#edgarriceburroughs - Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 10, 2025

 November 10, 2025 and fifty-one years ago on this day years ago in 1974, the Russ Manning scripted and illustrated Tarzan Sunday arc, Tarzan in the Valley of Mist, began. You can read the entire 14 week story arc at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2131.html. Many of the pages are from French versions of the Sunday page. The pages begin as full page versions and conclude as ½ pages. The story features a hot air balloon, that somehow works without a burner. It’s mistafying.

The drabble for today is, Play Misty For Me,” and it was inspired by the story arc.

Tarzan and Liz, the woman he rescued, emerged from the mist covered valley. Liz asked, “Are we safe? What kind of tree is this?”

“Don’t know. I think it’s a mist tree.”

"My friends were right behind us.”

Tarzan replied. “They tried to escape the billowing haze, but were too slow. They were mist taken.”

“Perhaps the natives in the valley took them. We have to go back.”

“No. The tribe’s leader, the mist chief means trouble. I was mist guided and mist took him for an honorable man. I don’t know the way.”

“Why, has it been mist placed?”

#edgarriceburroughs = Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 9, 2025

 November 9, 2025 and twenty-six years ago on this day in 1999, “Dark Horse Comics” published “Tarzan: The Rivers of Blood #1.” A Bill Ross article about the Dark Horse “Tarzan Comics” is available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag11/1156.html

The creative team behind it was a pair of Croats, artist Igor Kordej (or Kordey as he rendered his name for the English-speaking market) and writer Neven Antičević. The story takes Tarzan from his home in the jungles of Africa to Vienna and then to Zurich, first seeking aid from Sigmund Freud and then finally Carl Jung to help a mentally distressed Jane, who was put under a spell by a powerful magician. It was supposed to have a total of eight issues, but was cancelled after the fourth, apparently due to low sales.

Even so, Antičević had fully scripted the series, and Kordej had completed the art, i.e., both pencils and inks, for the fifth, sixth and first half of the seventh issues, and he had also done the roughs for the rest of the seventh and all of the eighth issue. And all that material sat around for a decade and a half, when a Belgrade-based publisher, System Comics, notified Kordej and Antičević that it had managed to get a license for a Serbian edition of Rivers of Blood, with the express intention of publishing the entire story and any extra materials. So in 2015 this lovely, oversized hardcover edition – or, as Kordej put it at the time, “one single, big, fat amazing book!” – was released:

The drabble for today, “Where the Wild Things Poop,” was inspired by the story, Tarzan: The Rivers of Blood.” Nothing like a little potty humor to start the day.

Sigmund Freud said, “So Mr. Greystoke, you’re here because you’ve decided that your wife is crazy.”

“That’s Lord Greystoke.”

“Lord?”

“Yes, and I’m the king of the jungle.”

“Interesting. You think that you’re a lord and a king, but that your wife is the one who’s crazy. Let’s not talk about your wife just yet.

Let’s talk about you. How well did you get along with your mother?"

“My mother died when I was an infant and I was raised in Africa by a tribe of great apes.”

“Mein Gott! I can’t imagine what your toilet training was like.”

#lurkinginthegenepool

 My paperback copies of the newest THREE COUSINS PUBLISHING anthology, LURKING IN THE GENE POOL arrived yesterday. I love it when a book looks better than I expected it to look. The anthology is available in hardcover and paperback from Amazon, Lulu, and from my online bookstore, but don't order it from the bookstore, Shopify isn't linking for purchase fulfillment and they want to charge everyone $32.00 for shipping. I've got almost as many hours in trying to resolve that as I did in editing the the book.

The Kindle version is available from Amazon.

Today, we'd like to acknowledge one of our favorite authors, R. J. Meldum. His short story, THE COTTAGE BY THE TARN, is not doubt a product of his recent move to Ireland. I'm only a lot jealous.

R. J. Meldrum specializes in fiction that explores the world through a dark lens. His subject matter ranges from ghosts to serial killers and everything in-between. He has had over two hundred short stories and drabbles published in a variety of anthologies, e-zines and websites. He has had work published by Midnight Street Press, Culture Cult Press, Horrified Press, Infernal Clock, Trembling with Fear, Black Hare Press, Smoking Pen Press, Darkhouse Books, Breaking Rules Press, Kevin J Kennedy, West Mesa Press and James Ward Kirk Fiction. His short stories have been published in The Sirens Call e-zine, the Horror Zine and Drabblez magazine. His novellas “The Plague” and “Placid Point” were published by Demain Press in 2019 and 2021. He is a contributor to the Pen of the Damned.

#edgarirceburroughs - Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 7, 2026

 November 7, 2025 and one hundred and nine years ago on this day in 1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs anticipated his involvement in World War One and enrolled in the LA Riding Academy. Just an observation, but I don’t believe that very much of WW1 was fought on horseback. Ed wasn’t selected to fight in the War, but he served as an officer in the Illinois Militia during the war.

All of the major combatants in World War I began the conflict with cavalry forces. Imperial Germany stopped using them on the Western Front soon after the war began, but continued with limited use on the Eastern Front, well into the war. The Ottoman Empire used cavalry extensively during the war. On the Allied side, the United Kingdom used mounted infantry and cavalry charges throughout the war, but the United States used cavalry only briefly. Russia used cavalry forces on the Eastern Front but with limited success.

The famous "Charge of the Light Brigade" in 1854 made the futility of charging armed fortifications on horseback readily apparent.

The 100-word drabble for today, “Ride, Eddie, Ride,” was inspired by the riding refresher course.

The riding instructor said, “Mr. Burroughs, you’re a better horseman than I am. Tell me why you’re here.”

“Brushing up. There’s a war going on and I want to be ready.”

“Mr. Burroughs, I read the papers. Exactly what does horsemanship have to do with trench warfare, machine guns, and hand grenades?”

“Maybe nothing, but one thing that history teaches us is that every decision you make during war isn’t a good decision. The advantage of a good horse is that it can help you get out of trouble even faster than you got into it.”

“Right then. Saddle up.”

#edgarriceburroughs - Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 6, 2025

 November 6, 2025 an on this day 114 years ago in 1911, Edgar Rice Burroughs accepted an offer of $400>00 from All-Story Magazine for “Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess,” one of the many working titles for “A Princess of Mars.” Doesn’t seem like much, but $400.00 1n 1911 is about $13,800 today. That works out to about 19 cents a word in today's money - which is better than most magazines pay today. Other working titles were “The Green Martians,” “My First Adventure on Mars,” and of course, “Under the Moons of Mars.”

The check was dated November 15, 1911 and drawn on the Second National Bank of New York. It cleared.

A wealth of information about the novel and its genesis is available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html

The drabble for today, “You Know What You Know,” was inspired by that transaction.

“Emma,” said Edgar Rice Burroughs, “All-Story sent a contract for my Mars book. $400.00! The check will be here in less than then days.”

“They paid you four hundred dollars! Wonderful! Exactly what are they buying?”

“The story. They bought the story.”

“I read that there are lots rights and rules. Which ones did they buy?”

“Emma, I’m really not sure. I’ll do some research.”

“So, you don’t know what you’ve sold them.?”

I don’t know what I don’t know. I’ll find out. But one thing that I do know for certain is that we need the four hundred dollars.”

#edgarriceburroughs - Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 5, 2025

 November 5, 2025 and three years ago on this day in 2022 was the official launch of “Victory Harben: Fires of Halos by Christopher Paul Carey. Edgar Rice Burroughs Incorporated celebrated the day by opening their offices for a tour. The book is available from ERB Inc. Here’s some information from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Incorporated website.

Born in Pellucidar, the world at the Earth’s core, in 1932, Victory Harben is the daughter of Gretchen von Harben and the warrior Nadok of the Voraki tribe. From a young age, Victory studied under Abner Perry and Jason Gridley, from whom she learned a deep love for science. At age eleven, she underwent a life-changing experience when she ran away from home and encountered a Mahar named Tu-al-sa in the subterranean city of Mintra. Victory traveled for the first time to the outer crust soon after, determined to unlock the secrets of advanced mathematics and physics hinted at in the Mahar archives. After graduating with a Master’s degree in theoretical physics, Victory returned to Pellucidar at the behest of Jason Gridley to help solve the mystery of the Gridley Wave’s failure.

The 100-word drabble for today, “Fabric of Space,” is excerpted from a press release by ERB Inc. dated July 25, 2025. The press release has been slightly edited to be exactly 100 words long.

‘When a mysterious force catapults inventors Jason Gridley and Victory Harben from their home in Pellucidar and flinging them across space and time, they embark on a grand tour of strange, wondrous worlds. Their search for one another leads them to the realms of Amtor, Barsoom, and other worlds even more distant and outlandish, Jason and Victory meet heroes and heroines of unparalleled courage and ability: Carson Napier, Tarzan, John Carter, and more. With the help of their intrepid allies, Jason and Victory uncover a plot, insidious and unthinkable—one that threatens to tear apart the fabric of the universe!’

#edgarriceburroughs - Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs - November 4, 2025

 November 4, 2025, election day in New Mexico, and it’s reported that ninety-eight years ago on this day in 1927, Script Magazine published Ed’s travelogue, “Eleven Year Itch.” In commemoration of his family’s 1916 cross-country trip, the family traveled to the Grand Canyon North Rim. His 52nd birthday was spent in Arizona, as were his 21st and his 50th: The article Eleven Year Itch is written to describe the event. Unfortunately, I don’t have that issue and I can’t find the article electronically. I can’t even confirm that Script Magazine was published in 1927, I show the first issue with a 1929 date.

Since I can’t find the article, the drabble for today, “Check-In Time,” is entirely fictional. Well, almost, the information about the hotels is accurate.

“Dad,” said Hulbert. “It was a really hard drive to the north rim of the canyon. I can’t say that it looks differently than it does from the other side.”

“No, the other side has an hotel, the El Tovar.”

Joan said, “They’re building a hotel here. It’ll open next year. “Doesn’t do us any good. We’re here now.”

“True,” said Ed. “ The first man who saw the San Fernando Valley probably though someday this will be great city.”

“Excuse me if I don’t care to wait. No beans for me. I’d like a shower and a nice cabernet.”