Tarzan: Battle for Pellucidar - Book 2 of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe Super-Arc!

The Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe was announced at the Burroughs panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 19, 2019!

THE FIRST UNIVERSE OF ITS KIND

A century before the term “crossover” became a buzzword in popular culture, Edgar Rice Burroughs created the first expansive, fully cohesive literary universe. Coexisting in this vast cosmos was a pantheon of immortal heroes and heroines—Tarzan of the Apes®, Jane Clayton™, John Carter®, Dejah Thoris®, Carson Napier™, and David Innes™ being only the best known among them. In Burroughs’ 80-plus novels, their epic adventures transported them to the strange and exotic worlds of Barsoom®, Amtor™, Pellucidar®, Caspak™, and Va-nah™, as well as the lost civilizations of Earth and even realms beyond the farthest star. Now the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe expands in an all-new series of canonical novels written by today’s talented authors!

EdgarRiceBurroughsUniverse.com

ERBUniverse.com

San Diego Comic-Con 2019: Tarzan, John Carter,

and the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe

Some people say that San Diego Comic-Con is the convention that Jack Kirby built. I’m sure that a lot of other creators had a hand in the source material that inspired this crazy pop culture event, but if we are being completely honest, this is the house, the con, and the community that Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired.

That’s right, a line can be drawn from almost every superhero, science-fiction or fantasy icon that is celebrated at this very circus right back to Burroughs’ pulp creations of John Carter of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes. 

These days this pop culture history is mostly glossed over and rarely mentioned, but for many of us, Friday is Burroughs Day at Comic-Con, the day of ERB, Inc’s rollout of everything new coming down the pike in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe, as today’s panel revealed is the actual name of the brand going forward. 

The Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe will feature upcoming novels based on Burroughs’ worlds and characters, but with cohesive new stories that will expand on the original tales and be a part of official canon. 

The new books will be authored by talented storytellers and will be connected by what is being called “The Super-Arc.” 

Book one will be written by Matt Betts and will be called Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds. 

The second book will be Tarzan: Battle for Pellucidar, written by Win Scott Eckert. Mister Eckert was present at the panel and promised his tale would include the Ape Man fighting WWII Nazis riding dinosaurs. 

Book number three will be John Carter of Mars: Gods of the Forgotten, written by Geary Gravel. 

Book four will introduce a new character, Victory Harben, in a tale called Victory Harben: Fires of Halos, written by Christopher Paul Carey, who is also spearheading the book series as ERB, Inc’s new Director of Publishing.

NERDVANA

Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Video Games, News & Reviews

TARZAN: BATTLE FOR PELLUCIDAR

by Win Scott Eckert

The Lord of the Jungle returns to the Earth’s core on a mission to stop the Nazis from obtaining a powerful superweapon. But when the ape-man’s murderous adversaries partner with Pellucidar’s routed reptilian overlords, can Tarzan prevent the conquest and enslavement of all humanity in both the inner and outer worlds?

WIN SCOTT ECKERT is the legacy author of science-fiction Grand Master Philip José Farmer’s Patricia Wildman series, as well as the coauthor with Farmer of the upcoming Doc Caliban novel, The Monster on Hold. Eckert’s other professional credits include authorized tales of Zorro, the Phantom, Honey West, the Avenger, and the Green Hornet.

Additional Information

It was also announced that certain previously published authorized Burroughs novels by other writers—specifically  Philip José Farmer’s Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time and Fritz Leiber’s Tarzan and the Valley of Gold—while not a part of the new Super-Arc, are considered official canonical novels in terms of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe (ERBU). A new first hardcover edition of Leiber’s novel is soon forthcoming, published by ERB, Inc., while I was very pleased to take the editorial lead in bringing to fruition the first hardcover edition of Farmer’s novel for Meteor House in 2018 (also available in trade paperback and ebook):

hardcover/trade paperback direct from Meteor HouseKindleNook

*San Diego Comic-Con photos courtesy Ric Bretschneider

Everything Is Connected: The Wold Newton Cycle of Win Scott Eckert

While I would prefer that readers discover on their own the deeply interconnected nature of my seemingly unrelated tales, I’ve come to realize that this is not the wisest marketing strategy in terms of enticing new readers to take a chance on my stories, so I’ve created an outline illustrating how my tales are linked, both to each other and to the works of Philip José Farmer (I’ve noted the latter to avoid confusion). 

It should go without saying that all are connected in varying degrees to Farmer’s Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, but there you go, I’ve said it anyway.

Publication info is available on my site’s bibliography.

I’ve tried to keep this relatively spoiler free, but in identifying the connective tissue, there’s no avoiding mild spoilers. The vast majority of readers are not picking up on the links anyway, so really, what do I have to lose by disclosing some high-level spoilers?

Each and every crossover is not listed. That’s what my Crossovers, Volumes 1 & 2, and Sean Lee Levin’s Crossovers Expanded, Volumes 1 & 2, are for.

Following are recurring antagonists and the aliases used in various stories (if a character is unlicensed, aliases or descriptive hints are used):

·         XauXaz / Wolf Larsen / Baron Ulf von Waldman / Baron von Hessel / Doctor Karl Walden  / Doctor Karl Stipier

·         Doctor Natas / Doctor Shan Ming Fu (Doctor Fu Manchu)

·         Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu / “The Countess” / Lilya Zarov

·         Madame Inga (Fah Lo Suee)

·         Dame Sinestre (Sumuru)

_________________________________

2070–12,000 BCE–2140

Time’s Last Gift (Farmer)

Protagonist: John Gribardsun

Other: time travel

Approximately 10,000 BCE

The Khokarsa/Ancient Opar cycle by Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey. I won’t recap all the tales here, since Carey has already created a handy checklist.

1795

“Is He in Hell?”

Protagonist: The Scarlet Pimpernel (Sir Percy Blakeney)

Antagonist: Leonox

Other: Eridaneans; the Heart of Ahriman

“Nadine’s Invitation”

Protagonists: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family

Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

“The Wild Huntsman”

Protagonist: John Gribardsun

Antagonist: XauXaz

Other: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family; the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters; time travel; the Secrets of the Nine series

1798

“Marguerite’s Tears”

Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and the first generation of the Wold Newton Family

Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1815

“Violet’s Lament”

Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and Violet Blakeney

Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1820

“Zorro’s Rival”

Protagonist: Zorro (Don Diego de la Vega)

Antagonist: El Halcón (Violette Durand aka Violet Blakeney)

1872

The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (Farmer)

Protagonist: Phileas Fogg

Antagonist: Captain Nemo/Professor Moriarty

Other: the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters

“Being an Account of the Delay in Green River, Wyoming of Phileas Fogg, World Traveler”

Protagonists: Phileas Fogg and the Lone Ranger

Antagonist: Doctor Shan Ming Fu

1893
The Sea Wolf (Jack London)
Antagonist: Wolf Larsen


1895

“The Problem of the Sore Bridge—Among Others” (Farmer)

Protagonists: A. J. Raffles and Harry “Bunny” Manders

Antagonist: alien shapeshifter (“a worm unknown to science”)

1899

“No Ghosts Need Apply”

Protagonists: The Phantom; Barker and Nash

Antagonist: Colonel Sebastian Moran

Other: John Gribardsun

1916

The Adventure of the Peerless Peer (Farmer)

Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson

Antagonist: Von Bork

1917

“The Adventure of the Fallen Stone”

Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson

Antagonists: Von Bork and Baron Ulf von Waldman

1918

Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure (Farmer)

Protagonist: Clark Savage (James Clarke Wildman)

Antagonists: Baron von Hessel and Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu

Other: “a worm unknown to science”

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (Farmer)

Protagonist: Tarzan

Antagonists: Jelke Helmson and James D. Stonecraft

Other: The Crystal Tree; time travel

1920–1921

Ironcastle (J.-H. Rosny and Farmer)

Protagonist: Hareton Ironcastle

1929

“Iron and Bronze” (with Christopher Paul Carey)

Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Hareton Ironcastle

Antagonists: Harry Killer and Antinea

1937

“Captain Midnight at Ultima Thule”

Protagonist: Captain Midnight
Antagonists: Sun Koh and Madame Inga

1939

Tarzan and the Castaways (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
Antagonist?: Captain Larsen

1941

“Shadows Over Kunlun”

Protagonist: Lance Star
Antagonist: Doctor Natas
Other: Madame Inga

1944

“The Glass Lady”

Protagonists: Richard Benson (The Avenger) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)

Antagonists: Werner Conrad, the Iron Skull, and the Iron Skull’s daughter, Lenni Blau-Montag

“Death and the Countess”

Protagonist: Richard Benson (The Avenger)

Antagonist: The Countess

1945

“Happy Death Men”

Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)

Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)

“According to Plan of a One-Eyed Trickster”

Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)

Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)

Other: alien shapeshifter/human hybrid (see “Sore Bridge”)

1946

“Toil and Trouble”

Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)

Antagonists: The Iron Skull, Lenni Blau-Montag, and Doctor Karl Walden

“The Eye of Oran”

Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman), “Shrinking” Violet Holmes, and Adélaïde Lupin

Antagonist: Doctor Natas

“Les Levres Rouges”

Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Adélaïde Lupin

Antagonist: Madame Elisabeth (Countess Erzsébet Báthory)

1948

“Dame Sinestre”

Protagonists: The Green Ghost (George Chance) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)

Antagonists: Leonox and Dame Sinestre

Other: the Heart of Ahriman

1949

“The Vanishing Devil”

Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman)

Antagonist: Doctor Natas

1964

“Fang and Sting”

Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato

Antagonists: Doctor Shan Ming Fu and his granddaughter, Doctor Isabella Fang

1965

“The Atomos Affair”

Protagonists: Alexander Waverly, Napoleon Solo, and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named)

Antagonist: Mme. Atomos

1967

A Girl and Her Cat (with Matthew Baugh)

Protagonists: Honey West and T.H.E. Cat

Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu, Isabella Fang, and Doctor Karl Stipier

Other: Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named); distorters

1973

“Progress”

Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato

Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu and Isabella Fang

 

1973

The Evil in Pemberley House (Farmer and Eckert)

Protagonist: Patricia Wildman

Antagonists: The Dowager Duchess of Greystoke, Doctor Augustus Moran, other family members

Other: Doctor James Clarke Wildman and Adélaïde Lupin Wildman; Violet Holmes; Helen Benson; Jelke Helmson

1974

The Scarlet Jaguar

Protagonists: Pat Wildman, Parker, and Helen Benson

Antagonist: The Scarlet Jaguar

Other: Doc Wildman and Adélaïde Wildman; Violet Holmes; Doctor von Hessel

Honey West & T.H.E. Cat - More reviews!

The reviews keep coming in for A Girl and Her Cat!

• Signed, limited edition hardcover (available now!) - Direct Order from Moonstone
• Trade paperback (preorder - coming in June 2014) - Amazon

Very nice review from Off the Presses over at Diamond Galleries!

This is a light and breezy, action packed story that takes you right into the world of one of the most classic female action heroes of the last half decade.

The action rolls right through the story and the heroes are more than up to whatever comes their way. From fighting biker gangs to hotel brawls and over to slipping into a fortress of a mansion, Honey West and T.H.E Cat never once fail to rise to the occasion.

In the style of a classic detective novel they may get threatened a lot and even more than beat up a bit along the way, but they throw back a shot and shrug it all off as part of the job.

We hear what Honey thinks about the men she deals with, we know her strengths and in the hands of Eckert and Baugh, she attains a much more complete persona than she may have done in the original setting.

Granted some of that has to do with the fact that they are writing in a time when standards are considerably different than the ones that the Ficklings originally worked in. Still, Eckert and Baugh breathe a new, modern life into a character who seldom betrayed her origins in the mindset of a fifties paperback detective.

Throughout the novel they create a complete and believable universe for Honey’s action and life. As with any good detective story there are a few coincidences and more than a few surprises. But nothing ever moves past the realm of the possible.

There are two extra features at the end of this new novel. First up Eckert builds a wonderful sense of logic to the timeline of Honey West’s life. With the first novel taking place in 1957, he is able to work across the other eight titles and create a near perfect order to her life. One that allows a reader to see the detective’s career and her adventures as part of a continuous whole.

In a second article Baugh affords T.H.E. Cat the same courtesy. By his own admission the writer has to work more on “deduction and guesswork” than facts available. But his method proves successful as what he showcases builds a convincing and relatively tight life for Cat.

A Girl and Her Cat is the perfect way for new readers to discover two of adventure fictions classiest and most classic characters. Old fans will be pleased with the way that Eckert and Baugh have retained Honey’s smoldering sensuality and tough demeanor while sacrificing nothing for the modern reader.

From pulp aficionado Chuck Loridans:

"Just emerged from a reading marathon! Starting Thursday night and continuing after work yesterday with David McDaniel's two Man From Uncle novels The Dagger Affair and The Rainbow Affair, Win Scott Eckert's two Green Hornet short stories from the various Moonstone anthologies and finishing up with the Hardback edition of Honey West and T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and Her Cat, co-written by my buds Win Scott Eckert andMatthew Baugh!!

If you love 60's Spy genre, you'll LOVE this book!

Very Wold Newton, but can also be enjoyed by ANYONE who just loves adventure and female heroes who NEVER take a backseat to the guys!

Great job guys!"

Finally, our friends over at Pulp Crazy have posted this awesome video review!

Honey West & T.H.E. Cat - Front & Back Cover

Very pleased with the overall design of A Girl and Her Cat. A very handsome package, if I do say so!

• Signed, limited edition hardcover (available now!) - Direct Order from Moonstone
• Trade paperback (preorder - coming in June 2014) - Amazon

Honey West & T.H.E. Cat - Reviewed!

Honey West and T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and Her Cat, was released just a few weeks ago and is racking up some nice reviews:

British Fantasy Society - reviewed by Dave Brezski:

"I'd been looking forward to this one for a while, so I was pleased to be offered an advance pdf to review.

Honey West is a female PI, originally introduced in This Girl For Hire (1957), by Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym “G.G. Fickling”. This was the first of a series of nine novels written between 1957 and 1964 (followed by a two book revival in 1971/72). Most people will be more familiar with the short-lived 1965-66 TV series, starring Anne Francis in the lead role....

Ex cat burglar turned bodyguard, T.H.E Cat is possibly less well-known, as there were no books. The TV series, starring Robert Loggia, ran for just 26 episodes in 1966/67.... 

As those familiar with the previous works of Win Scott Eckert would expect, the crossovers do not stop with the main two characters. There are quite a few other characters and places from assorted print, television and film sources, albeit thinly disguised for copyright reasons... I won't mention any others here, as that would spoil the fun to be had spotting them for yourselves. It would be easy, when shoehorning in these various pop-culture references, to mar the flow of the story. Thankfully, Eckert and Baugh are far too experienced to fall into that trap. All the extra character cameos are perfectly logical and, more importantly, it won't harm the story in the slightest if the reader doesn't manage to spot some, or even all of them. 

I really don't want to say too much about the actual story. I hate spoilers. Suffice to say that it's an excellent fast-paced adventure, and one that left me looking forward to more. As I have come to expect from both authors, the writing is of a high quality...."

Rick Lai, Pulp and Pop Culture Expert:

"Just finished HONEY WEST AND T.H.E CAT: A GIRL AND HER CAT by Win Scott Eckert and Matthew Baugh. It's a wild romp in the style of David McDaniel's MAN FROM UNCLE novels. Your appreciation of the novel will be higher if you are familiar with classic TV shows of the 1960's (the novel reveals the identity of Honey's descent from a television character with the same surname). The novel has strong connections to Win's Green Hornet fiction and "The Wild Huntsman" (available in TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE). Among the most clever crossovers are references to the films THE SATAN BUG (based on the novel of the same name by Alistair MacLean) and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (based on "Bad Time at Honda" by Howard Breslin). Both films starred Anne Francis who played Honey West on television. A must-read!"

• Check out what the wonderful TV of the Absurd site has to say: HONEY WEST TEAMS WITH T.H.E. CAT IN THIS BRAND NEW RETRO ROMP.
• I talk to SpyVibe about Honey/Cat and writing in general.

Honey West and T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and Her Cat

• Signed, limited edition hardcover (available now!) - Direct Order from Moonstone
• Trade paperback (preorder - coming in June 2014) - Amazon

Honey West & T.H.E. Cat: A GIRL AND HER CAT - Comps!

My comps of Honey West & T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and Her Cat have arrived and I couldn't be more pleased at how the book turned out. Many, many thanks to Moonstone, my co-author Matthew Baugh, and cover artist Doug Klauba.

Pics of the comps, and of the book in its proper chronological place within the Honey West series!

Limited Edition Signed Hardcover (Available NOW): Moonstone Books
Softcover (Preorder; coming June 2014): Amazon