The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs - Panel at PulpFest in August 2025

The second panel I'll be on at PulpFest this coming August is "The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs" (the first is the FarmerCon XX / PulpFest panel "Tarzan the Time Traveler and Discourses on Doc").

Looking forward to seeing my friends Christopher Paul Carey, Cathy Mann Wilbanks, and Chris L Adams!

 

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 Originally posted on PulpFest.com on 02 June 2025

The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs

Norman Bean

June 2, 2025

5 min read

Come to this year’s ERBFest to learn all of the latest news and ideas coming from the fertile minds at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Incorporated.

Join Vice President of Publishing Christopher Paul Carey and Vice President of Operations Cathy Mann Wilbanks, live from the stage at PulpFest 2025, for the latest updates from Tarzana. Joining Chris and Cathy in Barsoom, Pennsylvania, will be Chris L Adams, the author of Gauntlets of Mars, and Win Scott Eckert, author of Pellucidar: Land of Awful Shadow, the forthcoming sequel to Korak at the Earth’s Core.

From its headquarters in Tarzana, California, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., administers the intellectual property of American author Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of the twentieth century’s most prolific and enduring writers. Burroughs’ 80+ novels and 40+ short stories have been adapted into sixty films and 250 television episodes, and have been featured in comic books, video games, apparel, and other merchandise.

Please join PulpFest 2025 at 2:30 pm on Friday, August 8, as we welcome Cathy, Christopher, and their guests to the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania for the latest updates on the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe, the ERB Authorized Library, and other projects inspired by the great man’s work, including exciting updates about John Carter of Mars: The Audio Series, forthcoming from Pocket Universe Productions.

The ERB, Inc. team will also be exploring some of their recent and upcoming book releases. These include the next two volumes in the original Barsoom saga by ERB, with cover art by Joe Jusko; Mike Wolfer’s The Land That Time Forgot: Fearless graphic novel and The Land That Time Forgot: Fortress Primeval; and the new edition of The Monster Men and its chilling sequel, The Return of the Monster Men, written by Scribe Award-winning author Josh Reynolds.

Chris and Cathy will also talk about the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe animated TV series now in development with Flying S Films LLC, a Seattle-based studio dedicated to producing unique feature films and episodic properties for a worldwide audience. They’ll also have some great door prizes. But remember, you need to be in attendance at their presentation to win! Many thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., for their generous donations.

Our “The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs” panel presentation is all part of ERBFest 2025, our fourth salute to the Master of Adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Co-hosted by Henry G. Franke III  — the editor of The Burroughs Bibliophiles — ERBFest was started in 2021 when it seemed as if a second summer was going to pass without both of the usual Burroughs conventions — The Edgar Rice Burroughs Convention (formerly known as the Dum-Dum) and the Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) gathering.

PulpFest 2025 begins on August 7 and runs through August 10 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. We’ll be celebrating the “Masters of Blood and Thunder,” the “Great Pulp Villains,”  Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, and more at this year’s convention.

The general public is welcome to attend our afternoon programming events free of charge. To learn more about our programming, please click the 2025 Schedule button at the top of this page.

For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room. The DoubleTree is essentially sold out, but you can click here for nearby hotels. If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address below.

Remember, in addition to your membership in PulpFest 2025, you’ll also be a member of Doc Con XXI, ERBFest 2025, and Farmercon XX. That’s four conventions for one price! You can’t beat that deal.

If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, our dealers’ room is full. However, we are considering adding tables in the pre-function hallway outside of the dealers’ room. These tables will cost $125 each and will be guarded by security overnight. If you are interested, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com to be added to our waiting list.

For more on Edgar Rice Burroughs and his creations, please visit our YouTube Channel.

 

And while you’re there, be sure to subscribe.

Our featured image is excerpted from Joe Jusko’s dust jacket art for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth volume in the author’s Barsoom Saga, part of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library.

Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from Douglas C. Klauba’s dust jacket art for Gauntlet of Mars, written by Chris L Adams. It’s the fourteenth volume in the Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs series.

Our final image is the dust jacket art for Win Scott Eckert’s Korak at the Earth’s Core, the opening segment of the “Dead Moon Super-Arc,” part of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe. The dust wrapper was created by E. M. Gist.

Norman Bean is an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan who joined our staff of volunteer post-writers in August 2023. Norm has written about conventions, “pulp paleontology,” our dealers, and, of course, ERBFest and ERB himself. We look forward to his continued contributions.

Trademarks The Land That Time Forgot®, Caspak™, Caprona™, Tarzan®, Tarzan of the Apes®, Jane Porter®, Korak™, John Carter®, John Carter of Mars®, A Princess of Mars®, Barsoom®, Pellucidar®, David Innes™, Carson of Venus®, Carson Napier™, Amtor™, Beyond the Farthest Star™, The Moon Maid™, Va-nah™, The Monster Men™, Victory Harben™, Weird Worlds™, Edgar Rice Burroughs®, Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe™, ERB Universe™, and Master of Adventure™ Owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Associated logos, characters, names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

Read Between the Stars (a sci-fi/fantasy book fair) on Saturday, October 4

Pleased to announce that I'll be an attending author at Read Between the Stars (a sci-fi/fantasy book fair) on Saturday, October 4 at the Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, CO!

• www.instagram.com/read.between.the.stars/
• www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575833691166
• www.readbetweenthestars.com/

Admission is free!

I will have signed copies on hand of: 

• Tarzan: Battle for Pellucidar
• Korak at the Earth's Core
• The Monster on Hold
• Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2025 

Thanks and see you then!

Todd Luck on YouTube says: "Korak at the Earth’s Core is up for Preorder! NEW Tarzan Family novel!"

 Todd Luck on YouTube says: "Korak at the Earth’s Core is up for Preorder! NEW Tarzan Family novel!"

Korak at the Earth's Core - Book 1 of the Dead Moon Super-Arc - NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!

Korak is back in his first novel-length adventure since 1916’s The Son of Tarzan

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 (Tarzana, California) A brand-new Super-Arc in the groundbreaking Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe series launches with Korak at the Earth’s Core by Win Scott Eckert! All three novels of the Dead Moon Super-Arc will be written by Eckert and encompass an epic, interconnected saga featuring the daring family members of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ legendary Lord of the Jungle in the savage inner world of Pellucidar.

Preorders of Korak at the Earth’s Core may now be placed directly from ERB, Inc. Softcover and hardcover editions, as well as a limited Collector’s Edition with a signed bookplate, will be available in a simultaneous release. Korak at the Earth’s Core features gorgeous wraparound cover art by the renowned artist E. M. Gist.

The novel is expected to ship to customers in February 2024.

The Dead Moon Super-Arc Begins...

Korak the Killer, jungle-raised son of Tarzan of the Apes, sets off into the wilds of the prehistoric world at the Earth’s core to rescue his daughter Suzanne Clayton, who has gone missing in the mysterious Land of Awful Shadow. But when the airship O-220 is hijacked, Korak and his Mangani friend Akut are stranded and must fight their way across the perilous lands and seas of Pellucidar. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Korak’s mate Meriem, also racing to save Suzanne, risks everything in a perilous gambit to quickly reach the inner world.

And what of the enigmatic Dead Moon, the pendant world that hangs eternally above the Land of Awful Shadow and is taboo to the Stone Age peoples of Pellucidar? Will the Dead World give up its secrets as Korak and Meriem search for Suzanne—or will it spell their doom?

Bonus Novelette:
 “Pellucidar: Dawn of the Deathslayer” by Christopher Paul Carey

When citizens on the far frontier of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar begin to go missing, a lone warrior with nothing left to lose sets off to investigate. But the dark secret he finds lying in the Charnel Caves beneath the Forest of Death will lay bare the past he seeks to escape and awaken that for which he could never be prepared.

KORAK AT THE EARTH'S CORE - Book One of the Dead Moon Super-Arc

It's official! Announced at San Diego ComicCon 2022!

Book One of The Dead Moon Super-Arc, KORAK AT THE EARTH'S CORE by Win Scott Eckert, releasing 2023 from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.! A brand-new Pellucidar trilogy, and the first Korak novel since Edgar Rice Burroughs' THE SON OF TARZAN!

I'm so excited to be writing this trilogy! Thanks to Christopher Paul Carey, Cathy Mann Wilbanks, Jim Sullos, and the whole team at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.!  Book One is coming out next year from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company Mr. Burroughs established to publish his own work.

The novel, part of the company’s “Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe” line of canonical tales, is a follow-up to my novel TARZAN: BATTLE FOR PELLUCIDAR, and will send Tarzan’s son Korak to the inner world at the Earth’s core, a land Burroughs wrote about in seven novels of his Pellucidar series.

• Book One will also heavily feature Meriem, Korak's wife.
• Book Two: PROVISIONAL title: PELLUCIDAR: LAND OF AWFUL SHADOW - starring Suzanne Clayton (Korak's daughter), Korak's grandson (a new character), and a major new Waziri character
• Book Three: PROVISIONAL title: TARZAN UNLEASHED - starring Tarzan and Jane

Sign up for the Edgar Rice Burroughs email newsletter (top right corner of main page on www.edgarriceburroughs.com) to keep up with the latest release information!

2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration

Yesterday morning, I was pleased to chat with the fine folks at KNOE 8 News here in Monroe, LA, about the upcoming 2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration, in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018.

Click here to watch video

As a part of this television interview, I was given permission by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., to announce that I will be an authorized Burroughs writer! The working title for my novel is Korak at the Earth's Core, and is tentatively slated for late 2019, as I am first working on my collaborative novel with Philip José Farmer, The Monster on Hold. To say I'm over the moon about writing an authorized Burroughs novel is a vast understatement--the world at the Earth's Core is my favorite ERB series, and I'm thrilled that I'll be able to contribute to it. 


The Dum Dum event, celebrating 100 years since the 1918 release of the first Tarzan movie, which was filmed in Morgan City, is co-sponsored by the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Burroughs Bibliophiles.

At the Dum Dum, I'll be giving a talk about Burroughs' influence on another famous science fiction author, Philip José Farmer, on Friday, August 3, at 2:00 PM. And I'll have a table in the Dealer's Room at which I'll be selling the new Meteor House edition of Farmer's authorized novel Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (available for the first time in hardcover!), as well as some of my other books.

It will be a fun time, with guest speakers, dinners, a dealer's room, a swamp tour, and self-guided movie location driving tour. Check it out!

The Chronologically Confounding Case of Korak the Killer

As I mentioned in a prior post, Sunday-style color comic strips are available on www.edgarriceburroughs.com.

I've read the Korak the Killer strip, written by well-known comic book scribe Ron Marz. This is a new, original tale in which Korak agrees to help Princess Nemu, whom he encounters in the jungle as she searches for Tarzan. Tarzan is away from Africa, and so Korak agrees to help her by returning with her to her hidden city of Memnon to free it from usurpers/slavers.

Memnon first appeared in Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-Woman (Dark Horse Comics /DC Comics, 2000), which took place in November 1939. Princess Khefretari of Memnon was the titular “Cat-Woman” of the title. I noted this crossover at http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron7.htm and in my book Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, Volume 1 (Black Coat Press, 2010). Batman/Tarzan was also written by Ron Marz.

The Korak tale reveals that Princess Nemu is the daughter of now-Queen Khefretari. Nemu appears to be about 16 or 17, although this is purely a guess based on how she is depicted (although she is surely not younger than 16 or 17). Confoundingly, the usurpers are led by a soldier of the Reich—presumably the Third Reich. Batman/Tarzan undisputedly takes place in November 1939. The Korak tale cannot take place in the time range 1939-1945. The very earliest Nemu could have been born would be Sept 1940 (there was no evidence that Khefretari was pregnant in the Batman/Tarzan tale). Nemu is absolutely not four or five years old in the Korak tale; in fact, she and Korak almost share a romantic kiss. (We’ll come back to that.)

A creatively mythographical explanation for the timing is that the usurpers are of a type seen frequently in stories, holdover Nazis trying to rekindle former glories and establish a new Reich. With this interpretation, the Korak story could take place in 1956, ’57, ’58, etc. (depending on whether we readers ever learn more definitively that Nemu’s age is).

Now, about that kiss. This story absolutely cannot take place before Korak met Meriem in The Son of Tarzan [Third Reich story elements]. If the story takes place in the mid- or late-1950s, is Meriem dead by this time? Have they divorced? Was Korak about to “step-out” on Meriem? (The kiss was not completed; however, the storyline is not complete, so who knows what Mr. Marz has in store for Korak and Nemu.) Perhaps injecting a potential romance between Korak and Nemu was a misstep on the part of Mr. Marz. I should say I’m a fan of his work, such as the Batman/Tarzan series and his run on Witchblade.

The really cool parts… in strip #26, there is a panel in which the prior adventure in Memnon is discussed, stating that a treasure hunter was defeated by Korak’s father, including an “aided by a man who dressed like a bat.” (Nemu states that this took place before she was born, reinforcing the chronological discussion above.) In strip #33, the prior events are again discussed; Khefretari tells Korak shat she knew his father “years ago,” when Tarzan came to Memnon with “…another hero, an American”; in this panel, a Batman shadow-silhouette is seen, just like in the ’40s Golden Age Batman comics.


Cool stuff indeed. Despite the chronological conundrums and the uncharacteristic romantic interlude, I recommend this strip and have great hopes that Mr. Marz will not leave us hanging.