July 15, 2025 and 120 years ago on this day in 1905, Maurice Gardner, writer of the Bantan novels and charter member of the Burroughs Bibliophiles was born in Portland, Maine. Maurice was a contributor to several issues of the Burroughs Bulletin.
Maurice was a machinist for a Maine railroad and author of the Bantan series of novels, set on a South Pacific Island, but directly influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose Tarzan books he began reading at an early age; the series began with “Bantan, God-Like Islander” in 1936; and ends with “The New Adventures of Bantan.” I’ve read six of them, and I have to say that they are a tough read.
Gardner’s article, “Why I wrote the Bantam Novels,” may be read int its entirety at:
https://www.erbzine.com/mag15/1523.html#WHY%20I%20WROTE%20THE%20BANTAN
This link will take you to reproductions of the original
mimeographed Burroughs Bulletins editions published by Vern Coriel. Maurice has several articles in them.
Here’s the drabble for today, “I Read It in the Pulps, was written by Maurice Gardner and edited for length to fit the 100 word drabble format.
“I have been asked by the editor of “Pulp Era” how and why I have written ten BANTAN novels and what affect reading the works of ERB had on my writing. Since the age of 13, when I first read the serial installments of “Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar,” I proceeded to obtain the other similar weeklies, also the old All Story Monthlies that contained the author's works. Meanwhile, I was following his current serialized works as well. What I appreciated mostly about his stories was his vivid imagination, and his manner of telling the stories made them plausible.”
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