The Swordsman of Mars (Trade Paperback)

What are the odds you'll release the Palos of the Dog Star Pack trilogy by J U Giesy or Mike Resnick's Ganymede duology or maybe even the proto-Burroughs Journey to Mars and Journey to Venus by Gustavus Pope?

Probably pretty low on the first two (I haven't heard of them) and a maybe on the last one. There's PLENTY of other stuff we'll likely do first, though.

Honestly, I am finding that most readers know almost nothing of the genre pre-Asimov and pre-Dragonlance, so even authors like Kuttner and Moore face an uphill struggle.

I am committed to that struggle, but Kline is probably as obscure as we're going to get for a while.

Now anthologies, on the other hand...

Probably pretty low on the first two (I haven't heard of them) and a maybe on the last one. There's PLENTY of other stuff we'll likely do first, though.

Honestly, I am finding that most readers know almost nothing of the genre pre-Asimov and pre-Dragonlance, so even authors like Kuttner and Moore face an uphill struggle.

I am committed to that struggle, but Kline is probably as obscure as we're going to get for a while.

Now anthologies, on the other hand...

Fair enough. On a more related topic, do you use the original (book or magazine) versions of the stories you publish or the more recent reprints as the basis for your releases? The reason I ask is that I know in Kline's case at least the original book versions tracked almost exactly with the magazine versions generally doing nothing more than adding a few scenes to make the serials book length while the 1960s reprints cut large portions out of his books (in one instance ten whole chapters) and rewrote some portions of the book. I prefer the originals to the reprints simply because I find it best to judge an author on his own writing rather than the editorial emendations made by later authors.

Any idea when the subscription will be available? I had to add more preorders when I know that I want the subscription..

Thanks for the great books.

I think subs are going up today or tomorrow. We had them ready Friday but there was a bug Gary is working hard to quash.

We're typing "Swordsman of Mars" straight from the original Argosy serial. I will likely write an article about the differences between the texts on the blog or something, because they are extensive.

Here's a sample, from the very first paragraph of "Planet of Peril":

ORIGINAL ARGOSY VERSION (from the A.C. McClurg & Co 1929 harcover edition):

"Robert Ellsmore Grandon stifled a yawn with difficulty, as the curtain went down on the first act of "La Tosca." Opera bored him utterly. He silently wished that his well-meaning aunt would not drag him with such clocklike regularity to these monotonous matineés. She had taken a box in the Chicago Auditorium for the season, and so far he had not escaped a single performance."

1961 ACE PAPERBACK EDITON (published 15 years after Kline's death):

"Robert Ellsmore Grandon stifled a yawn with difficulty as the curtain went down on the first act of Don Giovanni and wondered what was the matter. It wasn't that opera bored him, or that tonight's performance was inferior; in fact, what he had been able to give his attention to struck him as among the best performances he had ever seen."

That's just the first paragraph. The book was basically rewritten (I suspect by Kline's relatives) for the paperback editions, and not for the better. While the first chapter is expanded with clarifications that Grandon doesn't really hate opera after all, we actually lose whole subplots and interesting monster battles later in the book.

Not a fair trade, in my estimation.

I think subs are going up today or tomorrow. We had them ready Friday but there was a bug Gary is working hard to quash.

Thanks Erik

That's just the first paragraph. The book was basically rewritten (I suspect by Kline's relatives) for the paperback editions, and not for the better. While the first chapter is expanded with clarifications that Grandon doesn't really hate opera after all, we actually lose whole subplots and interesting monster battles later in the book.

Not a fair trade, in my estimation.

Wow. Just... wow.

I -have- mouldering copies of the 1961 Ace editions. They sit next to my complete John Carter and Tarzan sets of old Ace books, many of which I recovered from my parents hallway/library at the house I grew up in.

I had -no- idea they were so different from the originals. You had me struggling with the questions of buying a new copy I could ready without carefully turning pages with tweezers.

Now, clearly, it must be mine!

Who did the cover painting. I quite like the artwork. :)

Who did the cover painting. I quite like the artwork. :)

It's by Daryl Mandryk.

Probably pretty low on the first two (I haven't heard of them) and a maybe on the last one. There's PLENTY of other stuff we'll likely do first, though.

Honestly, I am finding that most readers know almost nothing of the genre pre-Asimov and pre-Dragonlance, so even authors like Kuttner and Moore face an uphill struggle.

I am committed to that struggle, but Kline is probably as obscure as we're going to get for a while.

Now anthologies, on the other hand...

Thanks for reprinting these old classics, especially Kuttner and Moore. My copies of Jirel of Joiry and Northwest of Earth were just about ready to fall apart.

And bless you for bringing Brackett back to us. May the Queen of Outer Space find new loyal subjects! :D Hmm, I've seen two of the longer Eric John Strak stories are now available -- will you do an anthology of more of her work, or maybe just as part of a collection of Planetary Romance stories?

And I've got to get a copy of OAK's book just to see if it's as bad as L. Sprague DeCamp always said it was.

Thank you!

There is more Brackett to come! Up next is The Reavers of Skaith, and then we've got The Sword of Rhiannon this upcoming spring. Beyond that, nothing is confirmed, but I suspect there will be more!

More Kuttner and Moore on the way too!

And I think the Kline stuff is _much_ more entertaining than the likes of Lin Carter make it out to be, but it definitely is a product of its era. I quite enjoy his planetary adventures.

Given the book I just read, someone altering would want to have more talent than a relative.

Are there original versions of the Venus books? I think you mentioned Wildside did one - but it isn't clear.

The ones onilne are the hacked versions it would seem, from that intro.

Lord Fyre wrote:

Who did the cover painting. I quite like the artwork. :)

It's by Daryl Mandryk.

Who does the 'mockup' covers then, is that a staff person?

Who does the 'mockup' covers then, is that a staff person?

Mockup covers are assembled from existing art, so the artist could be anybody we've ever used.

Given the book I just read, someone altering would want to have more talent than a relative.

Are there original versions of the Venus books? I think you mentioned Wildside did one - but it isn't clear.

The ones onilne are the hacked versions it would seem, from that intro.

Lin Carter said it wasn't that good? Where, out of interest? Was he expressing his undying loyalty to Burroughs or something?

I'm thinking specifically of an aside in a chapter about naming characters and places in fantasy stories from "Imaginary Worlds," Carter's novel-length survey of the history of fantasy fiction.

The culprit responsible for butchering Kline (and other writers) was the editor at Avalon Books. Don Wollheim, editor of Ace Books, said that he was unaware of the editing and simply reprinted the Avalon editions.

I liked the Kline Venus trilogy when I read them as a teenager (the first two in the damnable Avalon edition), and would love the opportunity to reread them in an unabridged form. By the way, one can't presume that the McClurg editions weren't abridged from the Argosy versions. Burroughs' Moon Men and Merritt's Moon Pool were both longer in the Argosy serializations. (As I'm sure you know, book publishers sometimes are concerned about length, having to maintain their budgets.)

Indeed, a reprint from Argosy of Moon Pool/Conquest of the Moon Pool would be appreciated.

Reading about the rivalry between Burroughs and Kline got me interested in these series, I got ERB's Princess of Mars From my library and am tearing through it...almost halfway through in the last 2 days, and if I didn't have kids/work/wife, I'm sure I would have read it in one sitting...

So I'm planning on getting Kline's Mars books now also. Thanks Erik!