Thanks for the links, but when I said "prominent" I meant PROMINENT. :)
Ok, I got it :
Tom Clancy's Jack Burrauer : Mars 24:40
:)
Tyson
Just to make one thing absoulutely clear, old son...I've never pleaded for anything in my entire adult life, writing or otherwise.
You probably didn't mean any offence but your comment came across as pleading equals begging equals grovelling.
That's not the Aussie way as I'm sure you'd agree.
And Ken Bulmer's Ryder Hook novels weren't crap, it's just that you didn't like them, whereas I thought they were very good. The third book in the series was the weakest but the other three were good, fast paced sci-fi action reads.
Opinions are just that, an individuals likes and dislikes.
I like Ken's writing, you don't.
Doesn't mean Ken wrote crap. A bloke who had more than 200 novels published in his lifetime must have been doing something right.
No suggestion of grovelling certainly, but what you said wasn't logical, as far as the new writer thing.
As far as the Ryder Hook books go, you'd be the only one that thinks they were any good. Getting published a lot is doing something right as far as getting published goes, yes. Obviously he must have written some work that was better than that tripe - and I've even read some.
Also, if you have churned out 200 novels in not so long, it is pretty much guaranteed that some of them will be bad. Or crap. However you prefer to put it. :) In fact, it is more than likely that a rather large number of them will be. By crap, I mean get 100 sf readers now to read them and see how many say they are bad. My money's on the large majority. Definitely not on the very good end, certainly.
If Brackett's style isn't that hard to copy, then you should be able to do it?
There's style, and then there's talent. Look at the huge number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches - none of which measure up to the best, just as another example.
Maybe you haven't been reading a lot, but there's actually quite a bit of hardboiled SF type stuff around. Has been for quite a while. So, clearly publishers as whole are fine with that sort of thing in general stylistically - there's even been the odd full on, deadset fairdinkum planetary romance recently. So they aren't averse to that either, if they get something they like. SF publishing has a long history of being interested in revisitation. There's actually a current era Sword and Sorcery take anthology coming out next year, too. Such stories still appear occasionally. The suggestion that just because Planet Stories won't look at new ones they will die out is just wrong, given this evidence.
As for writers not wanting to copy, maybe not, unless it is in one of those homage type anthologies etc. when there is some incentive to do so and people aren't going to be as harsh about how poor you are in comparison. e.g. Songs Of the Dying Earth as a recent example.
However, homages most definitely do exist. Michael Moorcock has done them for both Burroughs and Brackett - and isn't as good as either. Now, if someone of this extreme talent level finds it hard (or impossible) to do, then the chance of some mediocrity pulling it off is just as likely as me doing it, and I'm not going to try, that is certain.
As far as I'm concerned,the only pastiche/homage that I ever read that was actually any good was the Elric series (Conan). His Michael Kane series was very ordinary. Well,of course,Brackett's Mars stuff was sort of a homage to Burroughs,but she totally managed to come up with something different and dare I say it,better!(I love ERB,but Brackett's characterisation was just better for me) On the subject of people who got hundreds of books published,have a look at the total rubbish that hacks like Lin Carter used to churn out...he tried to do everyone's style,including Brackett,Burroughs,Howard,CAS etc etc.,but he was just not at all in the same league,talentwise. But for some reason,he got hundreds of books published by major publishers. He even used the pseudonym H.P.Lowcraft at one stage...at least he seemed to realise his deficiencies! I know everyone loves Kuttner and Hamilton,but I would put both of them in the same category...people who could sort of write ok,and got millions of stories published,but they just didn't have the talent or the original ideas that for instance,their respective wives had. There just can't ever be another Leigh Brackett...or CL Moore...or Robert Howard...or Clark Ashton Smith...or...A.Merritt...or Francis Stevens!!
Tyson wrote: "As far as the Ryder Hook books go, you'd be the only one that thinks they were any good. Getting published a lot is doing something right as far as getting published goes, yes. Obviously he must have written some work that was better than that tripe - and I've even read some."
Yeah, in the whole world I'm the only person who liked the Ryder Hook novels.
You really use a wide brush when you sweep don't you?Listen, I'm kinda past dealing with egos on forums, so I'm out of here.
Erik: I wish you all the best with Planet Stories and I'll keep an eye out for those new authors and their books when you publish them.
Adios: Jaq.
Yes, you are right, someone else probably likes them. I just have never seen anyone else say so. Or say that Bulmer is a very good writer.
It is also un-Australian to take your bat and ball and go home and sulk, too, as I am sure you are aware. :)
As far as I'm concerned,the only pastiche/homage that I ever read that was actually any good was the Elric series (Conan). His Michael Kane series was very ordinary. Well,of course,Brackett's Mars stuff was sort of a homage to Burroughs,but she totally managed to come up with something different and dare I say it,better!(I love ERB,but Brackett's characterisation was just better for me) On the subject of people who got hundreds of books published,have a look at the total rubbish that hacks like Lin Carter used to churn out...he tried to do everyone's style,including Brackett,Burroughs,Howard,CAS etc etc.,but he was just not at all in the same league,talentwise. But for some reason,he got hundreds of books published by major publishers. He even used the pseudonym H.P.Lowcraft at one stage...at least he seemed to realise his deficiencies! I know everyone loves Kuttner and Hamilton,but I would put both of them in the same category...people who could sort of write ok,and got millions of stories published,but they just didn't have the talent or the original ideas that for instance,their respective wives had. There just can't ever be another Leigh Brackett...or CL Moore...or Robert Howard...or Clark Ashton Smith...or...A.Merritt...or Francis Stevens!!
Kuttner's a considerably better writer than Carter/Bullmer etc whose top level is average, basically. I don't think you can fairly say his wife came up with everything, either - quite unlikely, apart from the earlier work he did on his own, too. I've come across a couple of decent Carter short stories, for example - that's the probability thing.
Part of Hamilton's appeal is that while not particularly good in comparison with the rest of the list, he was rather better than the contemporaries - e.g. he started writing in the 20s. Also wrote a lot and came up with a lot of stuff, so on probability likely to come up with the odd better piece - e.g. The Monster God Of Mamurth speaking of Lovecraft.
Francis Stevens doesn't impress me like the rest though, Johnny Elflock. ;-) Although certainly of interest.
It is also un-Australian to take your bat and ball and go home and sulk, too, as I am sure you are aware. :)
Hey, Blue, please chill out. We're all friends here (or ought to be), and there are not so many pulp enthusiasts that we can afford to alienate each other over distinctions the rest of the world wouldn't even recognize.
Jaq - as Erik said, thanks for the comments, and if you still want to talk about Planet Stories, we're around.
As far as I'm concerned,the only pastiche/homage that I ever read that was actually any good was the Elric series (Conan). His Michael Kane series was very ordinary. Well,of course,Brackett's Mars stuff was sort of a homage to Burroughs,but she totally managed to come up with something different and dare I say it,better!(I love ERB,but Brackett's characterisation was just better for me) On the subject of people who got hundreds of books published,have a look at the total rubbish that hacks like Lin Carter used to churn out...he tried to do everyone's style,including Brackett,Burroughs,Howard,CAS etc etc.,but he was just not at all in the same league,talentwise. But for some reason,he got hundreds of books published by major publishers. He even used the pseudonym H.P.Lowcraft at one stage...at least he seemed to realise his deficiencies! I know everyone loves Kuttner and Hamilton,but I would put both of them in the same category...people who could sort of write ok,and got millions of stories published,but they just didn't have the talent or the original ideas that for instance,their respective wives had. There just can't ever be another Leigh Brackett...or CL Moore...or Robert Howard...or Clark Ashton Smith...or...A.Merritt...or Francis Stevens!!
Kuttner's a considerably better writer than Carter/Bullmer etc whose top level is average, basically. I don't think you can fairly say his wife came up with everything, either - quite unlikely, apart from the earlier work he did on his own, too. I've come across a couple of decent Carter short stories, for example - that's the probability thing.
Part of Hamilton's appeal is that while not particularly good in comparison with the rest of the list, he was rather better than the contemporaries - e.g. he started writing in the 20s. Also wrote a lot and came up with a lot of stuff, so on probability likely to come up with the odd better piece - e.g. The Monster God Of Mamurth speaking of Lovecraft.
Francis Stevens doesn't impress me...
There seem to be a lot of Australians in this little scene ;) Yes,fair enough points,Kuttner and Hamilton are definitely better than Carter,that's for sure! I've mentioned quite a few of their stories elsewhere here that I did like. And I've also liked a few stories by Lin-baby himself...so,you know. Guys,I only make these sweeping,inflamatory statements for a laugh! You know that! As I said ages ago somewhere on here,I also thank Lin Carter no end for doing that Ballantyne Fantasy series in the late 60's/early 70's. That's how I(and many others of my generation no doubt)discovered Morris,Dunsany,Chambers,MacDonald,Crawford etc etc. Hope Mirrlees! 'Lud-in-The-Mist'. Now that was a classic! The reason I like Brackett,Moore and Stevens is that they had leading characters that were actually a bit fallible and human...compare Northwest Smith to say,John Carter! (I can only assume it was to do with the fact that these writers were not men or something ;) From all the older stuff I've read,these three really did stand out in this regard from at least 95% of their contemporaries. This is sort of what I meant by original ideas really,they were pioneers!
It is also un-Australian to take your bat and ball and go home and sulk, too, as I am sure you are aware. :)Hey, Blue, please chill out. We're all friends here (or ought to be), and there are not so many pulp enthusiasts that we can afford to alienate each other over distinctions the rest of the world wouldn't even recognize.
Jaq - as Erik said, thanks for the comments, and if you still want to talk about Planet Stories, we're around.
Sure, no problem.
Remember though that Americans constantly make references they assume others will understand.
But there's also the point that he was suggesting you do lots more work - and you at the moment don't seem to be even able to manage the supposed bimonthly schedule - so not a good idea from that point of view, either.
Place your fan requests for Planet Stories here!
How about the 4 book series of Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer by James Silke?
It's been out of print for quite a while. The books are very good sword-and-sorcery, in my opinion.
Here is a strange one that has come to my attention. Not a request or even probably a candidate but I figure someone may find this interesting. Its a book called "The Iron Dream" written by Norman Spinrad and it is an alternate history book. The premise is that Adolf Hitler immigrates to America in 1919 after his tour of duty in WW1 and he becomes a pulp writer who writes a book called "Lord of the Swastica" in 195x shortly before dying. The book within a book basically explores fascism/militariam as science fiction with super races and the like. The book itself is supose to be satirical and taking a jab at the fascist and sometimes racist nature of SF/Fantasy of the day. Apparently the book won the Nebula and some other award. Wikipedia has a good article on it. Has anyone read this?
Here is a strange one that has come to my attention. Not a request or even probably a candidate but I figure someone may find this interesting. Its a book called "The Iron Dream" written by Norman Spinrad and it is an alternate history book. The premise is that Adolf Hitler immigrates to America in 1919 after his tour of duty in WW1 and he becomes a pulp writer who writes a book called "Lord of the Swastica" in 195x shortly before dying. The book within a book basically explores fascism/militariam as science fiction with super races and the like. The book itself is supose to be satirical and taking a jab at the fascist and sometimes racist nature of SF/Fantasy of the day. Apparently the book won the Nebula and some other award. Wikipedia has a good article on it. Has anyone read this?
I have this around here somewhere but haven't read it...not REALLY my cup of tea. One that was pretty cool by this guy was 'The Men in The Jungle'. It is not for the faint-hearted! I seem to remember it has people eating babies and stuff like that :(
I haven't skimmed the whole thread, but I am curious about the chances of Paizo acquiring publishing rights to these:
1. Gary Gygax's "Gord the Rogue" series. Paizo has already published a few of Gary's stories under the Planet Stories heading, and the last several of these books were not originally published under TSR's aegis, so there shouldn't be an issue of Wizards holding onto intellectual property.
2. Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" books. I think the material is public domain (it is at least available on gutenberg.org) and the only editions I see anymore are from the Science Fiction Book Club; not bad, but I would love to see these stories come unto the Planet Stories line.
Any thoughts?
I haven't skimmed the whole thread, but I am curious about the chances of Paizo acquiring publishing rights to these:
1. Gary Gygax's "Gord the Rogue" series. Paizo has already published a few of Gary's stories under the Planet Stories heading, and the last several of these books were not originally published under TSR's aegis, so there shouldn't be an issue of Wizards holding onto intellectual property.
2. Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" books. I think the material is public domain (it is at least available on gutenberg.org) and the only editions I see anymore are from the Science Fiction Book Club; not bad, but I would love to see these stories come unto the Planet Stories line.
Any thoughts?
Yes, we've addressed this elsewhere on the messageboards. Sorry, we don't have any plans to publish more Gygax. As for John Carter of Mars, about half of the books are in public domain and the others are still under copyright. They've been reprinted so many times that it doesn't make much sense for us to go there when there are so many other opportunities abounding. But thanks for chiming in and please post more requests as you think of them!
Sorry for retreading the topic; my messageboard search-fu is extremely weak. Thanks for the response; I understand the reasoning, but I had to ask. I will definitely speak up if I come across anything else that fits the publishing line and that isn't already in the works.
I'd love to see all of the Professor Jameson space adventures by Neil R. Jones. The ones Ace reprinted back in the '60s and the ones that have never been reprinted.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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As long as we're daydreaming about Neil R. Jones books that probably couldn't dream of turning a profit, I'd love to do a collection of his Durna Rangue space drug cult stories. The zoromes stuff gets really repetitive after a while, though I understand that Jones wrote several stories late in the series that were never ever published, which is interesting.
The Durna Rangue stories have never been reprinted. My favorite is a little yarn called LIQUID HELL, but there are plenty of other fun ones.
Jones falls into the category of "minor obsession" of mine. I say minor because I haven't yet read all of the Ace zorome books (though I own them all) and I've been focusing my reading on authors who, frankly, are better writers with more commercial appeal than Jones.
But I keep hunting for his stories in the pulps, and one of them as a back-up feature is usually enough to push me over the edge into actually buying a pulp with some minor Henry Kuttner or Otis Adelbert Kline short story.
I quite like Neil Jones, and would love to publish his work. I just worry that I won't be able to make a dime doing it, and in fact will lose many, many, many dimes in the trying.
I'm a late-comer to this party, so forgive me if this has been mentioned, but I'd love to see EE Smith's Skylark series again. Great, great stuff.
As far as I'm concerned,the only pastiche/homage that I ever read that was actually any good was the Elric series (Conan). His Michael Kane series was very ordinary. Well,of course,Brackett's Mars stuff was sort of a homage to Burroughs,but she totally managed to come up with something different and dare I say it,better!(I love ERB,but Brackett's characterisation was just better for me) On the subject of people who got hundreds of books published,have a look at the total rubbish that hacks like Lin Carter used to churn out...he tried to do everyone's style,including Brackett,Burroughs,Howard,CAS etc etc.,but he was just not at all in the same league,talentwise. But for some reason,he got hundreds of books published by major publishers. He even used the pseudonym H.P.Lowcraft at one stage...at least he seemed to realise his deficiencies! I know everyone loves Kuttner and Hamilton,but I would put both of them in the same category...people who could sort of write ok,and got millions of stories published,but they just didn't have the talent or the original ideas that for instance,their respective wives had. There just can't ever be another Leigh Brackett...or CL Moore...or Robert Howard...or Clark Ashton Smith...or...A.Merritt...or Francis Stevens!!
Poor Lin, everyone seems to beat up on the poor guy! LOL!
Go over to the REH forums and see how they love to tear into him because of his Conan Pastiches. And someone went off on him this last week over at the "CAS: Eldritch Dark" page because of his poshumous CAS "collaborations".I realy dig his stories. They may be hack work, but they are "VERY ENJOYABLE" hack work. And if you ever read any of the intros he wrote for his books you will see that he admits right up front that he writes almost exclusively pastiches.
He always said he writes what he loves and said he loves Brackett, Burroughs, Howard, Smith, Dunsany, Doc Savage, Dying Earth ect.
So he was very up-front about what he wrote with out hardly any pretensions. And he did sell tons and tons of books back in the 1970s and 80s.
So I'll always have a soft spot in my heart and in my head for Lin Carter. And he was the best damned fantasy editior who ever drew breath!
Take care.
Doug
Doug
Yeah,as I wrote a bit later in reply to Tyson..."I also thank Lin Carter no end for doing that Ballantyne Fantasy series in the late 60's/early 70's. That's how I(and many others of my generation no doubt)discovered Morris,Dunsany,Chambers,MacDonald,Crawford etc etc. Hope Mirrlees!"
And I did like Lin's Green Star series etc...;)
Doug
Yeah,as I wrote a bit later in reply to Tyson..."I also thank Lin Carter no end for doing that Ballantyne Fantasy series in the late 60's/early 70's. That's how I(and many others of my generation no doubt)discovered Morris,Dunsany,Chambers,MacDonald,Crawford etc etc. Hope Mirrlees!"
And I did like Lin's Green Star series etc...;)
...
And"Worlds End"
"Zanthodon"
"Thongor" LOL!!!
Plus 4x hommages to Brackett's mars.
IMHO the Jandar series sucks some serious bilge water though!
I was a teen back in the 70s and loved all of these books!
take care.
Doug
And I did like Lin's Green Star series etc...;)
The Green Star series is probably my favorite of the Carter I've read, a fallback after I'd exhausted all of ERB's catalog. I didn't like his World's End stuff much though, and have only read the first Callisto book.
I hope Planet Stories will come up with a specific pitch to fans of Pathfinder Fiction and include a full page ad in the volumes of the new fiction line.
I hope Planet Stories will come up with a specific pitch to fans of Pathfinder Fiction and include a full page ad in the volumes of the new fiction line.
We're certainly thinking along these lines. :-)
I figured you were: got to bring the new kids into the old through the new. :D
And I did like Lin's Green Star series etc...;)The Green Star series is probably my favorite of the Carter I've read, a fallback after I'd exhausted all of ERB's catalog. I didn't like his World's End stuff much though, and have only read the first Callisto book.
The Lost World of Time is another good one by Carter. I also enjoyed his four Mars novels.
I know that these are a little hard to find and not well known, but I think Charles B. Stilson (A Man Named Jones & Polaris—of the Snows) and J.U. Geisy(Palos of the Dog Star Pack) would make great Planet Stories. These were some of the best to follow in ERB's footsteps.
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The Lost World of Time is another good one by Carter. I also enjoyed his four Mars novels.
I quite enjoyed the Lost World of Time, which I finished recently while killing time in the Whitechapel train station. It was MUCH better than other Lin Carter books I've read, and the inventiveness of the universe painted by Carter in the early chapters made me wish he had written more stories set there.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I know that these are a little hard to find and not well known, but I think Charles B. Stilson (A Man Named Jones & Polaris—of the Snows) and J.U. Geisy(Palos of the Dog Star Pack) would make great Planet Stories. These were some of the best to follow in ERB's footsteps.
I've had both of these series in the pile for a couple of years, now. All of them have great illustrations from the FFM days (most by Virgil Finlay). I'm convinced we could do beautiful 3-in-one editions of both series.
I'm not confident we'd sell more than 1000 copies, and several POD publishers are already doing it.
So, while I'm looking forward to reading those stories (and have for some time), I'm not sure they're on the front burner for strong publishing consideration.
Hi Eric,
have you thought of publishing any more multi-author anthologies?
Humans exisitng and/or being forced to adapt on hostile/deadly worlds?
Two thematicaly linked stories come to mind.
„Surface Tension“ by James Blish and „Call me Joe“ by Poul Anderson.
„Surface Tension“ deals with humanity seeding the stars with human life that has been adapted to live in various enviroments. I think blish wrote several stories with this background. „Surface Tension“ has these adapted humans living on a world consisting almost entirely of tidal basins and the humans have been reudced to microscopic size and live in these puddles. There only link to their origins are tiny tablets enscribed with knowledge. The story mainly deals with the first human expidition to the next puddle in a tiny submarine (spaceship). This is a well written story from the 1950s.
„Call me joe“ deals with a handicapped man occupying an Avatar (Centaur being) and attempting to survice on the surface of Jupiter. This is a great adventure story that is deeply moving aside from that fact that they thought Jupiter had a surface to live on. At least they give Jupiter an enourmous atmosphric pressure and amonia instead of oxygen. A very exotic and strange setting.
Hal Clement also wrote tons of stuff in this vein (Nitrogen Fix or „"Uncommon Sense" from his Laird Cunningham series of stories). And since these are relativly „modern“ stories I think that younger/newer/modern readers wouldn’t have any problem with the writing style or with political correctness.
take care.
Doug
Hi Eric,
and here is an excellent 2-parter from David Gerrold.
This is a wonderful modern "space opera" that's been oop for over 15 years. They are intelligent and highly entertaining. He had at one time proposed it as a TV series.
take care.
Doug
http://www.amazon.com/UNDER-EYE-GOD-David-Gerrold/dp/055329010X/ref=sr_1_2? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268724205&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Justice-David-Gerrold/dp/055356188X/ref=sr_1 _2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268724595&sr=1-2
I know that these are a little hard to find and not well known, but I think Charles B. Stilson (A Man Named Jones & Polaris—of the Snows) and J.U. Geisy(Palos of the Dog Star Pack) would make great Planet Stories. These were some of the best to follow in ERB's footsteps.I've had both of these series in the pile for a couple of years, now. All of them have great illustrations from the FFM days (most by Virgil Finlay). I'm convinced we could do beautiful 3-in-one editions of both series.
I'm not confident we'd sell more than 1000 copies, and several POD publishers are already doing it.
So, while I'm looking forward to reading those stories (and have for some time), I'm not sure they're on the front burner for strong publishing consideration.
I understand that you are running a business and need to show a profit, but I've dealt with the three POD publishers (BEB Books, Munsey's and Altus Press) and frankly, I would rather give you my money. While Altus and Munsey produce a nice looking book, the quality laves a lot to be desired. They also need to spend a little more on their proofreading. The less said about BEB, the better.
If nothing else, move them closer to the top of your pile, read them, and if you like them, spread the word about them. Maybe if enough people know about them, we will one day get quality copies out there.
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I will definitely read these this year, or at least the Giesey ones. I'm trying to read the entire sword & planet genre in chronological order of publication, so up next is Warriors of Mars and then Palos of the Dog Star Pack (I think). The Stilsons will come some time later in the year, I expect.
I really do want to read these stories pretty badly.
I recently finished Palos of the Dog Star Pack and its first sequel, The Mouthpiece of Zitu. I question lumping them into the Sword & Planet genre, is there is very little derring-do and a much greater focus on firearms then swords.
I found them a bit harder to get into than Burroughs and Kline, as the pacing is a bit slow at times and it suffers from "too many alien word syndrome".
Of course, I read them immediately following Kline's Venus series, so nearly anything would pale in comparison. ;)
BTW, when researching Giesy I noticed next to nothing about him in Wikipedia, so I added entries for the author and the three books in the series. Please expand upon them if you're so inclined (and can tolerate the looming threat of the Deletionist regime).
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Giesey was all over Argosy in the early third of the century. He wrote lots of mysteries, and I believe he had an occult detective as well. A few of his stories or serial installments turn up in one-off issues I have purchased for other reasons. I'd like to get into him a bit more.
I'm taking a relatively loose definition of "sword & planet" for now, and will worry about weeding out stuff later.
Ralph Milne Farley's RADIO MAN stories, for example, aren't really sword & planet in that they don't have a lot of swordfighting, but they are DEFINITELY inspired by A PRINCESS OF MARS.
Ditto Ray Cummings's TAMA OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY and PRINCESS OF MERCURY, but I lump them together because they're similar and I want to read all of the books of this type.
It's more of a life-quest than a short-term goal, and perhaps not even a well-considered one, since a lot of the stuff in this genre simply isn't very good.
I hear ya. I'm on a bit of a similar quest myself, which sprang from my larger quest to read all of Appendix N. ;) I've also decided to read as much Sword & Sorcery as possible, too.
I wasn't so much questioning your categorization of the works, as much as Wikipedia's.
I'll have to check out Cummings. I wasn't aware of his work. Thanks!
And thanks for bringing A. Merritt to my attention. Since the Ship of Ishtar was announced for Planet Stories, I've been greedily gobbling up his work. It saddens me that I shall soon reach the end of it. :(
I recently finished Palos of the Dog Star Pack and its first sequel, The Mouthpiece of Zitu. I question lumping them into the Sword & Planet genre, is there is very little derring-do and a much greater focus on firearms then swords.
I found them a bit harder to get into than Burroughs and Kline, as the pacing is a bit slow at times and it suffers from "too many alien word syndrome".
Of course, I read them immediately following Kline's Venus series, so nearly anything would pale in comparison. ;)
No, you are right, they aren't remotely as good as Burroughs or Kline.
The Ralph Milne Farley "Radio Planet" stories and Cummings Mercury Stories are also vewry lame (IMHO) when compared to Kline and Burroughs.
Please check out Klines's "Maza of the Moon". I was actualy shocked at how enjoyable it was. and I#m very picky when it comes to this kind of stuff.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/otis-adelbert-kline/maza-of-moon.htm
I can't recommend this book enough!
take care and enjoy the weekend.
Doug
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Oh, I really like Maza of the Moon. If I ever get a chance to do another Kline, that one is at the top of the list.
One interesting side note. Shortly after reading that novel, I was watching a video compilation of "weird" clips from the VHS era (dumb commercials, oddball public access stuff, etc.) and along came this promotional video for a space cult called UNARIUS.
A heavily made-up old woman explained the secret history of the universe, and much to my surprise, it mapped EXACTLY to the history of the solar system Kline invented in MAZA.
I wonder if someone involved in the cult read the Ace edition and incorporated it into their mythology.
It was pretty amazing.
Hi Eric!
If you think the Unarius cult is weird then check this out...
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/ft158.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo
and what I liked so much with Maza is how kline played on the readers assumptions.
I won't give away too much for those who haven't read it, but I loved how you assume how one group of people will go over to the villians. Then to see them side with the rest of Humanity, rise up and sacrifices 100s of thousands of lives. I found this wonderful when you consider when the book was written.
take care and enjoy the weekend.
Doug
Oh, I really like Maza of the Moon. If I ever get a chance to do another Kline, that one is at the top of the list.
One interesting side note. Shortly after reading that novel, I was watching a video compilation of "weird" clips from the VHS era (dumb commercials, oddball public access stuff, etc.) and along came this promotional video for a space cult called UNARIUS.
A heavily made-up old woman explained the secret history of the universe, and much to my surprise, it mapped EXACTLY to the history of the solar system Kline invented in MAZA.
I wonder if someone involved in the cult read the Ace edition and incorporated it into their mythology.
It was pretty amazing.
I just finished Maza of the Moon, and it was indeed fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation, Douglas!
My only disappointment was how quickly it ended. :)
I just finished Maza of the Moon, and it was indeed fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation, Douglas!
My only disappointment was how quickly it ended. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I found it to be a wonderful suprise.
I assumed (falsely) that it would be in line with the writings of Ralph miln Farley and Ray Cummings (both of who I didn't even like as a kid when Ace reprinted both.)I think that Maza has held up very well. Which is sadly a rarity in SF this old.
It's all a matter of taste, but like I said before, I think that ..
Williamson's "Legiom of Space"
Hamilton's "Captain Future"
and
Smith's "Skylark" and "Lensmen" series haven't held up at all even though I truly love Jack Williamson and Edmond Hamilton.
And please check oout the 2 David Gerrold books I mentioned in a previous post on this thread.
If you want to read some very intelligent "Planetary Romance" then get your hands on a copy of Jack Vance's "Planet of Adventure series Omnibus"
Take care.
Doug
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I actually enjoyed TAMA, PRINCESS OF MERCURY and TAMA OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY, but I don't think you can make a very strong case that either have withstood the test of time particularly well. The idea that they are in the same category as Burroughs or C. L. Moore or Brackett is frankly laughable, but I thought both had their charms.
While awaiting the arrival of some Kothar novels I ordered, I decided to go back and read Gardner Fox's tales of Niall the Far Traveler in Dragon Magazine.
As far as I can tell, only one of those stories was ever reprinted elsewhere, and no compilation was ever made.
Any chance for some Niall love in Planet Stories?
I actually enjoyed TAMA, PRINCESS OF MERCURY and TAMA OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY, but I don't think you can make a very strong case that either have withstood the test of time particularly well. The idea that they are in the same category as Burroughs or C. L. Moore or Brackett is frankly laughable, but I thought both had their charms.
Absolutely correct,they are nowhere near as good as Burroughs,Brackett or Moore(or Howard or CAS or dare I say it,Wallace West!)Those first 2 Light Country ones are just ok,the third one is total rubbish. I really liked The Girl in The Golden Atom and Rain of Fire and a few others of his though. Same applies to Farley and the others mentioned above.
Likewise Kline,some of his stuff was pretty good,but he was not in the same league either. I'm actually 75% through Maza of The Moon at the moment,it's ok,it's very much in the Flash Gordon style this one,not the usual 'poor man's Burroughs',but it's got all the usual racial stereotyping and the ever present militarism/xenophobia etc etc that most of this old stuff has. I think it's just ok,but again,it hasn't really 'aged' well.Here's my suggestion for some actual kind of 'intelligent' sci-fi reading from that era...'The Purple Cloud' by M.P.Shiel. This was published in 1930 and in my opinion it puts in perspective just how lame most of the rest of this stuff was back then!!
And now you can get it free at Project Gutenberg!....http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11229
;)