, the ticket that exploded, and nova express) this i feel is the best and most creative. Included in this book are Ginsyn's tape recorder experiments which produce a psychological analogy for the way our brains opperate as well as an interesting pass-time for anyone who finds the concept of words being a virus of the mind of any interest.

Burroughs's The Ticket that Exploded, the second installment of this early trilogy (The Soft Machine and Nova Express, respectively) is a literary pleasure. It encompasses many ideas (Jung's Synchronicity, Foucault's Structuralism, Korzybski's linguistic theories, to name a few) in a post-modernist style. With many texts in the post-structuralism/post-modernist period and vein-like Joyce's Finnegans Wake and Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow-this book teaches the reader how to read the text as one continues through the work. As such, it is a must reread, for as entertaining as the work is throughout the first reading, Ticket is more interesting and more insightful with each successive read.

This book is the final word in cut-ups and Burroughs' tape experiments of the early 1960's. This is Burroughs' most beautifully written text, if somewhat overrepetitive at times. Moreso than in "Naked Lunch" or in "Nova Express," Burroughs fleshes out his ideas about language "being a virus from outer space," and looks forward to his essay, "The Electronic Revolution." This is a tough and uncompromising book, filled with beautiful nonsequitors, funny anecdotal tales, and plenty homoerotic sexual fantasies and realitease.

Take some help, old man.

When Dejah Thoris is severely injured in an accident, only the Master Mind Of Mars has the surgical skill needed to put her back together so she will work properly.

Since that book, however, no-one knows where he is.

So, off John Carter goes with a young soldier for help by the name of Vor Daj.

This novel is actually told from the point of view of that young man, and they soon discover the reformed mad scientist is stuck in a world of artificially created life - who are now running the show in their own area, and are quite happy about it.

Escape, body transfer and overthrowing the hormads is the order of the day.

Swordfighting, chivalry, adventure, shambling bad guys, noble good guys, and the odd princess or two. You know, the usual. Complete with inane romantic frustration and misunderstandings, resolved happily but chastely in the end. You know, the usual.

This time the heoric rescues come as thick and fast as ever. The romantic misunderstanding are compounded by a brain transplant or two, leaving our love-lorn thoroughly and disgustingly disguised as he moons about the object of his slightly confused passion.

Count on Burroughs for good, solid, illogical adventure: swords and zap guns across the drying ocean floor of a dying Mars. They just don't make them like this any more.

-- wiredweird

"Synthetic Men of Mars" is the 9th of 11 books in Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series. It first appeared serially in "Argosy Magazine" in early 1939, and is one of the most way-out entries in the Carter series. The book may be seen as a sequel of sorts to book #6, "The Master Mind of Mars," in that Ras Thavas, the eponymous superbrain of that earlier work, here makes a return, and the bulk of the action once again takes place in the dismal and forbidding Toonolian Marshes of Barsoom (Mars, to you and me). In "Synthetic Men," Carter and one of his lieutenants, Vor Daj, go in search of Ras Thavas, to enlist his aid when Carter's wife is critically injured in a midair collision. Thavas is engaged in creating an army of synthetic men (the so-called hormads), who have taken over an island in the Toonolian Marshes, made an unwilling slave of Ras Thavas himself, and are now plotting to take over all of Barsoom. Things get pretty wild when Vor Daj has his brain put into one of the hormad's bodies, so that he might better protect a pretty female prisoner who is being held on the island also. Then things go over the top completely, as one of the vats in which the hormads are created goes blooey, and a giant blob of living tissue spreads and spreads and threatens to envelop the entire planet! This blob is comprised of living heads and hands and other body parts; it feeds on itself and seemingly cannot be stopped. All this takes place in the first half of the novel; things get even hairier, if possible, in the final stages of the tale. Before all is said and done, we have been treated to a civil war amongst the hormads, an escape through the swamps of Toonol, encounters with giant insects and reptiles, a marsupial society, wild swamp savages, a Martian zoo, a tense little air battle, and the final confrontation with that living blob mass. It's as if Burroughs ate a headcheese and Fluffernutter sandwich before going to bed one night, had the wildest dream, and the next morning put it down on paper. The book has nice touches of incidental humor, and Vor Daj's predicament of being trapped in the body of a monstrous hormad while trying to win the affection of the girl of his dreams is an involving one. This leads to John Carter delivering one of his most touching lines: "It is the character that makes the man...not the clay which is its abode." So what we have here is a fantastic tale of wild imagination, with some touching passages and incessant action.
So why, then, have I only given this novel three stars? Well, as with most Carter novels, there are problems of inconsistency, and this novel contains one of the worst in the entire series. During the swamp escape, Vor Daj is accompanied by a party of five others, including a man named Gan Had, who later deserts him. Later in the book, it is stated that this deserter was named Pandar, one of the others of the five. The two characters are mixed up and confused by Burroughs for the remainder of the book, to the point that the reader doesn't know who Burroughs is talking about. This is a terrible and egregious error, I feel. I have discussed it with the founder of the ERB List, a really fine Burroughs Website, and he has told me that he and others have concocted some explanations for this seemingly incredible screwup, while admitting that the reader must read between the lines and do some mythmaking of his/her own to explain it. This giant problem aside, there is also the inconsistency of a character named Ur Raj, who is said to hail from the Barsoomian nation of Ptarth, and four pages later is said to be from the nation of Helium. This is the kind of sloppiness that I, as a copy editor, find especially deplorable. I also regret the fact that the ultimate fate of some of the book's main characters (Sytor, Gan Had and Ay-mad) is never mentioned. Another example of careless writing, I feel. "Synthetic Men of Mars" is a wonderful entertainment, but could have been made so much better by the exercise of just a little more care on the part of the author and his editors. Still, I quite enjoyed it, and do recommend it to any lover of fantastic literature.

Ras Thavas, the Mastermind of Mars, returns in "Synthetic Men of Mars," the ninth Martian novel from pulp fiction master Edgar Rice Burroughs. Originally serialized in six-parts in "Argosy Weekly" in early 1939, this story brings together many of the characters in the series, which was ERB's best. When Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium, is seriously injured in a collision of two airships, John Carter seeks out Ras Thavas, the greatest surgeon on Barsoom, to repair her broken back. The story is told by Vor Daj, a young padwar who accompanies Carter when he goes to search for the scientist's former assistant, Vad Varo, in Duhor. This time around the framing device is that the story was translated into English by Ulysses Paxton (Vad Varo), who then sent it to Jason Gridley on Earth via the Gridley wave. At first it look like ERB is trying something different, and that instead of his hero searching Barsoom for his beloved, Carter is searching for someone to help his wife. But then Vor Daj is unattached, which means he is going to stumble across his own damsel in distress while accompanying the Warlord of Mars on his mission and take on the central role in the adventure.

The title of the story comes from the race of supermen that Thavas is creating when Carter and Vor Daj finally find him. The experiments are not going well, but no matter how deformed they are these creatures want to live. With World War II right around the corner there is obviously a sub-text for this novel that has to do with the rise of totalitarianism, especially when the synthetic men decide they would rather conquer Barsoom than be its slaves. But what readers of the Martian series will notice the most is that ERB is throwing in a little bit of everything into this novel from his previous efforts, such as assassins, a new race of living heads, escaping from a prison, and a big battle between the Jeds. However, with the growing mass of tissue in Vat 4 in Morbus, there are some actually horror elements in this ERB potboiler as well.

Consequently, "The Synthetic Men of Mars" is pretty much the generic Martian novel written by Burroughs, incorporating a little bit of everything from what has gone on before. That is right: this novel is essentially a synthesis of the previous eight volumes. The result is a standard Burroughs adventure and the last decent volume in the series.

While not the best known of the Mars series, this is, in my opinion one of the better ones, and I am one of those who like them all. As with the rest of the Burroughs's books, the reader must constantly keep in mind when they were written. This is some fo the best pulp fiction out there. If you have never read any of this series, then you are missing something. If, like me, you first read them as a small child, then you are in for a nice nostalgic ride. I like to crack these out of by book tomb ever few years and read them just for the fun of it. Highly recommend this one.

While this novel was well written, I still often found myself bored silly reading it.

The tale of Tarzan, Lord Greystroke, was wonderfully told and concluded within the first two novels ("Tarzan of the Apes" and "The Return of Tarzan")...but in all honesty, I really felt it should have ended there. A third novel (and I'm sure the 20 or so sequels that followed this one) was not needed at all.

As mentioned in the title, I found this third novel really disappointing. I stopped reading it a couple of times because I found it so tedious and dull (which was never the case with the first two novels), and was glad it was over when I finally finished it!

Honestly, the only good part about it was seeing Tarzan's determination to save his family, and the long over-due conclusion to a particular character. Other than that...I really felt it was a waste of my time.

Which is a shame, because Mr. Rice Burroughs is quite a fine writer, and the first two books were fantastic.

this is another typical tarzan book. lots of mystery and suspense. lofs of colorful characters and the animals are wonderful!

Tarzan, back in civilisation, soon has to leave again. The dodgy Rokoff is now again a free man, and continues to give Lord Greystoke problems. This time it is a kidnapping, involving his own flesh and blood, and his wife.

Tarzan must become the ape-man superhero again, but he is not without allies, in the jungle animals, and the native Mugambi, a friend.

"The Beasts of Tarzan" is the third novel about the Lord of the Jungle by Edgar Rice Burroughs. "The Beasts of Tarzan" finds the ape lord settled in civilized London as Lord Greystoke. But he becomes the target of his enemy, Nikolas Rokoff, and his henchman Alexis Paulvitch. The pair abducts Tarzan's Jane and their infant son Jack. Tarzan ends up stranded on a desert island, but with the help of Sheeta the panther and Akut the great ape he makes it back to the mainland. There he meets Mugambi, the giant chief of he Wagambi tribe, a character who goes on to become Tarzan's lifelong friend and ally (a welcome relief after the way virtually all of the natives were just a different sort of jungle animal for Tarzan to torment and kill). This odd group heads off together after the kidnappers into the deep jungle and when Tarzan finds them he lets his inner beast come up with creative ways of making them pay for the mistake of taking his wife and son. If you start reading the Tarzan novels in particular, or the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs in general, in the same order that they were written, then "The Beasts of Tarzan" is pretty much around the time that it becomes clear that the storyline is usually the same. Our hero is separated from the woman he loves and spends most of the book getting her back. You can throw a baby into the mix, change the impediments placed in the way, or alter the locale from Africa to Mars, Pellucidar or the Land That Time Forgot (far and away the best part of the recipe), but the basic plot remains the same. Burroughs was also getting tired of having to write about Tarzan, which he would prove in the next book in the series, "The Son of Tarzan," where baby Jack grows up to become Korak the Killer. Unfortunately there were more than twenty more Tarzan novels to come, which would rely more and more of a formulaic approach.

This is as addictive as previous Tarzan's stories. In this one the archenemy of Tarzan finally gets his desserts. You have to read it!

A collection of four stories, in Amazing Stories publication the first was called The City Of the Mummies, with good reason, and the third, Yellow Men Of Mars, which probably fits in better.

This is pretty lighthearted in general, compared to the rescue the princess in deadly peril tone of a lot of it. This time Carter is adventuring with his granddaughter, having done that with his other major female relatives. Of course, given this, he picks up a bloke along the way that has a thing for her.

However, she is in the 'I hate you' stage, of the 'I hate you/Oh take me now!' sort of thing. Almost a bit of Carry On Barsoom to this collection.

For instance:

"He turned to Llana. "Llana of Gathol," he said, "we have been through
much together; and there is no telling what the future holds for us.
Once again I lay my heart at your feet."

"You may pick it up," said Llana of Gathol; "I am tired and wish to
sleep."

Betting stings and more are to be found here, on the more jovial front:
"Yes," I said, "it is amusing. So is that hole we left in the roof of
his hothouse city; but I am afraid that Hin Abtol's sense of humor will
not be equal to the task of appreciating it.""


Llana Of Gathol : The Ancient Dead - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Llana Of Gathol : Black Pirates of Barsoom - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Llana Of Gathol : Escape On Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Llana Of Gathol : Invisible Men of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Martian accidental mummies and more.

3.5 out of 5


Whichever identity he uses, the nogoodniks don't seem to like John Carter.

3 out of 5


Despite being the best swordsman on two planets, and a funny color for Barsoom, often takes a lot for people to realise who John Carter is. He does get plenty of sword practice this way though.

3 out of 5


Invisible guys are definitely harder to chop. Even more impressive, a woman only pretending to have a thing for John Carter. Again, time to do the escape thing.

3 out of 5

I love this kind of book
becuse the edgar rice burroughs
writes very good
I read them every year
I get so involved the time pass bye
so quick

"Llana of Gathol" is the 10th of 11 John Carter of Mars books that Edgar Rice Burroughs left to the world. This book is comprised of four linked short tales that first appeared in "Amazing Stories Magazine" from March to October 1941. Each of these stories is around 50 pages in length and is made up of 13 very short chapters. In the first tale, "The Ancient Dead," John Carter goes for a spin in his flier to get away from it all, and winds up in the ancient Barsoomian city of Horz. This long-dead city, however, turns out to be anything but. In "The Black Pirates of Barsoom," Carter discovers an enclave of the First Born (last seen in book 2, "The Gods of Mars") and is forced to fight in their gladiator-style games. In "Escape on Mars," Carter goes to the aid of the besieged city of Gathol, and winds up stealing a battleship and putting together an untrustworthy crew of mercenaries and assassins. Finally, in "Invisible Men of Mars," Carter and his granddaughter, the eponymous Llana, come upon the lost city of Invar, and its invisible inhabitants. Space does not permit me to go into the remarkable plot twists and surprises that this book offers. Each of the tales is a little gem of swift-moving action, but this time presented with a decidedly lighthearted touch. For all the serious goings-on, this Carter volume features the most humor yet seen in the series. This combination of deadly action, presented with a light tone, is a very appealing one. The book is also something of a nostalgia piece; of all the books in the series, this one refers back to events in previous volumes more than any of the others. Indeed, I can hardly see how a reader could really enjoy this collection without a thorough knowledge of ALL the previous entries in the series. And in addition to previous events being referred to, we also see, in "Llana of Gathol," the return of several characters from earlier volumes: Ptor Fak from "A Princess of Mars," Tan Hadron from "A Fighting Man of Mars," Zithad from "The Gods of Mars" and so on. This harking back to old events and characters strikes me as being not repetitive, as some readers have claimed, but a nice, almost nostalgic tribute to past events. The book also features one of the longest and nastiest sword fights that Carter has ever engaged in; the one with Motus, in the city of Invar. This is one memorable sequence, indeed. Carter is told several times during the course of this novel, by one or another of his many enemies, that "Resistance is futile." I can't help wondering whether the creators of Star Trek's Borg menace were Burroughs fans! Anyway, these short-story gems will certainly entertain any lover of fast-moving sci-fi/fantasy.
All of which is not to say that the book contains no problems, however. Like ALL the previous books in the Carter series, this one contains some doozies. For example, the use of outrageous coincidence, while frequent in past volumes, is waaay overused in this book. I refer here to the coincidence of bumping into Llana in Horz and the coincidence of meeting the brother of Janai (heroine of book 9, "Synthetic Men of Mars"), not to mention the coincidence of meeting all the other "old friends" mentioned above. Worse still is the fact that by the book's end, the fate of several of the main characters remains unknown; e.g., the fate of Hin Abtol, the main villain of the saga, and of Tan Hadron and Fo-Nar. We are told by Carter at one point that he will soon explain how the First Born have come to be in the lost rift valley, but he never gets around to it. There are the usual inconsistencies that pop up, too: Why do the CLOTHES of the invisible inhabitants of Invar become invisible also? Why haven't the CLOTHES of the living dead in Horz not long since disintegrated? How is Carter able to read the hieroglyphs on the king's crown in Invar, when in previous books Burroughs has told us that each city has its own written symbols? Why is it necessary for Hin Abtol's ships to drop men with equilibrimotors (flying belts) into the besieged city of Gathol, when these soldiers could just fly in themselves? I should perhaps add at this point that I have been told by one of the founders of the ERB List (the best Burroughs Website that any fan could ever hope for) that many of these errors and discrepancies are absent from the original versions of the Carter books, but only added later by addle-brained copy editors. I can only speak of what I have read (the Ballantine/DelRey paperbacks from the early '80s), and these books are something of a mess. Still, the vision of Burroughs does manage to shine through, and despite the glitches, this book is a veritable packet of wonders.

"Damsel in distress," "he done her wrong," etc. Burroughs' does a wonderful job of poking a bit of fun at himself here, and in doing so, gives us a wonder lesson in this particular genre. This is a fun read. It should not be taken seriously, read it and enjoy it. I read this entire series well over fifty years ago and am still fastinated with them. Highly recommend.

"Llana of Gathol" is the oddest book in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian series for a couple of reasons. First, it is not a novel per se, but a collection of four novellas that ERB wrote for "Amazing Stories" in 1941. Consequently, it has more of the feel of a sequel than most of the Martian books. Second, there is a healthy suspicion that Burroughs was having a bit of fun with the formula he had made so successful in his pulp fiction yarns set on Barsoom. In other words, if you think of these stories as being parodies you are going to enjoy them a lot more than if you try to take them at face value as adventures. Llana is John Carter's granddaughter and the daughter of Gahan of Gathol and Tara of Helium and she is the requisite damsel in distress.

"The Ancient Dead" (originally published as "The City of Mummies") begins with John Carter out for a ride in his flier, saving a white man with yellow hair from a horde of green men, and ending up the prisoner of Ho Ran Kim, the Jeddak of Horz. Pan Dan Chee, the man Carter rescues, becomes his friend and while playing jetan with Carter's personal set, Pan Dee Chee falls in love with the piece fashioned to look like Llana. You have to admit this is a funny idea, and you have to laugh at the twist ERB comes up with for the "hero must fight for princess" bit that is a staple of his adventures once Llana literally pops up in the story.

"The Black Pirates of Barsoom" picks up where the previous story left off, with our trio walking back to Helium, and is basically one of those stories when John Carter and his group are enslaved and his fighting prowess gets him sent to the arena. There is an imaginative machine that helps keep the slaves in line, but overall there is nothing here that we have not seen before in this series. Meanwhile, Llana continues to act like a brat and put Pan Dan Chee through the wringer in clearly tongue-in-cheek fashion.

"Escape on Mars" (originally published as "Yellow Men of Mars") finds the gang in the vicinity of Gathol, which is being attacked by Hin Abtol, the self-proclaimed Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North. This is the story where Llana has to be rescued (come on, you know it was coming) and finds John Carter being rather glib when it comes to the "to be continued" climax.

"Invisible Men of Mars" has Carter trying to deal with Llana's romantic problems and the fact that he needs to have the fleet of Helium teach Hin Abtol a lesson about trying to conquer the world. He also has to deal with Rojas, a girl he picks up on the way and who keeps throwing herself at him in a way that makes La of Opar look like a nun (keep in mind, John Carter is a grandfather at this point). The big climax is standard ERB fare except the author is clearly having too much fun.

As I indicated above, if you take these stories seriously you are clearly missing the point. During this period Burroughs was into the idea of self-parody, and you can find similar satirical stories in both the Tarzan and Pellucidar series. I like the contrast between Carter being in the forefront with the heroic deeds while Llana toys with Pan Dan Chee in the romantic subplot. The results are not great, but certainly enjoyable, as is the wry sense of humor that the Warlord of Mars has suddenly developed (e.g., at the end of the first story he confesses to Pan Dan Chee, "Well, I never did understand women").

In the heroic world of Edgar Rice Burroughs, there never is any question of the superiority of genetics over environment. No matter how one is raised, how that person turns out must be a function of that person's DNA. In Tarzan, the reader sees this at every step. In Burroughs' other novels, he often sets up the hero whose fortune is melded in some way by a manipulation of science. In THE MONSTER MEN, Burroughs borrows liberally from the Frankenstein motife to set in motion a plot that involves creating artificial beings (much as he did in his Barsoom series) whose existence as near humans serves only to set off by contrast the inner nobility of a higher order of man who often became his heroic protagonists. In this case, the Mad Scientist is Professor Maxon, who creates a series of misshapen monster men from a vat of noxious chemicals. His first twelve candidates are but gruesome simulacra of human beings. But his number thirteen is a smashing success. He is handsome, muscular, and with a mind that is a tabula rasa, a blank slate. The plot, of course, is deliberately melodramatic. Number thirteen slowly evolves speech (much like Frankenstein's monster) and a human consciousness. He falls in love with Maxon's lovely daughter. Naturally, she is the target of numerous and lecherous thugs. What marks THE MONSTER MEN as noteworthy is the strong characterization that allows Burroughs' readers to overlook consistently what must have even then been slipshod science and convenient coincidence, both of which strain credulity. The ending is typical, but to those who come to THE MONSTER MEN from any of the Tarzan canon, the closure is expected and satisfying. Burroughs must have had little faith in how his heroes interact with society and culture. Today, such an unswerving belief in the power of DNA to determine destiny seems quaint, but in the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs, such a fixed subtext makes it easy for the reader to connect with the hero in a manner that is now denied to modern day heroes who wax philosophically about how nurture creates nature. To Burroughs, it is often the other way around.

The work is written in the pictorial style of Burroughs.
Each sentence contains a vivid and generally horrific
vision which reinforces the story as it marches on.
In this case, the main character is a scientist who delights
in creating human life and seeks perfection in the 13th
creation. This is a good work for students in mid-high school.
By that time, they are mature enough to place the book in
its proper context. Burroughs has an almost perfect command
of the English language. Few words are wasted. Every word
moves the reader onto the next until the full picture
becomes evident somewhere later in the story. I like
Burroughs because his writings have a solid grammatical
structure and advanced vocabulary. This is needed for
today's students because they struggle to articulate even
the most basic concepts. Burroughs is not entirely
politically correct; however, his works are a treasure chest
of our language and what used to be called
"The King's English" .

This book is good escapist entertainment. This novel stands alone (it is not part of a series). To some extent I agree with a previous review that the ending could have been better ... it's a bit sudden and flat. That does not detract from the book as a whole being an excellent read. The plot line is implausible, but the action is fast and the moral dilemmas are intriguing. I first read this book as a teen-ager, then re-read it in my forties. It was still fun, even though I knew what was coming.

This book by Edgar Rice Burroughs was published in 1929. The plot concerns a Professor Maxon, who travels to a remote island to attempt to create an artificial man. The first twelve attempts to create a man result in the "monster men" of the title; ugly, misshapen, muscular brutes. Success is finally achieved with "Number Thirteen", who comes out looking like a handsome bodybuilder. There is a beautiful girl in the story, naturally, she being Maxon's daughter Virginia. Virginia ends up in a love triangle with Number Thirteen and Maxon's assistant, Dr. Von Horn. This being Burroughs, Virginia ends up being kidnapped by the "natives", and for much of the book her "suitors" try to rescue her. Some people may be bothered by the character of the cook, Sing, who is an elderly "Chinaman" (as Burroughs calls him). He speaks with a very stereotypical "Me so solly" accent; but he is characterized as being brave, honorable, intelligent and a good fighter; so he could have come off worse. Overall, this is an entertaining example of the "pulp fiction" that Burroughs wrote better than any of his rivals.

If you are looking for an adventure story from a simpler time; something suitable for an early adolescent to read or just to bring back a more naïve time from your own youth, Burroughs is definitely prime material. This story is no exception, it follows the tried and true formula for ERB adventure - introduction, boy saves girl, boy loses girl, boy fights to regain girl, ..., boy gets girls and lives happily ever after.

The story centers on Doctor Maxon, a scientist who has discovered the secret of creating human life, albeit imperfectly, until he succeeds beyond his fondest aspirations with number thirteen. Throw in the requisite evil guys, the scientist's beautiful daughter and you have the makings of the story.

However, like many of Burroughs' stories there is an underlying message, sometimes it isn't buried very deep or a message of much import in out time, but it is usually there. This book explores questions that have been covered by other authors from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein to Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Does created human life have a soul? Should man be messing in the art of creating life? You may not find the answers here, but you at least find the questions. P-)

Edgar Rice started a brilliant series with energy, but in this fourth installment, he fails to capture the full mystery and awe presented in his first three installments of the Pellucidar Series. By "Tarzan at the Earth's Core", you can tell the Pellucidar Series is starting to lose steam.

I found myself less tolerant of the Red Flower of Zoram this time around, perhaps because by forty I had myself been in relationships where you never know if she loves you or thinks you are a jalok. And there seems little reason for it. When David Innes insulted Dian or John Carter insulted Dejah Thoris, those were some heavy insults, for all that the heroes didn't intend them. Jason's crime seems rather minor. I actually found myself wishing she'd just get over herself.

OK, now that that's out of the way...
This is a wonderful adventure story. Pellucidar is it's old horizonless, timeless self, and we see new areas and new peoples. Tarzan is in fine form, and has to deal with a problem he's never had before: he gets lost in the jungle! There are savages, pirates, reptile-men, pterodactyls, and ape-men whom the Lord of the Jungle finds strangely familiar. There are a few many coincidences near the end, but all in all, you can do worse, but might not do better.

In this book, Burroughs had an interesting conceit of crossing his most famous creation into one of his other worlds, thus establishing a patchwork universe where Mars, Venus, Pellucidar, Caspak, Tarzan, and almost all ERB's other stories take place. This book is exciting and colorful but suffers from a single glaring flaw. While in almost every ERB books there is a love interest, in this one, it seems merely perfunctory. Jana and Jason never establish any chemistry during their brief time together, and Jana is a resourceful and blandly attractive if also vapid and petulant heroine. Given the fact that the love story does little but weigh the story down--Jana at one point reflects Jason would not have abandoned her as Tarzan seemed to, though there is no reason she should think this--it probably would have been best to remove it altogether. Probably her uninteresting presentation is why Jana is never mentioned again after this book. In At the Earth's Core, Pellucidar, Tanar of Pellucidar, Back to the Stone Age, and Savage Pellucidar, ERB has his Inner World heroes romance and succeed through sheer determination with their love interests. Here the love story is just dead weight that gets in the way of an otherwise enjoyable adventure story. That said, though, the book is engaging and at least partially makes up for an otherwise unsatisfying romance at its core.

"Tarzan at the Earth's Core" is unique in the Edgar Rice Burroughs ouvre because it is a crossover novel. This was the 13th Tarzan novel and the 4th Pellucidar story and not surprisingly ends up being one of the better offerings in both series. Originally published as a seven-part serial in "The Blue Book Magazine" in 1929-30. The story fits better into the Pellucidar series, where it works mainly as a sequel to "Tanar of Pellucidar," and it is Tarzan fans who would be more lost in this one than readers of the Pellucidar books. The plot is standard fare for a ERB novel, involving a rescue mission, with the key difference between not so much Tarzan's involvement as the idea that the person who needs to be rescued is not a damsel in distress but David Innes, first Emperor of Pellucidar.

Innes is being held in the dungeons of the Korsars, and Jason Gridley (inventor of the Gridley wave that allowed ERB to "receive" the Martian stories from John Carter, which accounts for the other major ERB series) persuades Tarzan to come along fr the fun. Gridley builds a zeppelin and uses it to descend into the land of Pellucidar (do not get me started on the physics involved in a lighter than air ship descending to the Earth's core. Once in Pellucidar Tarzan and Gridley have their separate adventures, and ERB seems to go out of his way to come up with new races of people (e.g., the Horibs) and prehistoric type creatures to beleaguer both of the book's heroes. The romance, of course, happens with Gridley, who meets Jana, the Red Flower of Zoram. Even everybody gets back together and they remember why they came to Pellucidar in the first place.

"Tarzan at the Earth's Core" is a solid ERB pulp fiction yarn all things considered. What makes it work is that Tarzan has some competition for the role of hero in the story. He is more of a major supporting character than the lead, because Gridley is the leader of the expedition and even disadvantaged in the jungles of Pellucidar, where Tarzan finds himself quite at home, even with that weird burning sun in the sky that never sets, manages to hold his own for the most part. Burroughs also includes the set up for the next Pellucidar novel, when Lieutenant Wilhelm Von Horst, the mate of the zeppelin, vanishes. Unfortunately he would have to wait until 1935 to be rescued in "Back to the Stone Age." Meanwhile, Tarzan would go back to his usual run of episodes back in Africa.

Tarzan at the Earth's Core by Burroughs is a heart warming tale of loyalty, romance, and adventure set in the hollow earth setting of Pellucidar. Like all of the other tales set in this world it is full of prehistoric creatures of the various periods and peopled by the most anachronistic cast of characters ever assembled. There are pirates, Vikings, cavemen, and intelligent apes as well as some wonderful made up races such as the evolved reptilian race that enjoy feasting on human flesh. Tarzan, of course, finds himself at home in the jungles of this world, and the supporting characters are heroic and delightful to become acquainted with. Even if you have never read a novel set in this world, a fan of pulp should do oneself a favor and pick this one up. It may not be the best place to start on your journey into hollow earth, but it is at least a start.

...In the Reign of her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Westward Ho! is great fun to read, although dense in places and most certainly a product of its time. Kingsley was not noted for his tolerance, and this novel is no exception. As a Catholic, I will admit to some moments that made me flinch. I will however also admit that it would be difficult to present the Spanish Inquisition in a positive light.

I picked up Westward Ho! because of my abiding love for Water Babies, one of Kingsley's novels for children. It was interesting to read a book of his that was more aimed at grown-ups. Westward Ho! has all the satisfying elements of a potboiler on the sea. His descriptions of the new world were a testament to his imagination and research-- he goes into details where others barely bother.

Kingsley (1819-1875) was a prolific writer. Westward Ho! was published in 1855, midway through his body of work. As a bit of trivia, there is actually a town in Devon named after this book. That should give some measure of the fame and influence of both Kingsley and Westward Ho! at the time that the book was published.

While all the accusations that Kingsley rails against the Catholics are true, the characters in Westward Ho! would not have treated the Roman Catholic Spaniards any better. After all, Philip did wish to bring his inquisition to England and England had just endured Bloody Mary (not the drink, the queen of England who re-introduced Catholocism to protestant England) and it is no wonder that the people would react harshly to the Spaniards. That said, Kingsley does get just a bit carried away, but it makes a fantastic story. Swashbuckling, naval battles, fair maidens, heathen Spaniards, the Spanish Main and its treasures: all this Kingsley combines in a well-written memorable tale with endearing characters and strong passions. Westward Ho! stands out in my mind as powerful literature principally because it tackles a complex and often unexpected plot. This may have all the action of an Errol Flynn movie (and it does) but it also has an intelligent plot and strongiy delineated characters. A fantastic read.

And the N.C. Wyeth paintings are fabulous as usual.

Westward Ho transplants the famous Greek Epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, into Elizabethan England. Complete with Achilles (Amyas Leigh), Patroclus (Frank Leigh), Helen (Rose), Paris (Guzman), and a Trojan War (The Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588). The Odyssey too comes in, with the great wanderings in distant lands. Rather unexpectedly for a novelist of Kingsley's calibre and values, the book has transformed the Elizabethan English into a noble race of Godlike Heroes and the Spanish into villains far worse than the Trojans have ever been depicted as being. Jesuits are particularly maligned, and Indians are unfairly portrayed. This tends to dampen the reader's enthusiasm somewhat, as he/she realises that the author himself may be more remote in value system from our day and age than the characters he portrays. The one redeeming feature is the high tension it generates, but this is - probably consciously - influenced by the epics, as the author himself hints.

Kingsley was extremely popular during his lifetime in the nineteenth century, but his works have somewhat fallen into obscurity now. He is well worth taking up again. His books are deeply embedded in the Victorian way of life, so he is very much a writer for his own time. Kingsley wrote quite a few books, but "Westward Ho!" has always been his most popular. It is a story of adventure on the high seas and beyond. The book starts in England, but his hero, Amyas Leigh is a sailor, and the book covers his trip to the West Indies and South America. Amyas meets many unique people and experiences many adventures before he finds himself back on "Jolly Old's" shores. Although a bit preachy, the story is pretty good and certainly kept my interest.

A great period novel for boys, girls, moms and dads. It was very popular in decades past and is at least as much fun as, say, Treasure Island or Tarzan. Although this book takes place in the Elizabethan period and was written in the Victorian era, some Catholic reviewers below seem to feel that the novel lacks a 21st century sanitized viewpoint about Catholicism/Spanish imperialism. I've heard the same sort of argument made regarding the stereotype of Jim in Huckleberry Finn. Similarly in cowboy movies the Indians are usually portrayed as the bad guys (we now know, of course, that this is simplistic at best); likewise, the Spaniards in this book are the bad guys. It shouldn't be too tough to infer that all Catholics aren't bad, unless one is a simpleton. My family is Catholic and we all love the book. This is a fine adventure for young adults that is so much better than the product on most bookshelves today. The wonderful N. C. Wyeth illustrated edition is the one to get.

The `Buddha' myth of the Beats is transparent-the truth of the Beats is that they offered simple lust, self-centered desire, and the creation of values for the public that were never real to them. Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady, and Kerouac-each remained driven by all-to-real human wants and needs. Whether it was highs, sex (or the never-ending desire for fame and boys that especially drove Ginsberg and Burroughs), the truth is that these never-aging `boys' always wanted one thing and one thing only-what they desired. This is not an argument against the human nature of desire, but rather against the self-inflated myth of the good deeds and generosity of the Beats. That is a lie. Young readers should be aware that even in his later years, Ginsberg, for example, used his fame to get laid, and used it a lot. And Burroughs spent much time thinking about his position as aristocrat of the intellectual world, while giving drugs to young men. They looked down on humanity. The activities of the never-ending boys' club that was created by the Beats included ignoring their own children, their wives (or murdering them in Burroughs case), their friends, lovers (lots of suicides)and anyone else that didn't do exactly what they wanted. The Beats was not a movement of freedom-it was a movement of the Beats, what the Beats wanted, and why YOU had to give it to them. If YOU didn't give them what they wanted-boys, drugs, money, fame-than you were square. Period. What a scam. This collection of Burroughs writings, put together the summer of his death in 1997, was edited by his adopted son, and secretary; and by the former boy friend of the same. It is a closed world, one that does not accept criticism or correction. Buy this book if you want (paper). (Note: there is no documation at all on the biographical data. Burroughs' heir and former lover writes it--you decide whether to believe it or not.) It will save you buying a lot of other books by Burroughs, but it is the continuation of the Beat Myth that you are buying. Enjoy it, but don't think that it was real. It was not.

The one book by William S. Burroughs you should buy. The unique genius that William truly was-yes, indulgent, odd and unsettling at 80, but how great it would have been to have known him young and probably pretty in 1950-is best understood with the direction of J. Grauerholz, although a bourgeois beatnik, for sure, who did love him and is the world expert on him. Ira Silverberg is a true young publishing genius, the new Ferlinghetti, and most responsible for the book. My earlier review I withdraw. Although true, it did not reflect the genius and truth of William-and Jack, Allen, Anne, Philip, Lawrence, Gregory, Gary, even Neal and Huncke, et al. View their literature with a full and clear understanding of their weaknesses and that we, the readers, are almost certain to have less ability to `drive-on' pass the drugs, sex, parties, confusion-to produce as they could or can. At least be warned. A lot of souls have been lost on the beat road.

Every book that anyone owns will, upon reflection, remind them of the period of their life in which they read the book. Sort of like music.

If I look at my bookcase, I can run my eyes over the spines of a hundred or so spines, and by extension, a hundred or so feelings given to me from those books.

'Word Virus' is by no means an exception to this rule. If anything, it proves it. Simply due to its extensiveness, and the complexity (or stupidity depending on how you look at it) of Burroughs' writing, it took me a few months to hack through in my final year of high school. Even now, the glaring red spine amongst my other books manages to evoke my feelings of that time even now.

But by god it's worth it. There is nothing more frightening than Burroughs' prose. Everything he writes cannot be understood intellectually, but rather emotionally. You read his words, trying to make head or tail of what is printed in front of you, but that's not the point. You just have to let his ideas, his experiments simply wash over you and you'll understand them in due course.

A true shining light in literature.

Belive the myth.

A very exspansive and definitive collection for the Burroughs enthusist. This does not have it all, but it does offer a generous portion of this man's work. Including the forementioned, in the other reviews, colaboration with Jack Kerouac. Grauerholz really put togther this labor of love. I'd recomend it for first timers as well as old time collectors. Inbetween each chapter biographical information pertinent to that era is included. Also features a cd spoken word sampler, that pulls material from the Giornio boxed set. I'd also recomend that hefty delight.

This book was a hard one to review. The writings sampled are inconsistent-but then again, so was Burroughs's output, so in that respect the writings are a true representation of Burroughs's corpus. The chapter introductions by Grauerholz are especially valuable for readers who are removed from Burroughs's original context, and assist in further illuminating Burroughs's writings. The later works (after the "cut-ups") are especially prophetic; it was interesting to read Burroughs's commentaries on Hussein and another Bush in 2003. All in all, a useful and comprehensive introduction to one who is seeking to get acquainted with the wide range of work that came from the pen of Burroughs.

Burroughs was a great writer; in many ways he was even revolutionary. However, by the time he got around to writing this VERY short novel, there was nothing new in his bag of tricks. Every sentence and situation feels like it's been pulled from the pages of one of his other books. He's said the same things before, and said them far more effectively. I finished this book because it's Burroughs and only 58 pages long, not because it was particularly compelling.

This is the first book by Burroughs I've read, and one I found quite disturbing. If this is one of his minor efforts, I just wonder what effect the most respected thomes in the Burroughs canon would have on me.

"Ghost of Chance" deals with extinction, both of animal species due to human stupidity and of man by exotic plagues. And that's just a simplified description. Burroughs adds commentary on Christianity, language as an evolutionary evil and man's stuborness in trying to capture time.

This was a quick read, taking me under an hour to finish. Yet, it resisted being easily grasped: Starting with the story of Captain Mission, a pirate settled in Madagascar and obsessed with preserving the native lemurs, moving then to the hipocrisy of Jesus Christ as Savior, and ending with plagues scarier (and more surreal) than ebola, the book packs into a small bottle a big punch. So big, in fact, that I wasn't able to describe my reaction to it clearly enough to write this review. (I hope I didn't babble too much here!)

Burroughs shows a wicked sense of humor, specially in the Notes at the end. And with imagery as wild and scary as a bad trip, this is a good introduction to one of the most discussed authors of the last half of our century.

This book is excellent. It explores the nature of mankind and how it will one day wipe itsself out along with all of its fellow species. Definitly a recommended read

I read this book and found nothing in it that Burroughs didn't already write in previous novels. The only difference is that this one advocates a charity cause: the lemur. Burroughs really has written better. If you're a hard core Burroughs fan, go ahead and get it, but otherwise, there is plenty of other (much better) Burroughs to choose from.

There is nothing more exhilirating than discovering an author who disgusts the established academic community and thrills them at the same time. Not to mention the rest of us. Granted, this is one of Burroughs' minor efforts, but that may only be said due to its length. I found the 50-odd page a book to be read in one hour, or ten years, depending on what you were looking for. With his usual genius, Burroughs lets you get out of his prose EXACTLY what you are willing to put into it. Read this one slow... it pays.

I give this version printed by Quiet Vision one star because the quality of the printing is abominable - this book looks like it was printed by some third-rate vanity publisher. Even small independent publishing houses put out better looking books than this! I bought the book new and the spine was already creased, the typeset looks like it was done on a home PC, and the illustration reproductions looks like it was done in a high school photo shop! The clarity of the illustrations was almost nonexistent and the color on the cover art was faded. The worst was the almost condescending attitude of the guy who wrote the forward - he must think Burroughs' readers are either immigrants who don't know English, mentally retarded or three years old! Don't waste your money on this version. Go hunt down a much better used copy from either Ace or Ballantine. This title deserves better.

After reading five ERB books prior to this one, I was starting to think I might be a little burnt out on him for a while, but this book pulled me in with hardly a hesitation. The story is standard Burroughs, sticking pretty well to his formula - man falls in love with girl, rescues girl, loses girl, rescues girl, loses girl, ..., man and girl live happily ever after.

ERB's heroes are seldom less than perfect and when they are (as in this book) they usually rise above it through the love of a good woman, this story remains true to that form. It looks to have been serialized, as many of his stories were, with many a shift of location. The reader is taken from Chicago to Hawaii to a Pacific Island to New York to Mexico with the all of the accompanying naivete of the times. Whether he is battling pirates, head hunting samurai, evil hoboes, Mexican bandits or his own personal demons you can't help but enjoy the raw power of the main character.

For all of it's simple story and predictable events, this remains a fun book to read, excellent for pre and early teens and those of us that just want a little old fashioned escapism.

For further adventures of Bridge see the Oakdale Affair. P-)

Most of Edgar Rice Burroughs' heroes are highborn, chivalrous, and heroic. The Mucker is none of these things. He is a gangster, a hoodlum, a boxer, and a hobo. He is also one tough cookie. Of course, he cannot remain a thug. Over the course of the book he becomes noble, chivalrous, and heroic. One of Burroughs' best non-Tarzan books.

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burrroughs is a wonderful epic adventure that doesn't leave you wanting. Beautiful descriptions sumptuous writing, this is a novel that you can truly set your teeth in. You'll cheer for Edgar's anti-heroe as he travels through 1920's seedy Chicago, to the decks of sailing vessels, to unusual distant lands. The characters are so well fleshed out, that you truly understand the psychology of the protagonist and you know why he behaves the way he does. In his world he has no other choice for he is the mucker. This is a far cry from Tarzan, this character is real and raw, and in some ways more primitive than Tarzan of the apes. It was a joy to read and is a joy to reread. Anyone who likes high adventure cannot help but love this book. It is almost a genre unto itself. Why this film has not been converted into a movie is unimaginable to me.

Okay, first, to set you mind at ease, a "mucker" is slang for "a coarse vulgar person, esp. one capable of offense against courtesy of honor." I believe it is originally British slang which made its way across the pond in the early 20th century in time for Edgar Rice Burroughs to feel comfortable using it for the title of a pair of pulp fiction yarns collected in this volume. As you would expect from the title, this is the story of a low borne brute, Billy Byrne, who wins the hand of an upper class lady, Barbara Harding . "The Mucker" ran in "All-Story Cavalier" in 1914 with "The Return of the Mucker" being published two years later in "All-Story Weekly." Now both stories are published in a single volume.

Billy Byrne is basically a street thug whose notion of honor is based more on a sense of territoriality rather than anything else. Just when things are starting to become too hot in Chicago he gets shanghaied and ends up on the brigantine "Halfmoon," a 20th century pirate vessel. Surviving and rising in the ranks because of his ability to beat any other man to a bloody pulp, Billy participates in the taking of the yacht "Lotus," where one of the captives is Barbara Harding, the millionaire's daughter. Of course he insults her, as is the way of the mucker, but when she calmly calls him a coward and a beast he finds himself thinking about how he much look to others, thus beginning his quest for moral regeneration. When she gets captured by headhunters, take a wild guess as to who is going to rescue her. Of course, at the end of the first part Billy takes the high road, knowing he is not good enough for Barbara and leaving her to return to the world to which she belongs, and then we repeat all the action in the second part and change the ending.

You will find a little bit from several different early works by Edgar Rice Burroughs in "The Mucker." The story starts in Chicago, a city that ERB knew well, and then turns into a sea yarn with a mutiny, which is how "Tarzan of the Apes" began, except that this time the "hero" is one of the pirates. You will also find one of ERB's lost races, which would become a staple in the last half of the Tarzan series. The second half, which takes place after the Mucker does the noble thing at the end of part one, goes off into the Mexican desert and turns into a western. So there is certainly a little bit of everything here, although the strongest comparison is to the first two Tarzan novels, not only because the romantic plot follows essentially the same pattern, but because it also provides the brute becoming civilized. In that regard it is one of ERB's more interesting pulp yarns, totally devoid of the science fiction elements found in most of his better stories, but retaining his strong sense of human nature.