Let's YOU and Him fight

Just a thought for today!

Forgiveness

 

July 2, 2026 and ninety-six years ago on this day in 1932, actor Brock Peters who portrayed M’Kone in S02E08, The Last of the Supermen, Ron Ely Tarzan TV series, was born in Harlem. I first learned about Brock when he voiced Darth Vader on the PBS radio production of STAR WARS. He was awesome.  He appeared in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with Gregory Peck and in PORGY AND BESS. He played he reoccurring characters, Admiral Cartwright and Joseph Sisko, the father of the Commander Benjamin Sisko, Deep Space Nine, on Star Trek.

 

Read a review of the episode at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag74/7431.html#39

 

 In THE LAST OF THE SUPERMEN, M’Kone, played by Brock Peters, goes on a mission to kill the returned and unrepentant Nazis that killed his wife and young son. The episode is a wonderful parable about the dangers of letting toxic people back into your life people who could care less about your forgiveness because they can’t ever imagine that they’ve done anything wrong.

 

The drabble for today, “Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing,” was inspired by THE LAST OF THE SUPERMEN and a Georgian proverb,  The message is clear, forgiveness is wasted on people who don’t acknowledge their bad behavior.

 

Jai said, “Why don’t you forgive the Nazis?”

 

M’Kone replied, “They never apologized for killing my wife and child. Since they don’t believe they’ve done anything wrong, my forgiveness means nothing to them.”

 

“But, I was taught that we should try to mend fences.”

 

“The only fence to be mended is the fence that keeps them out of our village. If you don’t have clear boundaries, their bad behavior will escalate. Kindness requires wisdom, Blind forgiveness invites more exploitation. ”

 

“Forgiveness won’t make them better people?“

 

“If you forgive the fox for killing your chickens, he will kill your sheep.”

#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.”