As I’ve
mentioned here before, my introduction to the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs was the
1963 Ace paperback reprint of A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS, loaned to me by my sister’s
boyfriend. Shortly after that, I bought the Whitman edition of TARZAN OF THE
APES, and by the time I was finished with those two, I was a Burroughs fan for
life. If I had to choose between his two best-known series, I’d have to say
that I prefer the Mars books to the Tarzan novels, but only by a whisker.
So beyond any shadow of a doubt, I am, through and through, the target audience for the new novel by Will Murray, TARZAN, CONQUEROR OF MARS. And just as I would have expected, this crossover between the two series is great.
This is the third of Murray’s novels authorized by the Burroughs estate to feature Tarzan and his first crack at John Carter. He captures both characters just about perfectly, and the sections of the book narrated by John Carter are so good I want to see a solo novel starring the Warlord of Mars. The plot finds Tarzan transported to Mars in the same mysterious fashion that John Carter was in A PRINCESS OF MARS, the first book in that series. The first half of this book is a travelogue of sorts, a staple of early science fiction, as Tarzan encounters first the great white apes of Barsoom (as its inhabitants call Mars) and then the fierce, four-armed green men, while exploring the planet and searching for some way to get back to Earth. Then this storyline intersects one featuring John Carter . . . and things do not go well.
Murray makes great use of the concepts created by Burroughs and adds some of his own, coming up with new threats to menace our heroes and expanding the geography of Barsoom. The real virtues of this novel, however, are the great action scenes and the way Murray so vividly recreates Burroughs’ style and voice. TARZAN, CONQUEROR OF MARS really does read as if ERB himself wrote it. Reading it transported me back to those great days when I was first discovering so many authors who became life-long favorites. Simply put, this is great stuff, and I’m grateful to Will Murray for writing it and Altus Press for publishing it.
So beyond any shadow of a doubt, I am, through and through, the target audience for the new novel by Will Murray, TARZAN, CONQUEROR OF MARS. And just as I would have expected, this crossover between the two series is great.
This is the third of Murray’s novels authorized by the Burroughs estate to feature Tarzan and his first crack at John Carter. He captures both characters just about perfectly, and the sections of the book narrated by John Carter are so good I want to see a solo novel starring the Warlord of Mars. The plot finds Tarzan transported to Mars in the same mysterious fashion that John Carter was in A PRINCESS OF MARS, the first book in that series. The first half of this book is a travelogue of sorts, a staple of early science fiction, as Tarzan encounters first the great white apes of Barsoom (as its inhabitants call Mars) and then the fierce, four-armed green men, while exploring the planet and searching for some way to get back to Earth. Then this storyline intersects one featuring John Carter . . . and things do not go well.
Murray makes great use of the concepts created by Burroughs and adds some of his own, coming up with new threats to menace our heroes and expanding the geography of Barsoom. The real virtues of this novel, however, are the great action scenes and the way Murray so vividly recreates Burroughs’ style and voice. TARZAN, CONQUEROR OF MARS really does read as if ERB himself wrote it. Reading it transported me back to those great days when I was first discovering so many authors who became life-long favorites. Simply put, this is great stuff, and I’m grateful to Will Murray for writing it and Altus Press for publishing it.
5 comments:
Didn't realize this was even a thing. Also didn't realize how much I want to read this. I don't know of too many times Tarzan and John Carter were in the same story. I seem to remember one in an anthology from 2012.
Also, what are your thoughts on the John Carter 2012 movie?
I liked the John Carter movie, but not as much as I'd hoped to and not as much as most of my friends did. I did think it was good enough that it deserved a better fate, and I certainly would have watched any sequels.
I had seen this and wasn't sure what to think of it. Since you speak so highly of it, I'll give it a try.
The problem was studio politics. John Carter was the baby of the just fired studio head. His replacement made sure it failed (with the worst marketing campaign EVER!!!!) so that everyone would know why the old guy needed replacing. That it cost Disney some serious money didn't seem to matter.
I have wanted to read a "Tarzan On Mars" story for years and years and years. At least since I first heard about the unauthorized Stuart J. Byrne / "John Bloodstone" novel back in '74 or '75, in Richard Lupoff's MASTER OF ADVENTURE. And considering Buuroughs's penchant for tying many of his fantasy playgrounds into one cohesive "ERB-Verse", it's always seemed odd to me that he didn't put Lord Greystoke on Barsoom himself. Talk about low-hanging fruit! Ray Palmer would have paid through the NOSE for first publication rights. But no. Alas!
So now, here we are and...i hesitate.
I think Will Murray has an almost supernatural ability to mimic the writing styles of other authors. I've never seen anything quite like it. I think I'd read three or four of his Destroyers before finding out he'd ghosted them, and was gob-smacked by how well he'd captured Warren Murphy's voice. And his "Lester Dent" voice is just uncannily spot-on. The problem I have with some of his pastiches are their length. They're just too long. I think it was a bit of a problem in his later Destroyers and I've really felt it in his "Giant-Size" Docs.
I can't help thinking that "pure pulp" stories are just better at shorter lengths, when they're "built for speed". Ideally, I feel that I should able to read a Doc Savage book in two or three sittings. But these Giant Docs feel slow, padded and repetitive to me. After starting and ultimately abandoning a bunch of his recent Docs, I actually just stopped buying them. My inner OCD Completist has been screaming at me for it, but it honestly hasn't been all that hard to pass them up. I see the solicitations, and the story log-lines always sound promising, the covers look cool -- but then i think about all the ones i've already got taking up room on my shelves (and each one takes up a LOT of room), that i know i'll probably never get around to reading -- and i ignore the "1-click" button and don't look back. Oh, I've fallen off the wagon a few times: couldn't resist Doc/Kong and the first Doc /Shadow -- and ended up not finishing those two either.
BUT!
Your enthusiastic review here DOES tempt me, it surely does...
Sigh. Maybe i'll just spring for the Kindle version.
- b.t.
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