Before we had the Marvel Universe… before the Universal Monsters Universe (no, really, it sort of existed)… there was the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe. Only Burroughs hadn’t thought in those terms; he was just writing ripping pulp stories that would alter popular fiction through the 20th century and into the 21st. From Tarzan of the Apes to John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus to the Land That Time Forgot, Burroughs redefined heroic archetypes and set the tone for the modern superhero. And it’s time to remember.
Though the characters have never left print, it’s time to officially reintroduce them to modern audiences and tie the various worlds of Burroughs’ imagination together. An intrepid band of writers have joined to do just that, and last summer at Comic-Con, we talked to two of them, Christopher Paul Carey and Win Scott Eckert. This week, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. announced the first novel in the new Edgar Rice Burroughs relaunch is available for pre-order.
Mysterious and brilliant teen Victory Harben will be exploring the Gridley Wave through all of Burroughs’ worlds, and the adventure begins on Venus. That’s with Carson of Venus, in Matt Betts’ The Edge of All Worlds. The book includes a novellette by Carey, Pellucidar: Dark of the Sun, which introduces Victory Harben. (It’s also being adapted into comics form by American Mythology Productions in their current mini-series, [amazon text=Carson of Venus: Eye of Amtor&asin=B07YP3S73G].)
Here’s the breathless description from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.:
When a mysterious enemy attacks his adopted nation of Korva, Earthman Carson Napier discovers his own arrival on Venus years ago may have unknowingly triggered the strike. The invaders’ trail of death and destruction leads Carson and his beloved princess Duare headlong into battle against a seemingly invincible, primordial race. But that is not Carson’s only challenge, for an uncanny phenomenon has entangled him with two strange individuals from beyond spacetime. Will Carson be able to solve the mysteries of his past and the enigmatic visitors before the entire planet descends into chaos?
And for the novelette:
When the very principle of physics behind the Gridley Wave mysteriously fails, cutting off all communication between the hollow world of Pellucidar and the outer crust, inventor Jason Gridley seeks help from his brilliant young protégé, Victory Harben. Together they recover timeworn records from deep in the ruins of a dead Mahar city, hoping to use knowledge of Pellucidar’s former reptilian overlords to jumpstart the Gridley Wave. But when their experiment goes terribly wrong, Jason and Victory suddenly find themselves drawn into the inscrutable machinations of an ancient evil.
The handsomely bound book will be available in April, and pre-orders are available here now! (The pre-orders come with a Victory Harben trading card — a nice little bonus.)
Fanboy Planet is an affiliate with Amazon, so if you purchase any books, movies, toys, etc. through an Amazon link on this page or site, we may receive an affiliate percentage. We are not affiliated with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. — we’re just excited about their books!
