It's Convention Season!

I'll be attending two conventions, two weeks in a row!

First up is PulpFest 2018 / FarmerCon 100, held in Mars/Cranberry, PA, July 26-29, 2018. Not only am I an attendee, I'm also a FarmerCon organizer. And I'll be attending as a dealer, working at the Meteor House table as well as selling my own, non-Meteor House books.

Click here for the full PulpFest 2018 / FarmerCon 100 Programming Schedule

My panels:

Thursday, July 26

10:45 – 11:15 PM — FarmerCon 100: World Building and Writing in the Nine Continuity (Win Scott Eckert & Frank Schildiner, moderated by Paul Spiteri)

Friday, July 27

2:30 – 3:05 PM — FarmerCon 100: An Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke (Chuck Loridans, Christopher Paul Carey, & Win Scott Eckert)

Saturday, July 28

12:30 – 1:45 PM — FarmerCon 100: Farmer Jam (all members of FarmerCon 100 and PulpFest 2018 are welcome to read from their favorite Philip José Farmer work or reminisce about the author and his work)

2:55 – 3:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: Reading Duet (featuring New Fictioneers Win Scott Eckert & Frank Schildiner)


9:10 – 9:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: The Dark Heart of Loki: Philip José Farmer Revisits 1918 (Christopher Paul Carey & Win Scott Eckert, moderated by Paul Spiteri)

~ ~ ~

The next weekend is the 2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration, held in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018.

Click here to watch video

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.

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.

My panel:

Friday, August 3

2:00 PM — I'll be giving a talk about Burroughs' influence on another famous science fiction author: From ERB to PJF: How Burroughs Inspired Philip José Farmer

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!

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time – Now in Hardcover!

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time

by Philip José Farmer

Meteor House, as a part of the yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Philip José Farmer, is thrilled to announce the first hardcover publication of his authorized Tarzan novel, Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time—a book that takes place in 1918, the year of Farmer’s birth!

One of the most famous heroes in literature is back! Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, returns with a vengeance in this action-packed adventure by Philip José Farmer, Hugo Award winner, Nebula Grand Master, and author of the incredible Riverworld saga.

Tarzan’s beloved mate, Jane, has been kidnapped, and the furious ape-man will let nothing stand in the way of rescuing her—not even a sinister safari whose target is Tarzan himself. With fierce Masai trackers leading the chase, a trio of white hunters are hellbent on capturing the Jungle Lord. But as the pursuers, and their uncanny half-human tracker, close in from behind, Tarzan races toward even greater danger ahead.

For the trail leads to a bizarre, long-forgotten land boasting a multitude of strange and terrifying mysteries: the City Built by God, the Hideous Hunter, the One to Avoid, and most shocking of all, the Crystal Tree of Time—whose seductive powers could ultimately spell Tarzan’s doom . . .

Philip José Farmer, a descendant of the actual Greystoke family, and a recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion Award, bestowed by the Burroughs Bibliophiles at the 1970 Dum-Dum, is famous for his adventure novels starring Tarzanic characters. Now, in Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time, authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Farmer lends his vast imagination to the legend of the Lord of the Apes himself!

~   ~   ~  ~  ~

In addition, this handsome new edition, which sports a gorgeous painted cover by well known Burroughs artist Mark Wheatley, a new Foreword by longtime Burroughs scholar Robert R. Barrett, and a new Introduction by Farmer expert Win Scott Eckert, will also be released in a trade paperback edition.

Now accepting preorders, the book will be released at FarmerCon 100, held in conjunction with PulpFest 2018 in Pittsburgh, PA, July 26-29, 2018. As always, readers who preorder and attend FarmerCon/PulpFest can pick up their copies there—and as an added bonus, get them signed by Wheatley and Eckert! All other copies will ship immediately after FarmerCon 100.

I will also have copies available at my table at the Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum 2018 & Tarzan Celebration, in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018. The event, celebrating 100 years since the release of the first Tarzan movie, which was filmed in Morgan City, is cosponsored by the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Burroughs Bibliophiles.

Trademarks TARZAN(R)  and EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS(R) owned by EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, INC., and Used By Permission.

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.

Edgar Rice Burroughs - the new "Sunday" comic strips

Many of my readers may know that on the Official Edgar Rice Burroughs site, there are ongoing comic strips of various ERB series and characters, done in the style of a weekly color Sunday strip. Some strips feature new stories, and some are adaptations of ERB novels. The strips are available by monthly or annual subscription at the site.

The Pellucidar strip tells a new tale of the ongoing adventures of David Innes and family, and some of the Sunday installments featured a crossover with Tarzan. Perhaps this is not such a big deal, given that ERB himself crossed-over the two series in the novel Tarzan at the Earth's Core, and the two series also crossed over many times in authorized comic books and prior Sunday strips (these crossovers are documented in my Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, Volume 1 and Volume  2, Black Coat Press, 2010).

The first storyline in the New Adventures of Tarzan strip, by veteran comics scribe Roy Thomas, features La and the beast-men of Opar, as well as Jane, and D'Arnot. No date is given, but the second storyline picks up straight from the first, and it is noted as the "late 1940s." Now, many Wold Newton fans know that Tarzan visited Opar in 1946 and found it deserted;* there was no sign of La, or anyone else, as noted in Philip José Farmer's Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke.** But based on the new Sunday strips, it appears that La somehow returned a few years after 1946. I am sure that a creatively mythographical explanation will arise for all this.

Of note, the second New Adventures of Tarzan storyline features crossovers with ERB's The Monster Men (a granddaughter of Professor Maxon) and H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau! (The latter is in the public domain, so no issues there.)

This is not the first time that a Tarzan comic featured a crossover with The Monster Men. As I noted in Crossovers 2:

TARZAN AND THE MONSTER MEN
Tarzan encounters the nephew of Professor Maxon, the creator of the original Monster Men, and battles a new generation of the monstrous creatures.
Story by Don Glut, Danny Bulanadi, and Dave Stevens, edited by Russ Manning, in Tarzan Weekly #2 and 3, June 18 and 25, 1977. The story brings the events of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel The Monster Men into the Crossover Universe.


*Perhaps this mystery will be explained in an authorized Tarzan story someday! 

**I am of course fully aware that Mr. Farmer, in Tarzan Alive, identified Tarzan at the Earth's Core as a "fictional" adventure of Lord Greystoke. And yet, in his timeline of the Ape Man's life, he noted the date when it would have occurred, had the events been true. Other than Tarzan, Pellucidar is my favorite ERB series and I am loathe to dismiss it from my own interpretation of the Wold Newton Universe or the larger Crossover Universe. Perhaps Mr. Farmer's love of all things ERB compelled him to note the date for Tarzan at the Earth's Core, despite the fact that it may have contradicted the realistic biographical premise of Tarzan Alive.

pic o' the day

As promised, Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair swag...

pic o' the day

As promised, Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair swag...