Thursday, July 23, 2009

Furlough on Mars

I spent last week on unpaid furlough. I wasn't crazy about lack of pay, but I sure enjoyed the time off with my wife and daughter. We went to a local farm & wildlife sanctuary, had a cookout and other fun things. A few home projects were in the mix, too. (Stained some woodwork in our living room, little bit of garage cleanup, fixed a sprinkler head.) The weather was great for the entire week.

I did not read or write nearly as much as I hoped - but I did read. And yes - I wrote!

I am now 2000 words into a story. I'm back on the wagon and shaking off the rust! I'm sure it will need good editing when the rough draft is done, but at least I am writing and have been getting my a.i.c. time. (ass-in-chair [in front of computer])

For reading, I finished Otis Adelbert Kline's The Swordsman of Mars.



It was good, solid sword-n-planet. It hits all the s-&-p notes; body transference, swordplay, a princess & a savage girl, baridium mines & quirky inventions and scary, large creatures that have dog-like loyalty to their heroic masters. Technically I found it more appealing than E R Burroughs Mars tales. But I'll admit ERB certainly populated his setting with more imaginative creatures.

Definitely worth reading if you like sword-n-planet. Paizo has also published the sequel, The Outlaws of Mars, which I have already purchased and will be reading in future.


That's all for now, (few) loyal readers!

6 comments:

  1. I have both these and have read them both. I liked 'em pretty well, but preferred ERB's series more. Kline also wrote a Venus series, Planet of Peril, Port of Peril, and Prince of Peril. I liked these better than his Mars ones. They're definitely S & P as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charles - Yes, I'd heard about Kline's Venus tales as well. Planet of Peril is still available through Amazon because Wildside published it not too long ago. (I'm also wondering if Paizo will pick them up in future.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good for you, but I've never heard of "relations" being referred to as "Staining some woodwork in our living room".

    ReplyDelete
  4. Have you ever read 'Gulliver of Mars' by Edwin L. Arnold? It was originally published in 1905 under the title 'Lt. Gulliver Jones: His Vacation', and has been considered inspiration for ERB's John Carter series (though it's never been proven AFAIK). I managed to snag the ACE release in the early 60's, though I understand it was re-released around 2003.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bruce - no, haven't heard of that. I might check it out sometime. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete