Burroughs Books

"The Second Tarzan Omnibus" collects the third, fourth, and fifth novels in the Tarzan series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. "The First Tarzan Omnibus" had the first and second novels, which tells the origin of Tarzan and how he ended up with Jane, along with the sixth, which goes back to the beginning and tells more "Jungle Tales of Tarzan." Doing it this way means that this omnibus gets to keep together "The Beasts of Tarzan," where Tarzan's son is kidnapped," and "The Son of Tarzan," in which young Jack grows up to be Korak the Killer and finds his own mate. "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" offers up a return to the treasure mines of Opar, the lost colony of Atlantis, and La, the High Priestess.

"The Beats of Tarzan" was originally published as a five-part serial in "All-Story Cavalier Weekly" in 1914, and later expanded when it was published as a novel. Rokoff and Paulvitch, the villains from the previous novel "The Return of Tarzan," are out to get their revenge on Tarzan and kidnap Jane and their infant son. Most of the action takes place back in Africa, where the bad guys were stupid enough to flee, allowing Tarzan to play on his home turf. This is a rather standard ERB pulp-fiction yarn, where the hero has to track down a loved one.

"The Son of Tarzan" is the point where trying to make the chronology of the Tarzan books work falls apart, which might lend to the timelessness of the character. Originally published as a six-part serial in "All-Story Weekly" in 1915-16, young Jack is now grown up enough to have his own adventure and track down his own mate to claim her as his own. While Tarzan was raised by apes and became the Lord of the Jungle before becoming a civilized English Lord, his son reverses the journey and throws away the trappings of civilization to discover that he is almost as good as his old man when it comes to surviving in the jungle.

"Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" is the best of this particular trio, mainly because it involves La, the High Priestess of Opar who really, really likes Tarzan. At one point ERB decides that he had made a mistake and that La would have made a better mate for Tarzan than Jane, and he killed off Tarzan's wife. However, that turned out to be just a ruse by German soldiers who attacked Tarzan's home during World War I. ERB would go on to write almost a dozen Tarzan stories involving a "lost civilization," including Romans and Crusaders, but the first of these, Opar, remains the best.

The further you go into the Tarzan series the more redundant and repetitive the romantic adventures become. But the stories collected in this first trio of omnibuses are pretty much the best in the series. "The First Tarzan Omnibus" establishes the characters and the legend of Tarzan, but if you like what you are reading, then you should proceed to this second one for more of the same.

Get ready for the reissue of Charles Gatewood's 1975 classic, Sidetripping! Gatewood was begining to explore the edges in the late 60s and early 70s, lurking alongside any events happening on the city streets: protests, marches, fairs, parades, celebrations. New Orleans and NYC provided moist atmospheres for expression, much of that 'caught' here by Gatewood. While on assignment for Rolling Stone in London, Gatewood got to hang with Burroughs and Gysin. That meeting fruited into Burroughs providing the text. To compliment the images perfectly, read the words in your head using Burroughs distinctive, grating rasp.

This Bizarre underground classic was photographed at the end of the hippy era by Charles Gatewood and included commentary by William S. Burroughs. The photos are seedy, surrealistic, disturbing and thought provoking even without the text. Burroughs' text, however, adds a dimension of examination (and self examination,) drawing one into the scene, giving a sense of attitude and mood. You will not walk away from this book unscathed.

Although "SISTER CLARE" by Loretta Burrough is a novel, it tells a wonderful story about life as a Carmelite nun in the years before Vatican II. The author of this 176-page hard bound book (still in its original dust jacket) states "....... for every nun (who) leaps over the wall, there are others who find fulfillment and happiness within the cloister. To some sunny and tranquil natures, fulfillment comes quite easily; others must fight for it ....... And, it is among these others ~~ eager, loving and always prone to rebellion ~~ that leaders are usually found ...." "SISTER CLARE" is the story of such a nun. The reader meets her first as Jean ~~ a 16 year old postulant who has fought her way into the Carmelite Monastery over her parents' objections and in spite of serious doubts on the part of the Superiors. Humility does not come easily to Jean, nor will it ever. Pride is almost her undoing. As Sister Clare, she discovers that holy nuns and even holy Prioresses are only human. In "SISTER CLARE", the author takes us inside the cloister and shows the reader the mystery of life as a contemplative, cloistered nun. We learn about many Carmelite customs (such as, referring to each other as "Your Charity" and of some of the traditions surrounding Christmas celebrations in Carmel). We learn many things about the beauty of ritual amid poverty and material harshness. Among the nuns who walk in these pages, we meet kindhearted Malachy, who could never learn rubrics; Mary Agnes, whose only flaw was her pounderous fruitcake; Joachim, who was afraid of thunder; and, Rosaria, who was afraid of nothing. "SISTER CLARE" is a wonderful read ~~ through it the reader discovers that, although a Carmelite's purpose is earnest and deep, she does not leave either her wit or her joy in life at the convent door.

The Appalachian Mountain Club is a New England Based hiking organization, that has blazed and hiked trails repeatedly through the Northeast part of the country. This expertise is evident in this guide, which covers southern New Hampshire most notably Mount Monadnock (the most hiked mountain in the world behind Fuji) and Mount Cardigan.

Precise routes, historical interest and ways to avoid heavy foot traffic are mentioned here. The best part is the foldout map with Monadnock on the front and Cardigan on the back. You will never get a more detailed trail map.

This is truly the quintessential guide for anyone who wants to hike this region of New Hampshire....I also recommend the other guide books for the state. Really excellent, comprehensive.

Carole Travis-Henikoff has written a book that artfully combines excellent recipes and cooking advice with fascinating stories of stars and her family. The recipes range from the healthy to the decadent. She gives excellent advice on general cooking as well. This book is a joy to read when it is received, and continues to be a joy each time you reach for a recipe.

Assassins Of Mars, even.

John Carter is peeved that assassin guilds still operate, and their stars are viewed as popular by the public.

He is even more peeved that a seditious province basically thumbs their nose at his anti-assassin activities. How to get rid of assassins? Form your own super-assassin team and brand the corpses, like The Spider would after him.

He decides to go undercover to take out this group by himself. So a crime story, but he doesn't expect that they aren't too silly, and take the opportunity to yep, kidnap Dejah Thoris while he is out of town.

He doesn't expect interplanetary spaceships with AI brains, either, but that is where he ends up, on a moon. Given this is Barsoom, you know it will be full of strange people, things, and swordfighting.


3.5 out of 5

This volume brings together the eighth and ninth volumes in Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom series (Mars to you Earthlings). What you will find is the last first-rate pulp fiction yarn in the series, and one that is really just a hodge-podge of what has come before. "Swords of Mars" brings John Carter back to the forefront after being relegated to the background for the previous four Martian novels. This time he vows to bring an end to the Assassins Guild and travels to one of Barsoom's moons. Carter shows up at Burroughs' cabin in the mountains of Arizona and relates this tale, which ERB then serialized in six issues of "The Blue-Book Magazine" in 1934-35. Carter has created a secret organization of super assassins to strike back against the powerful guild of assassins, which is headquartered in the city of Zodanga, and goes to the city undercover to infiltrate their ranks. As the first step in an attempt to overthrow Ur Jan, the head of the assassins, Carter pretends to be a panthan and becomes the body guard of Fal Sivas, an inventor. Eventually, as he gets closer to his goal, Carter has to go to Thuria, one of the moons of Mars.

For the most part "Swords of Mars" is one of the most intimate novels in the series, by which I simply mean that it does not have the gigantic armies of variously colored Barsoomians and thousands of air ships arrayed in battle. The first half of the novel is basically a spy story, while the second half find Burroughs indulging in one of his imaginative flights of fancy. Of course, it is not an ERB Martian novel if Carter's beloved Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium, does not need to be rescued. Just because ERB sticks to his pulp fiction formula does not distract from the fact he was a master of the form. This is an above average Burroughs yarn and while it is a step below his best Martian tales, such as "The Chessmen of Mars," it is still a compelling tale. Best of all, John Carter is back front and center. I wound rate this novel as a 4.5, but you have to round up for Carter's return. Notice that the first letters of the first words in the preface and twenty-four chapters from an acrostic message: "TO FLORENCE WITH ALL MY LOVE ED." The reference is to Florence Gilbert, ERB's second wife, whom he married in 1935.

Ras Thavas, the Mastermind of Mars, returns in "Synthetic Men of Mars," the ninth Martian novel, which originally appeared in six-parts in "Argosy Weekly" in early 1939, this story brings together many of the characters in the series. 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 most generic Martian novel written by Burroughs, incorporating a little bit of everything from what has gone on before. That is right, boys and girls, this novel is essentially a synthesis of the previous eight volumes (irony abounds). The result is a standard Burroughs adventure and the last decent volume in the series. From here there are just a few pulp fiction scraps from ERB.

The only problem with pairing these two Tarzan titles is that they are too similar.

Both involve lost kingdoms, one medieval and the other Roman.

Both involve two warring cities or kingdoms at opposite ends of a valley, and the strife between them.

Both involve "gosh & golly" that enduring civilizations from the distant past still live on in Africa.

However, this is not intended as sarcasm or criticism. These are each in their way excellent stories. Tarzan, particularly in "Lost Empire" shows a lot of knowledge and research of ancient Rome.

One of Tarzan's most sympathetic roles is as the rescuer of friendless, lovely females, and he has his hands full in fulfilling this mission in each of these novels. He also becomes the defender of the downtrodden.

Descriptions are good, and in each book Burroughs sets out to create -- chapter after chapter -- living, imaginary worlds peopled with interesting characters. Of course, they are either wonderfully good, or diabolically evil, but that's typical of Burroughs.

The little money Nkima shows up again-- he's always a fun character.

Alas, Burroughs does have a bad habit of going back to formulaic plots and re-creating them. Usually the details, characters, and descriptions are interesting enough that we don't resent this rather unimaginative trait.

However, these two novels are so close in plot, I'd recommend readers buy the pair, read one, and then go back to read the second after some intervening books have been read.

"Tarzan's Quest" was the 19th of the Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and represents the last time that Jane Clayton, Lady Greystoke, was a major character. In fact, she is really the main character in the story, which was originally published as a six-part serial in "The Blue Book Magazine" from October 1935 to March 1936 under the title "Tarzan and the Immortal Men." ERB scholars have hypothesized that the author, who was going through a divorce when he was writing the story, was really writing a romance for Florence Dearholt, whom he would marry the following year. For those who are away of the biographical details of Burroughs' life you can have fun wondering if the Princess Sborov is his soon to be ex-wife. However, such speculation takes away from enjoying this adventure romance, which is one of the few halfway decent Tarzan stories in the second half of the series.

Jane Clayton is at the Savoy, when she runs into the Princess Sborov (the former Kitty Krause), who shares some gossip. It seems an American ganster told her abut witch doctor who had a secret formula that keeps you young forever. The Princess is financing an expedition to find this exlir of youth and Jane agrees to accompany them home to Africa. That is where Tarzan is investigating the disappearance of teenage girls in the area. At that point there is one of those fierce storms that ERB was enamored with and the plane crashes, leaving Jane to try and lead her bickering group to safety. Tarzan gets captured by Bukena warriors, so Jane really is on her own. Plus there is that witch doctor and his secret formula out there somewhere in the jungle as well.

The working title of this story was actually "Tarzan and Jane," which makes perfect sense because for most of the book the chapters alternate between what is happening with the two characters. The Tarzan plot line is pretty much a series of delaying actions to keep the Lord of the Jungle from saving the day too song and allowing Jane a chance to show what she can do without her husband around. Early in the series after he had created La of Opar, Burroughs regretted having married Tarzan off and actually had a novel where he killed Jane off. "Tarzan's Quest" would be the antithesis of that earlier impulse and it is fair to say that Jane actually does more in terms of heroics than all of the previous Tarzan books combined. There are few Tarzan novels really worth reading once you get past the first ten, and this would be one of them.