I've been meaning to get into some sword and planet stuff for a while now, long before word of the upcoming John Carter movie hit the streets.
(And why can't they call the movie John Carter of Mars?! Just calling it John Carter seems really stupid.)
I was in the Barnes and Noble near my work today, and as I was heading back to work I spotted a really awesome-looking John Carter of Mars collection sitting in the bargain book area. Here's the cover:
Awesome, right?! I flipped through this thing and it is full of incredible illustrations, just a beautiful book! I am definitely going to go back and get it ASAP. It's good for me that the thing is a bargain book, but it makes me sad to see a big stack of beautifully-crafted classic collections going unsold. Maybe the movie will fuel some interested in the John Carter stories. If you can find this thing, take a look and tell me if you don't think it's sweet.
Note: I already have a Science Fiction Book Club collection of the books, but it don't look nothin' like the one pictured above!
On a related note, has anyone else heard of Warriors of the Red Planet? It's an RPG that seems to have been quietly under development for some time now. This also looks pretty darn cool! (UPDATE: I just figured out that Al of Beyond the Black Gate is the mind behind Warriors of the Red Planet! Duh, me!)
Oh, about the movie: what I've seen of the previews looks encouraging, and I'm holding out hope that it will be good.
That's all for now, earthlings!
I bought that book in the Cherry Hill B&N bargain bin 2 years ago, I think it is always in the bargain bin as one of their house collections. There are actually several high quality JC of M collections out right now, due to the fact the many of the stories are not under copyright. There is also an anthology of new stories edited by John Joseph Adams out now.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to get more into the sword and planet stuff mainly just because they were so influential to the "founding fathers" of our hobby. I did read some of the Mars stuff as a junior high kid, but I want to revisit it.
ReplyDeleteI totally dig the Warriors of the Red Planet site, but he needs to update it more frequently!!!
Hmm... Then again, I guess I shouldn't talk. :)
@Rich: I also noticed that Paizo has published a lot of other sword and planet stories by other authors. There goes my cash surplus ;-)
ReplyDelete@Martin: Yeah, I've been neglecting my reading of Appendix N material!