By now I’m sure you’ve realized that if you haven’t read the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, you’ve missed out on some of the most exciting reasons to cut down trees and make books. But it is understandable that with so many to choose from you may feel a bit lost at where to begin. By no means is this intended to be a definitive reading list, just a quick primer on where to begin you journey into the many worlds of Burroughs.
1. JOHN CARTER OF MARS: There are three books that comprise the original John Carter trilogy (A PRINCESS OF MARS, THE GODS OF MARS, THE WARLORD OF MARS), a story about a Civil War vet who wakes one day to find himself on Mars (known as Barsoom by its native inhabitants), and is thrust deep into a conflict between the warring races of the red planet. Additional books in the series pertain to Carter’s relatives, secondary characters, and even another visitor from earth. Mars’ lesser gravity gives Carter superhuman strength and the ability to leap amazing distances. He is a veritable superhero who fights for the woman he loves and to save his adopted people as he battles monsters, flies massive warships, and travels to the ends of the planet. Truly Burroughs at his absolute best.
3. PELLUCIDAR: A series that influenced H.P. Lovecraft (especially AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADENSS). Based on one of Burroughs favorite concepts—hidden worlds—the Pellucidar series tells of a world located deep within the core of our very own earth, inhabited by a variety of beings, initially discovered by a group of miners. The initial book in the series (AT THE EARTH’S CORE) was released just two years after the first JOHN CARTER and TARZAN novels and sees Burroughs at his action-packed best. The series is comprised of six novels and a seventh book of short stories. One notable element is the fourth book (TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE—which also serves as the thirteenth novel in the Tarzan series), where Burroughs’ leading savage is recruited to enter Pellucidar on a massive airship to rescue one of the series’ primary protagonists.
2. TARZAN: The series that made Burroughs a legend. Few literary characters have had as many incarnations as Tarzan. The story of a boy lost in the jungle, raised by apes, and becoming ones of literatures greatest action heroes, was inspired by Burroughs’ desire to show that even a man deprived of all modern conveniences could rise to greatness. From one harrowing tale to the next, Tarzan’s journeys take him to distant lands as he searches for treasures, helps those in need, and saves those closest to him. I think what will surprise people most is that those whose only real image of Tarzan comes from old B&W films or kids cartoons will discover that Tarzan is a brutal savage with an often bad attitude that loves a good fight (with animals or humans or inhabitants of the earth’s core—it makes no difference). Johnny Weissmuller this is not.
4. CASPAK/CAPRONA: A group of soldiers, lost in a submarine, discover a hidden continent at the South Pole where the rules of time and space are different from any place known to man. The three novels in this series (THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT, OUT OF TIME’S ABYSS) each deal with an interrelated character and their struggle to survive. But instead of battling strange races of monsters, Burroughs populates his island with real life dangers, from dinosaurs and modern wildlife to roaming bands of prehistoric, savage men. But the island holds a secret, influenced much by the concept of evolution promoted by Mendel and Darwin, cutting-edge scientific ideas of the time. Fans of the TV series LOST will see a few familiar elements that played a role in the shows developments buried amongst the pages. But it’s not just our evolutionary past that presents dangers for our heroes, but also our evolutionary future.
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