“A Legend Among Usâ€
Forward By Author: DL Carrigo
America has been gifted with many extraordinary individuals over the last 200 plus years that have contributed their heart felt passion and valor, to shape and mold the ever changing American landscape of ambition, innovation and imagination, from impossible to possible. Edgar Rice Burroughs was truly one of these exceptional stand alone contributors to the American mentality that is driven forward today.
Film producers and directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, collaborators on many films together and considered film industry royalty, both claimed the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs as one of the main creative inspirations and imaginative influences through out their film careers.
Barely on this earth for just under 75 years, his literary contributions have found reaches into almost all facets of American media and entertainment through the years and continue stronger everyday with new generations of interest. Considered one of the world’s most popular authors of all time, his books alone have sold in the multi-millions of copies and have been translated into over 40 different languages.
The most fascinating thing about the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs is that when he actually started writing his first stories in 1910 about Mars and a character named “John Carterâ€, the civilized world was void of anything that even resembled something like “Science Fiction†in any form. His intricate descriptions and creative detail about flying war machines and their propulsion systems during a time when the “Wright Brothers†were barely off the ground and commercial flights were non-existent were mind numbing. His descriptive of other worlds through precise landscapes, infrastructures and character features, created a fictional reality that still hold our imaginations hostage today.
His veiled recognition as a literary icon remains true today when asked if one has read anything by “Burroughsâ€. Most don’t make the connection until the mentioning of “Tarzan†is announced because of its heavy Hollywood infamy. I discovered my first Edgar Rice Burroughs book “A Princess of Mars†in my mid twenties and fell hard to hoarding my new found treasure of adventuress imagination there after and always looked forward to the next story between the pages. The books and stories have become a precious family tradition, now passed from generation to generation.
Thank You, “Edâ€
BIO: Edgar Rice Burroughs 1875 - 1950
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in 1875, into a wealthy Chicago family, although he later claimed to have spent his childhood in Peking. During his early years, he attended several private schools and served in the military, where he first heard stories of battles with American Indians. He married Emma Hulbert in 1900, and spent the next decade in near-poverty, attempting various careers without success.
The turning point for Burroughs came in 1910, when he began writing for pulp magazines. A story called Under the Moons of Mars, which introduced the hero John Carter, was his first professional sale, published in 1912. All of Carter’s adventures were published in book form in 1917 as A Princess of Mars - the series eventually swelled to eleven titles. Burroughs’s other popular series included the Carson of Venus books, Pellucidar, and The Land that Time Forgot.
However, his most stunning success was the Tarzan series, beginning with Tarzan of the Apes in 1912. Burroughs eventually wrote 24 more Tarzan adventures, which were adapted into many films. In order to cover his financial losses, he wrote an average of three novels a year.
After serving as mayor of California Beach and a correspondent in the South Pacific during World War II, Burroughs died of a heart ailment on March 19, 1950. Although critics have labeled his novels badly-written, sexist and racist, they inspired a generation of adventure and science fiction writers and continue to be enjoyed today.
