Revisiting the Lost Worlds of ERB

Since the last post over a month ago, I have been reading and re-watching stuff to inspire my “Island in the Hidden Sea of Fire” project.

The Land That Time Forgot and At The Earth’s Core

I consider “The Land That Time Forgot” and “At The Earth’s Core” by Edgar Rice Burroughs as the essential foundation for any sort of “Lost World” setting.

I think you can’t go wrong with ERB as inspirational materials for any sort of “adventure setting.”

Next time, Post #150, in which I hope to have something more substantial to say.

Old School Summer Reading

Here is a picture of the older SF & Fantasy books I have acquired in the last couple of months to add to my collection.

Now that I am done with school & clinicals, this should give me something to do while I search for first job in new career.

Old School SF & Fantasy Books

Maybe 20 years ago I did read Hal Clement’s “Mission of Gravity” borrowed from the library, and I did read Poul Anderson’s “Vault of the Ages” as soon as I got my hands on it a couple weeks ago.

Other than those I have not previously read any of these, despite amassing I’d guesstimate 400+ SF and fantasy books over the last 30 years.

May 2015 Update

In the last month I have been very busy doing clinical hours and studying for certification test. Only a couple more weeks to go!

I did update the Big Page O’RPG Blog Links to over 100 links.

I also followed up April’s “Post-Apoc Movie Week” by reading some 1980’s post-apoc fiction: Paul O, Williams’ “The Ends of the Circle” which is Book 2 of “The Pelbar Cycle.” Had read Book 1 “The Storming of Northwall” a few months earlier. This is a very interesting series with a lot of details of various cultures large and small that exist in its future world.

Then I read the first 3 books of Patrick Tilley’s “Amtrak Wars” series: “Cloud Warrior” (which I had never read before), “The First Family” and “Iron Master” (the latter two I have had since about 1990 or so, just never had the first book until now). This is not on the same level as The Pelbar Cycle by any means, but it too depicts several competing cultures in the post-apoc future, with a lot more emphasis on intrigues and some sort of “magic” (which may very well turn out to be some kind of psionic abilities in later books).

Have also gotten quite a number of old SF / fantasy books for future reading. I already have a collection ranging into several hundred books, but there were some things I was not able to get back in the day due to lack of money as a teenager, and by the time I had some money all my local bookstores kept going out of business (not to mention publishers gradually abandoning the idea of an keeping the backlist in print).

In a few weeks I will be done with schooling and then it’s on to the job search. Hopefully at some point after that I might actually get a chance to participate in some actual gaming!

Post-Apoc Movie Week: Day 4

For the 4th and last day of my post-apoc movie binge, I will be watching:

Def-Con4 & Hell Comes to Frogtown

I have certainly seen “Frogtown” a few times in the past, so have saved it for last.

Post-Apoc Movie Week: Day 3

Up for watching today is something I didn’t know existed until about a year ago – the 1982 remake of “She” starring Sandahl Bergman set in a post-apocalyptic world.

She (1982)

I managed to find an old VHS copy, but it has bad tracking issues and I don’t have the equipment to make it viewable (all I’ve got is a DVD / VHS combo unit without any sort of manual tracking adjustment).

So eventually turned to an “unofficial source.” Didn’t want to, but since never released on DVD in Region 1 had no other viable option. Would have gladly paid more for an official release if could get one.