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SFReader Forums > Authors > G. W. Thomas > The Venus Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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gwthomas21
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 913

Posted 11/28/2007 11:06 AM (GMT -4)

I'm re-reading my way through the Venus or Amtor series by ERB. I haven't read these books for at least 20 years. Not his best work. Very episodic, even before he started writing them as short stories and collecting them as books (Escape on Venus). What struck me the most are two elements that really show how dated they are. The first is in THE PIRATES OF VENUS. The men who will become the Pirates name themselves the Soldiers of Freedom which in Amtorian is abbreviated KKK. Carson smiles at the similarity. This is back in 1930 and the Civil Rights movement is still 30 years away. I shuddered at that one. The other one made me laugh. In CARSON OF VENUS Carson assumes a pseudonym based on Earthly words. Referring to himself as a human being he takes the name Homo. Now I know gays were not treated well in 1930s fiction (read THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler if you don't believe me) so I assume the word "Homo" obviously wasn't used then as a word for a gay person. I wonder what old ERB would think about these choices now. I still enjoyed the Room of Seven Doors in LOST ON VENUS though. Classic...

GW

G. W. Thomas has appeared in over 350 different books, magazines and ezines including Writer's Digest, The Armchair Detective and Black October Magazine. He draws the web comic CHUCK THE PENGUIN. His website is www.gwthomas.org

Jack Mackenzie
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Date Joined Mar 2007
Total Posts : 95

Posted 11/28/2007 1:08 PM (GMT -4)

Loved the Venus stories, but, just the same as you, I haven't read them in 20 (nay, 25!) years.

The only things about them that I remember clearly were the Frazetta covers on the paperbacks.

Jack Mackenzie

My story, "The Sound from the Deep" appears in www.fantasistent.com/books/anthologies/SAILS.php, published by Fantasist Enterprises, independent publisher of illustrated fantasy books.

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gwthomas21
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 913

Posted 11/28/2007 11:40 PM (GMT -4)

Yes, some very good covers. I didn't know it until I saw some N. C. Wyeth but even old Frank does swipes sometimes. The cover for Carson of Venus with the sea monster and Carson in a boat looks a lot like an N. C. Wyeth painting.

GW

gwthomas21
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 913

Posted 12/4/2007 11:00 AM (GMT -4)

Well, I finished the whole series and my Improbability Chip needs a rest. I think I'll go back to reading Stanley G. Weinbaum.

GW

MichaelEhart
Sage

Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2303

Posted 12/4/2007 6:49 PM (GMT -4)

Hah, plenty that requires squinching the eyes in that series, but I certainly devoured them in the 5th grade. :)

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gwthomas21
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Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 913

Posted 12/4/2007 9:25 PM (GMT -4)

Yah, they are great for the tweeners. I have to admit I enjoyed them on one level, while my Improbalility Chip grew hot with over use. I don't think the Amtor sereies is my favorite. I would have to say it is Pellucidar. Not that those stories are really any different. I just like the dinos I guess.

GW

Dave Hardy
Oblast je pri nas ljudska!

Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 199

Posted 12/5/2007 12:11 AM (GMT -4)

Those old Doug McLure (You may remember me from such films as...) movies made me true a believer on Pellucidar and Caspak. ERB could do no wrong there.

I never got into Venus. That's OK, I've got Mars.

Dave Hardy

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gwthomas21
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 913

Posted 12/5/2007 8:16 PM (GMT -4)

Oddly enough, my favorite of the McClure films was WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS, the only one NOT based on ERB. Weird.

GW

Dragon Angel
Lord Dragon

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 1061

Posted 12/17/2007 12:07 AM (GMT -4)

Wikipedia has a comment on the KKK thing too. Apparently it used to be consider a good thing. (sighs)

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