I wish publishers would just leave the texts alone. If they insist on doing things like this, a disclaimer stating that these works are products of their time and may contain offensive language and stereotypes that do not reflect modern opinions is all that's needed. Bans and censorship are wrong. Period.
I invite you to the free LibriVox audio versions of ERB and Tarzan! Totally 100% non-censored! The original text read as it was. No changes. Mark Nelson does a great job reading it.
Tristan, I reached out to them, this was their response: Dear Gabe: I appreciate you reaching out. Some of the language in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library volumes has been updated for modern audiences. This is done in a manner that does not diminish the integrity of the storylines or the reader’s enjoyment of these timeless works. It is not commonly known that, beginning in the 1960s, many of the most widely available editions of Mr. Burroughs’ works were also updated for audiences at the time (for instance, the popular Ballantine paperbacks and Canaveral Press hardcovers were edited in such a manner), and similar updates are known to have been made during ERB’s lifetime without objection from the author as times and attitudes changed. For those interested, the original first edition texts are easily obtainable, and the present editions in no way seek to suppress them. Mr. Burroughs repeatedly stated that he wrote with the sole aim of entertaining his audience, and it is in this spirit of entertainment that the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library editions are presented, so that all may enjoy them. The publication history of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ works is actually quite more complicated than most realize, to say the least, and the idea that the minor updates implemented in the new editions present “less complete” versions of the stories is a misunderstanding. There are actually many instances where we have restored or will restore Mr. Burroughs’ original material where it was absent from prior editions. In one case, Mr. Burroughs himself heavily abridged three of his tales so they might appear in the first edition book collecting them, and then that abridged text was used in the widely available paperback reprints. In other cases, the paperback publishers reprinted the pulp magazine texts of ERB’s works, which were heavily edited by the magazine editors, instead of using the first edition texts that were based on (after additional editing) Mr. Burroughs’ original manuscripts. Therefore, we are returning to the first edition texts, and sometimes consulting Mr. Burroughs’ manuscripts, in our ERB Authorized Library volumes. In many instances, this results in the restoration of the author’s original text. Text, I might add, that many readers of Mr. Burroughs’ stories have never seen because they have only read the paperback editions. I hope you can see the depth of care we are taking regarding Mr. Burroughs’ works. The texts are each carefully reviewed by our management team, both to select the most definitive versions and to ensure that any updates do not violate the integrity of the stories. Ultimately, the company has decided that this approach is the best way to provide wholesome entertainment for everyone, which indeed is what Edgar Rice Burroughs always wanted. Best wishes, Christopher Paul Carey
The rewriting of books by anyone other than the authors of those books is not only a form of theft - and vandalism ; it is also quite politically scary.
That's one of the main problems with translations. Unless you can read the original version in the language it was written in how you know it's faithful to the author's vision? The best you can do is read various translations and compare them to see how close they are to each other. Fortunately I can read French and Spanish and can manage Latin even though I struggle with it because I was lucky enough to receive a classical education growing up thanks to my grandmother but books like War and Peace or the Illiad and Odyssey leave me wholly dependant on translators
George Barr, who did that great cover for the Broken Sword. used a technique that combined watercolors with colored ball-point pens. If you look close it's kind of stupefying. Barr actually did a partial comics adaptation of the Broken Sword in the late 60's for the SF fanzine Trumpet, which was a pretty slick production at the time. Trumpet's editor Tom Reamy, was one of the Science Fiction fans who worked on the sleazy cult film Flesh Gordon... and Barr ended up creating the movie poster.
I listened to ERB Inc's audibook versions of Return of Tarzan and Beasts of Tarzan and the offensive words were uncensored. But censorship still sucks. If publisher is concerned about offensive words at least have the common sense to put a disclaimer to inform the reader rather than removing words.
Expurgation of older books is disturbing in that there is a falsifying of history. With the editing of Edgar Rice Burroughs it is probably due to a misguided commercialism. But it diminishes the aesthetic and cultural worth of the work. People were different in the past we need to be aware of that and come to terms with it.
Wow! 2 Michael Moorcock Favs in one video! Mike was heavily influenced by the Broken Sword when writing Elric! He says it's one of his favorites and one of the greats of modern fantasy. He also loves Barrington J. Bayley; specifically recommended The Star Virus as an outstanding novel. He gave some very specific reasons (that I do not remember right now.) What a fun book /gift/ haul! Hope Rhonda is doing better.
Thanks for the heads up on the censorship. I had been considering purchasing the new Tarzan editions with the jusko covers, I won't be now. Shame on ERB Inc. This is beyond horrible! I can't believe the family and the caretakers of the estate have disrespected ERB in this way.
To be clear - there are words and attitudes that are not acceptable today, that feature in books written in previous eras. I'm my view updating those texts to modern standards is a dangerous path as we are erasing history - how can we know how far we have progressed if we don't acknowledge where we came from? Unfortunately, however, there are those who will cry "censorship" for different reasons - they will use it as an excuse to try to justify their own current unacceptable and offensive attitudes. I think you can tell which is which in many of the comments here from their tone - look for the 'angry' ones - you'll see it.
You're right. I hate censorship, and I must admit this irks me, but these books are frequently bought for school libraries and for children, by adults, assuming they are "Classics" and therefore "safe". (A tricky position itself) I mean, I kind of understand not wanting to pour racist tropes and a whole bunch of N words into the brains of kids. I can see where the producers of the books are coming from on that. You also don't want to make too much of a fuss on the cover and draw attention to it -You'll get the kids to go looking for what they're missing. . . Perhaps the term "updated text?"
Man I hope the books aren’t censored, I just bought the first 4 books but haven’t read them yet, I just sent an email to ERB inc asking, that’s really upsetting as I was planning on getting Barsoom series as well, if they’re censored I’m not giving them a dime!
If properly done I think that The Broken Sword would make an incredible movie. Same for Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Merman's Children, also by Poul Anderson.
That text can be arbitrarily changed by some anonymous person sitting at a keyboard thousands of miles away is one of the main reasons I don't read ebooks
Dick Stains - amazing! I agree about the Tarzan books….did you see the livestream I did with the English teachers about out of date language? It was awesome. I need to read the first Tarzan book…I have it upstairs. Great video as always.
I considered myself a Poul Anderson fan until today, but how can I can truly call myself one if I haven't read The Broken Sword? It's on the Kindle now and queued up for a "next week" read. Thank you, good sir.
The Broken Sword is amazing, one of my favorite fantasy novels, dark as hell. Compare to Three Hearts and Three Lions, also a good book; quite a contrast.
Started reading Tarzan because of your channel. Thanks for bringing up the censorship issue. I'll have to do a bit of research before I buy any more of the series. Changing an author's original text is downright sinful in my opinion.
Interesting about those sneaky changes to the Tarzan books by his estate or trust or whomever. The copyright notice on the ebooks indicates new material, but I assumed they were just referring to the introductions and such. Perhaps not. I wonder if they did anything to fix those cringey sections with Esmeralda in the first book?
I like that Thor and shellhead team up. What on earth were Mr Stains parents thinking, that fictional childhood must have been tough. Still on my Elric odyssey, the end draws ever closer.
Censorship is something I feel very strongly about; it's a shame that ERB Inc. themselves are the ones doing it, especially without any warning. It's frustrating that there seems to be a lack of nuance when it comes to this stuff, from many different sides. Haven't read The Broken Sword, but I have read Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, which I enjoyed very much. House of the Stag sounds fun! And "Dick Stains" already makes that Wallace book a 10/10. 😉
I am not familiar with _The Star Virus,_ but I think Barrington J Bailey was a good guy. He was a friend of Michael Moorcock and wrote with a combination of intelligence and thrills, but not in as crazy a style as some of those New Wave guys did. Of the books by him I have read I think _The Soul of the Robot_ is the best.
Oh, yeah. I read the Ballantine Adult Fantasy version of 'The Broken Sward' back in 1971. I loved the cover by George Barr. I was stationed on a submarine where there wasn't much free space, so I spent evenings sitting on a couch in the USO, while we were in port, engrossed in the book.
My goodness, what a start to the year you have given yourself - even if there never was a master plan - when it comes to picking off highly-reputed Fantasy classics that turn out to be every bit as good as their reputation: Amber, The Anubis Gates (my favourite novel), The Broken Sword now (one of my favourite Fantasy novels)! The Broken Sword is an excellent novel to pick up on a complete whim, while reneging on other books that can just shut up and wait. What’s next?! - Gormenghast, Lanark, Jack of Shadows, Three Hearts and Three Lions (hey, that’s more Anderson)?! Keep it up, you have a great potentially long-range reading project going, even if it is an accident. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings in these videos. Keith Pollard drew my favourite Spider-Man comic ever - Amazing Spider-Man #200 - as well as many of the issues building up to it, so I hear ya when it comes to that artist.
I hope Aunt Maude, Grace and Hookie made out OK. Think of that date....the stock market crashed two months earlier and the nation was falling into the Great Depression! Then WWll....😮
I have the SF Classics nr.12 Edition of «The Broken Sword», with the amazing dragon-hilt! It is mostly a fun read (it has a fantastic sea battle!), but also scenes that just made my skin crawl or my heart break once or twice! Cheers!
Edgar Wallace is an interesting and prolific author. I've read "The Dark Eyes of London" which was made into a Bela Lugosi flick. I also might recommend "The Green Rust," which is a super-villain science fiction thriller. I've never read "The Double," but I totally have to with a character like that! Your copy is in excellent condition for obviously being vintage! That dust jacket cover can't be original though!
Congrats on hitting 20k subs Mike. I've been with you since the early days and it does my heart good to see you succeeding with this fantastic channel. Keep being awesome and good luck on the next 20k. Btw Broken Sword is amazing and can't wait for the video review
Hi, Michael! Thanks for slowing down on Thor, so I can catch up to you. However, I am only halfway through Thor Omnibus 2, so my work is still cut out for me. I have not read THAT Kage Baker book but I highly recommend - In The Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, and The Graveyard Game, the first four books in her The Company Universe series. (That's how far I am so far.)
If a text is available on Project Gutenberg I will read it at that site to avoid the chance that someone I don't know and who doesn't know me has judged that I am not able to cope with some words or concepts. It's a completely different matter when the author decides to change an aspect of his or her own work of course. Many readers justifiably acknowledge The Ballantyne Adult Fantasy Series as one of the best things Lin Carter did in his career. I love stumbling on books with inscriptions from purchaser to recipient, I'm always intrigued by who the people are (or were) and what happened to them, and the circumstances of their relationship. Is that Dick Stains of the Newport Stains or the Manhattan Stains, the lesser branch of the family? Entertaining, interesting and educational as always Michael.
Such a shame. I was just starting with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Tarzan books (I got the first 5). This strikes me as a very weird thing to do though, because they also published the best version of Beyond the Farthest Star; a notorious heavily edited work. I think that I'll stop buying the rest of the books from ERB, Inc. Finally, I would like to ask if you could include the best editions of Tarazan that you know in a future video, just like the Conan videos (I didn't know that Del Rey editions were better than the Complete Chronicles of Conan) and the Variorum H.P. Lovecraft ones. Thank you Michael for this great videos.
While I am not in favor of open slather in regards to racism or xenophobia, literature is a product of its time. I don't mind the warning at the beginning of Gone with the Wind or Birth of a Nation but I do not countenance censorship.
Censorship is ugly. Mark Twain is my hot button. He used ugly words for the right reasons. They are part of history and should not be scrubbed. I do not wish to read hate literature. It takes more than foul language to make a work into a piece of hate.
Wait, they've edited Tarzan to appease "modern audiences" ? Thanks for letting us know - I was looking forward to start collecting those, but there's no way I'm going to now.
I've read through every Tarzan book 4 times and do so every few years. Jungle Tales and Tarzan and the Mad Man are my 2 least favorites. You can buy in kindle form Every book in 1 Tarzan books for a few bucks. I want to know what Roger's favorites are ? I too feel that ANY book is what it is and should NEVER be tampered with. What about Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer and derogatory term for blacks ? Are we gonna change the words ? This is horrific IMO.
Can you imagine if they removed everything not PC from Burroughs' NAKED LUNCH? There'd be nothing between the covers. "Me Tarzan, you Jane? John? What your pronoun?"
Censorship alert !! LotR is a kids book, so it wouldn't take much to be darker than that. I haven't read The Broken Sword, but if it's adult, I might one day. Richard Stains - it's kinda one of those double phallic names too, you know, like Peter O'Toole 🤭🤭
Poul Anderson's edits to the 1954 version of The Broken Sword seemed pretty pointless to me. Obviously, he didn't feel that way, but some of the book's more notable proselytizers -- Michael Moorcock and Michael Dirda -- would council to avoid the 1971 version if you have a choice between editions.
You're right, I forgot he explain all that, but he did. Other than a 1954 paperback, do you know where to find the original text? I assume the Balentine One Mike was holding up is later? (I thought that cover that Mike was showing was from the 60s -but I can't check my copy right now without waking folks up!)😉
@@waltera13 The Amazon Kindle edition of The Broken Sword, with an introduction from critic Michael Dirda, presents the 1954 edition in its text. The book Michael held up in this video contains the 1971 text. If we're talking physical books, then I guess you'd have to rely on whatever the online bookseller could potentially tell you, provided you can get in touch with them.
There is hope for Roger. Show him the free audio versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books by LibriVox, narrated superbly by Mark Nelson. It might require loosening Roger's mummifications near his ears. Roger has gone 1000s of years with no quality literary entertainment. Surely he deserves a little quality of life upgrade.
I do prefer Anderson´s fantasy to his sci fi, personally. Broken Sword also is one of the favourite novels and biggest influencs of Michael Moorcock, per the man himself. Moorcock being Moorcock, of course, he has used it to shit on LOTR once or twice by comparing them, but oh well...
I think Moorcock's criticism of Tolkien is highly exaggerated by some people. He doesn't hate LOTR. He doesn't think it's one-out-of-five stars, irredeemable trash, not worth reading, or completely without merit. He just wishes that a lot of the derivative fantasy stuff that came out in its wake wasn't so monolith in its approach. Having more fantasy that took The Broken Sword's lean, economical framework in the late twentieth century would have been great. It's ridiculous how much cool Anderson packs into this comparatively slim volume. It's okay not to be a LOTR superfan. I'm not. It's okay. It has its virtues, it has its vices (similar to what I'd say about a lot of Moorcock's work, incidentally). I recognize its historical importance or influence. I'm not delusional or salty that it has historical importance or influence. But I am a Broken Sword superfan, and I am salty that it doesn't have a bigger profile in the modern fantasy zeitgeist.
@@ericdavis5791 I never said he did all of those exaggerated trashings. He does shit on it, tough, even if you take that expression with a bit of tongue in cheek. I do agree that some rather uninformed people exaggerate his comments and he has also been fair to its virtues and importance. He us also usually not a zealot, and he is able to have an adult and respectful conversation about it, respecting those who disagree with him. That said, I feel that you were projecting a bit there, assuming a bit too much about people's views of Moorcock. . I am also a huge fan of broken sword, which I also read before Tolkien. As for Tolkiens masterwork I do believe that it is as perfect a work as any made in the xx century. Saying that it is not perfect is like saying that no person is, which is such a tautology that it barely deserves mention, as I disagree with Moorcock that it has any particular defect beyond the normal imperfections that plagues by nature any work of art. I don't have a problem with his dissertations against it tough. He is a brilliant author and his opinions are, mostly, valid, even when I disagree with them. Influence is unfortunately a consecuence if success. And influence sometimes degrades into copy. There was a time during the 70s and 80s when I was so fed up by Tolkien copycat that I almost swore off from fantasy, with Earthsea, Gormenghast, Ende and Wynne Jones amongst a few more as my saviors. But I am very aware of Moorcocks opinions on Star Wars and LOTR... At least, if my interpretation of it.
@@Dacre1000 I think we, more or less, understand each other here. My use of "some people" was an attempt to steer my comment away from personal projection. "Some people exaggerate Moorcock's criticism," as opposed to "you exaggerate Moorcock's criticism." I omitted a comment towards the end of my response for the sake of economy, but it probably would have been helpful, so I'll include it here. "I'm not accusing you of being neurotic and insecure about Moorcock's now infamous essay. I am, however, accusing other people of being neurotic and insecure about it." I base this on a growing list of message board threads, RUclips livestreams, and other similar digital mediums, where the responses are more than just an impromptu, slightly tongue-in-cheek remark. I'll disagree that I'm projecting in that context, but based on your reply, I think we're, more or less, in agreement there anyway. So, cheers.
Moorcock is almost always courteous when speaking of other authors, even authors he doesn't like or has good reasons to sue! He doesn't "shit on LOTR" as you say. He says he doesn't like it, he says it's not for him, he says he doesn't like what it did to commercial fantasy, And he has often referred to it as a Proto- Fascist text, but he's quick to add that he is not calling Tolkien fascist and that he does recognize and respect the vast amount of work that went into it. But creating an idealized English mythology is really not his bag, nor his politics.
@@waltera13 I doubt you know what Moorcock does or doesn't say, as you are completely incapable of understanding what I am saying, and I was pretty clear. Fanboying should never muddle your reading comprehension. Be better.
I have no idea why they feel that watering-down the political and certain racial slurs ar enot left to show how bad things were. There are ugly names that others are called and left, or still put in books, (my mother was Italian, we do not accept the "W" word and the "D" word is simply as bad as the "N" word, but there are new book that use those with no recourse. Irish (my other side), are badly portrayed, (Star Trek was bad for that in most of the series), and yes, the Germans are always fair game for evil. I dare to guess there are more. It is wrong to change authors' works. Joe-the-Husband has been hearing me LOL at you, and my run-downs of your reports, (I generally listen early with earbuds). With your S&S movie list, I had him listen and although the Hawk and Ladyhawk movies, and Conan, he agrees with your list, in fact, he owns most of them. We will look for the ones we haven't seen. It surprised me that he never saw Conan, and we will see it, although you hooked me on the books and, yikes, Schwarzenegger! But I will put it aside and look at it as something different. Roger has no taste for dogs, huh?
I tried reading the first Tarzan novel and I just had to stop. It's a fine adventure but it's like being on a cool road trip with a mad racist who every once in a while without much prompting turns to you and says something incredibly racist then just continues on. It's the superior attitude of the white characters as much as the racism that just left me frustrated because I can't root for a character like that and it took me out of the flow of the story. That said censoring it is just ridiculous, isn't this kind of thing exactly what trigger warnings are for? If it's good enough for horror authors it's good enough for republished classics.
I wish publishers would just leave the texts alone. If they insist on doing things like this, a disclaimer stating that these works are products of their time and may contain offensive language and stereotypes that do not reflect modern opinions is all that's needed. Bans and censorship are wrong. Period.
I invite you to the free LibriVox audio versions of ERB and Tarzan! Totally 100% non-censored! The original text read as it was. No changes. Mark Nelson does a great job reading it.
I will never buy anything from ERB Inc. if they are censoring his stories. Thanks for pointing that out
Tristan, I reached out to them, this was their response:
Dear Gabe:
I appreciate you reaching out.
Some of the language in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library volumes has been updated for modern audiences. This is done in a manner that does not diminish the integrity of the storylines or the reader’s enjoyment of these timeless works. It is not commonly known that, beginning in the 1960s, many of the most widely available editions of Mr. Burroughs’ works were also updated for audiences at the time (for instance, the popular Ballantine paperbacks and Canaveral Press hardcovers were edited in such a manner), and similar updates are known to have been made during ERB’s lifetime without objection from the author as times and attitudes changed. For those interested, the original first edition texts are easily obtainable, and the present editions in no way seek to suppress them. Mr. Burroughs repeatedly stated that he wrote with the sole aim of entertaining his audience, and it is in this spirit of entertainment that the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library editions are presented, so that all may enjoy them.
The publication history of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ works is actually quite more complicated than most realize, to say the least, and the idea that the minor updates implemented in the new editions present “less complete” versions of the stories is a misunderstanding. There are actually many instances where we have restored or will restore Mr. Burroughs’ original material where it was absent from prior editions. In one case, Mr. Burroughs himself heavily abridged three of his tales so they might appear in the first edition book collecting them, and then that abridged text was used in the widely available paperback reprints. In other cases, the paperback publishers reprinted the pulp magazine texts of ERB’s works, which were heavily edited by the magazine editors, instead of using the first edition texts that were based on (after additional editing) Mr. Burroughs’ original manuscripts. Therefore, we are returning to the first edition texts, and sometimes consulting Mr. Burroughs’ manuscripts, in our ERB Authorized Library volumes. In many instances, this results in the restoration of the author’s original text. Text, I might add, that many readers of Mr. Burroughs’ stories have never seen because they have only read the paperback editions.
I hope you can see the depth of care we are taking regarding Mr. Burroughs’ works. The texts are each carefully reviewed by our management team, both to select the most definitive versions and to ensure that any updates do not violate the integrity of the stories. Ultimately, the company has decided that this approach is the best way to provide wholesome entertainment for everyone, which indeed is what Edgar Rice Burroughs always wanted.
Best wishes,
Christopher Paul Carey
The rewriting of books by anyone other than the authors of those books is not only a form of theft - and vandalism ; it is also quite politically scary.
That's one of the main problems with translations. Unless you can read the original version in the language it was written in how you know it's faithful to the author's vision? The best you can do is read various translations and compare them to see how close they are to each other. Fortunately I can read French and Spanish and can manage Latin even though I struggle with it because I was lucky enough to receive a classical education growing up thanks to my grandmother but books like War and Peace or the Illiad and Odyssey leave me wholly dependant on translators
I wish publishers would leave the text intact and add footnotes.
Physical media is king.
George Barr, who did that great cover for the Broken Sword. used a technique that combined watercolors with colored ball-point pens. If you look close it's kind of stupefying. Barr actually did a partial comics adaptation of the Broken Sword in the late 60's for the SF fanzine Trumpet, which was a pretty slick production at the time. Trumpet's editor Tom Reamy, was one of the Science Fiction fans who worked on the sleazy cult film Flesh Gordon... and Barr ended up creating the movie poster.
"TBR be damned, I picked up THIS book..." LOL IKR!
I haven't yet read The House of the Stag, but I have LOVED everything I have read so far of Kage Baker and plan to read everything she wrote.
I listened to ERB Inc's audibook versions of Return of Tarzan and Beasts of Tarzan and the offensive words were uncensored.
But censorship still sucks. If publisher is concerned about offensive words at least have the common sense to put a disclaimer to inform the reader rather than removing words.
Expurgation of older books is disturbing in that there is a falsifying of history. With the editing of Edgar Rice Burroughs it is probably due to a misguided commercialism. But it diminishes the aesthetic and cultural worth of the work. People were different in the past we need to be aware of that and come to terms with it.
Rushing to check my kindle copy of Jungle Tales. The Broken Sword has been on my shelf waiting for me.
Wow! 2 Michael Moorcock Favs in one video! Mike was heavily influenced by the Broken Sword when writing Elric! He says it's one of his favorites and one of the greats of modern fantasy. He also loves Barrington J. Bayley; specifically recommended The Star Virus as an outstanding novel. He gave some very specific reasons (that I do not remember right now.)
What a fun book /gift/ haul!
Hope Rhonda is doing better.
Thanks for the heads up on the censorship. I had been considering purchasing the new Tarzan editions with the jusko covers, I won't be now.
Shame on ERB Inc. This is beyond horrible!
I can't believe the family and the caretakers of the estate have disrespected ERB in this way.
To be clear - there are words and attitudes that are not acceptable today, that feature in books written in previous eras. I'm my view updating those texts to modern standards is a dangerous path as we are erasing history - how can we know how far we have progressed if we don't acknowledge where we came from?
Unfortunately, however, there are those who will cry "censorship" for different reasons - they will use it as an excuse to try to justify their own current unacceptable and offensive attitudes. I think you can tell which is which in many of the comments here from their tone - look for the 'angry' ones - you'll see it.
You're right. I hate censorship, and I must admit this irks me, but these books are frequently bought for school libraries and for children, by adults, assuming they are "Classics" and therefore "safe". (A tricky position itself)
I mean, I kind of understand not wanting to pour racist tropes and a whole bunch of N words into the brains of kids. I can see where the producers of the books are coming from on that.
You also don't want to make too much of a fuss on the cover and draw attention to it -You'll get the kids to go looking for what they're missing. . .
Perhaps the term "updated text?"
The Broken Sword ~ it's a Great book! But you definitely want the unedited version. (Richard Stains...OMG. I can't even bring myself to write that!)
Man I hope the books aren’t censored, I just bought the first 4 books but haven’t read them yet, I just sent an email to ERB inc asking, that’s really upsetting as I was planning on getting Barsoom series as well, if they’re censored I’m not giving them a dime!
I read several of Kaje Baker's stories back when she was still around and writing them!
If properly done I think that The Broken Sword would make an incredible movie. Same for Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Merman's Children, also by Poul Anderson.
I LOVE "The Broken Sword." One of my favorite fantasy novels.
That text can be arbitrarily changed by some anonymous person sitting at a keyboard thousands of miles away is one of the main reasons I don't read ebooks
Dick Stains - amazing! I agree about the Tarzan books….did you see the livestream I did with the English teachers about out of date language? It was awesome. I need to read the first Tarzan book…I have it upstairs. Great video as always.
The Broken Sword is one of the best Fantasy novels ever written. A Classic.
Glad your doggie's okay, bro. Poul Anderson has been a fun discovery for me, too. I like his style.
I considered myself a Poul Anderson fan until today, but how can I can truly call myself one if I haven't read The Broken Sword? It's on the Kindle now and queued up for a "next week" read. Thank you, good sir.
Bushwackers was probably how Dick Stains was created. (I’ll get my coat…)
And the winner of the internet today is @DuncanMcCurdie
Quite agree with you on the changes thing.
The Broken Sword is amazing, one of my favorite fantasy novels, dark as hell. Compare to Three Hearts and Three Lions, also a good book; quite a contrast.
Started reading Tarzan because of your channel. Thanks for bringing up the censorship issue. I'll have to do a bit of research before I buy any more of the series. Changing an author's original text is downright sinful in my opinion.
Looking forward to your censorship video regarding Burroughs. Subscribed. I agree the changes shouldn't be made without the authors approval.
Interesting about those sneaky changes to the Tarzan books by his estate or trust or whomever. The copyright notice on the ebooks indicates new material, but I assumed they were just referring to the introductions and such. Perhaps not. I wonder if they did anything to fix those cringey sections with Esmeralda in the first book?
I like that Thor and shellhead team up. What on earth were Mr Stains parents thinking, that fictional childhood must have been tough.
Still on my Elric odyssey, the end draws ever closer.
Censorship is something I feel very strongly about; it's a shame that ERB Inc. themselves are the ones doing it, especially without any warning. It's frustrating that there seems to be a lack of nuance when it comes to this stuff, from many different sides.
Haven't read The Broken Sword, but I have read Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, which I enjoyed very much. House of the Stag sounds fun! And "Dick Stains" already makes that Wallace book a 10/10. 😉
I am not familiar with _The Star Virus,_ but I think Barrington J Bailey was a good guy. He was a friend of Michael Moorcock and wrote with a combination of intelligence and thrills, but not in as crazy a style as some of those New Wave guys did. Of the books by him I have read I think _The Soul of the Robot_ is the best.
There are no Bad words, just bad ideas and weak minds.
Oh, yeah. I read the Ballantine Adult Fantasy version of 'The Broken Sward' back in 1971. I loved the cover by George Barr. I was stationed on a submarine where there wasn't much free space, so I spent evenings sitting on a couch in the USO, while we were in port, engrossed in the book.
How do we learn from the past if we change the past
My goodness, what a start to the year you have given yourself - even if there never was a master plan - when it comes to picking off highly-reputed Fantasy classics that turn out to be every bit as good as their reputation: Amber, The Anubis Gates (my favourite novel), The Broken Sword now (one of my favourite Fantasy novels)! The Broken Sword is an excellent novel to pick up on a complete whim, while reneging on other books that can just shut up and wait. What’s next?! - Gormenghast, Lanark, Jack of Shadows, Three Hearts and Three Lions (hey, that’s more Anderson)?! Keep it up, you have a great potentially long-range reading project going, even if it is an accident. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings in these videos.
Keith Pollard drew my favourite Spider-Man comic ever - Amazing Spider-Man #200 - as well as many of the issues building up to it, so I hear ya when it comes to that artist.
I hope Aunt Maude, Grace and Hookie made out OK. Think of that date....the stock market crashed two months earlier and the nation was falling into the Great Depression! Then WWll....😮
I'll be reading Broken Sword later for my Box of Paperbacks project.
I have the SF Classics nr.12 Edition of «The Broken Sword», with the amazing dragon-hilt! It is mostly a fun read (it has a fantastic sea battle!), but also scenes that just made my skin crawl or my heart break once or twice! Cheers!
I am against censorship. There should be a warning so you could be warned.
Broken Sword is a great book. I only just read it in Nov last year. Spooky.😊
Edgar Wallace is an interesting and prolific author. I've read "The Dark Eyes of London" which was made into a Bela Lugosi flick. I also might recommend "The Green Rust," which is a super-villain science fiction thriller. I've never read "The Double," but I totally have to with a character like that! Your copy is in excellent condition for obviously being vintage! That dust jacket cover can't be original though!
Not a dust jacket....just the book cover.
Congrats on hitting 20k subs Mike. I've been with you since the early days and it does my heart good to see you succeeding with this fantastic channel. Keep being awesome and good luck on the next 20k. Btw Broken Sword is amazing and can't wait for the video review
Hi, Michael! Thanks for slowing down on Thor, so I can catch up to you. However, I am only halfway through Thor Omnibus 2, so my work is still cut out for me.
I have not read THAT Kage Baker book but I highly recommend - In The Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, and The Graveyard Game, the first four books in her The Company Universe series. (That's how far I am so far.)
I agree with you on the Tarzan changes.
Omg that Thor cover! I love Easter Island!!... that cover is so cool!
Dick Stains 🤣
If a text is available on Project Gutenberg I will read it at that site to avoid the chance that someone I don't know and who doesn't know me has judged that I am not able to cope with some words or concepts. It's a completely different matter when the author decides to change an aspect of his or her own work of course.
Many readers justifiably acknowledge The Ballantyne Adult Fantasy Series as one of the best things Lin Carter did in his career.
I love stumbling on books with inscriptions from purchaser to recipient, I'm always intrigued by who the people are (or were) and what happened to them, and the circumstances of their relationship.
Is that Dick Stains of the Newport Stains or the Manhattan Stains, the lesser branch of the family?
Entertaining, interesting and educational as always Michael.
Jungle Tales was so good! Added Broken Sword to my TBR!
Such a shame.
I was just starting with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Tarzan books (I got the first 5). This strikes me as a very weird thing to do though, because they also published the best version of Beyond the Farthest Star; a notorious heavily edited work.
I think that I'll stop buying the rest of the books from ERB, Inc.
Finally, I would like to ask if you could include the best editions of Tarazan that you know in a future video, just like the Conan videos (I didn't know that Del Rey editions were better than the Complete Chronicles of Conan) and the Variorum H.P. Lovecraft ones.
Thank you Michael for this great videos.
Hello my friend! Hello!
While I am not in favor of open slather in regards to racism or xenophobia, literature is a product of its time. I don't mind the warning at the beginning of Gone with the Wind or Birth of a Nation but I do not countenance censorship.
Censorship is ugly. Mark Twain is my hot button. He used ugly words for the right reasons. They are part of history and should not be scrubbed.
I do not wish to read hate literature. It takes more than foul language to make a work into a piece of hate.
I wish more people would read The Broken Sword. It tied for my "book of the year" last year alongside Lord of Light.
Ballantine Adult Fantasy range is an instant win.
Wait, they've edited Tarzan to appease "modern audiences" ? Thanks for letting us know - I was looking forward to start collecting those, but there's no way I'm going to now.
I've read through every Tarzan book 4 times and do so every few years. Jungle Tales and Tarzan and the Mad Man are my 2 least favorites. You can buy in kindle form Every book in 1 Tarzan books for a few bucks. I want to know what Roger's favorites are ? I too feel that ANY book is what it is and should NEVER be tampered with. What about Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer and derogatory term for blacks ? Are we gonna change the words ? This is horrific IMO.
Can you imagine if they removed everything not PC from Burroughs' NAKED LUNCH? There'd be nothing between the covers.
"Me Tarzan, you Jane? John? What your pronoun?"
Censorship alert !! LotR is a kids book, so it wouldn't take much to be darker than that. I haven't read The Broken Sword, but if it's adult, I might one day. Richard Stains - it's kinda one of those double phallic names too, you know, like Peter O'Toole 🤭🤭
Mr Richard Stains, what in unfortunate fellow 😬
Poul Anderson's edits to the 1954 version of The Broken Sword seemed pretty pointless to me. Obviously, he didn't feel that way, but some of the book's more notable proselytizers -- Michael Moorcock and Michael Dirda -- would council to avoid the 1971 version if you have a choice between editions.
You're right, I forgot he explain all that, but he did. Other than a 1954 paperback, do you know where to find the original text?
I assume the Balentine One Mike was holding up is later?
(I thought that cover that Mike was showing was from the 60s -but I can't check my copy right now without waking folks up!)😉
@@waltera13 The Amazon Kindle edition of The Broken Sword, with an introduction from critic Michael Dirda, presents the 1954 edition in its text.
The book Michael held up in this video contains the 1971 text.
If we're talking physical books, then I guess you'd have to rely on whatever the online bookseller could potentially tell you, provided you can get in touch with them.
@@ericdavis5791 Thank you. I hadn't thought to look to ebooks for such an answer.
Edgar Wallace... You very well might find offensive language and attitudes in that one, too, Mike.
Hi, Michael. Are you also a reader of Zorro and/or Dr. Syn aka The Scarecrow?
There is hope for Roger. Show him the free audio versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books by LibriVox, narrated superbly by Mark Nelson. It might require loosening Roger's mummifications near his ears. Roger has gone 1000s of years with no quality literary entertainment. Surely he deserves a little quality of life upgrade.
I do prefer Anderson´s fantasy to his sci fi, personally. Broken Sword also is one of the favourite novels and biggest influencs of Michael Moorcock, per the man himself. Moorcock being Moorcock, of course, he has used it to shit on LOTR once or twice by comparing them, but oh well...
I think Moorcock's criticism of Tolkien is highly exaggerated by some people. He doesn't hate LOTR. He doesn't think it's one-out-of-five stars, irredeemable trash, not worth reading, or completely without merit. He just wishes that a lot of the derivative fantasy stuff that came out in its wake wasn't so monolith in its approach. Having more fantasy that took The Broken Sword's lean, economical framework in the late twentieth century would have been great. It's ridiculous how much cool Anderson packs into this comparatively slim volume.
It's okay not to be a LOTR superfan. I'm not. It's okay. It has its virtues, it has its vices (similar to what I'd say about a lot of Moorcock's work, incidentally). I recognize its historical importance or influence. I'm not delusional or salty that it has historical importance or influence.
But I am a Broken Sword superfan, and I am salty that it doesn't have a bigger profile in the modern fantasy zeitgeist.
@@ericdavis5791 I never said he did all of those exaggerated trashings. He does shit on it, tough, even if you take that expression with a bit of tongue in cheek. I do agree that some rather uninformed people exaggerate his comments and he has also been fair to its virtues and importance. He us also usually not a zealot, and he is able to have an adult and respectful conversation about it, respecting those who disagree with him.
That said, I feel that you were projecting a bit there, assuming a bit too much about people's views of Moorcock. . I am also a huge fan of broken sword, which I also read before Tolkien.
As for Tolkiens masterwork I do believe that it is as perfect a work as any made in the xx century. Saying that it is not perfect is like saying that no person is, which is such a tautology that it barely deserves mention, as I disagree with Moorcock that it has any particular defect beyond the normal imperfections that plagues by nature any work of art.
I don't have a problem with his dissertations against it tough. He is a brilliant author and his opinions are, mostly, valid, even when I disagree with them.
Influence is unfortunately a consecuence if success. And influence sometimes degrades into copy. There was a time during the 70s and 80s when I was so fed up by Tolkien copycat that I almost swore off from fantasy, with Earthsea, Gormenghast, Ende and Wynne Jones amongst a few more as my saviors.
But I am very aware of Moorcocks opinions on Star Wars and LOTR... At least, if my interpretation of it.
@@Dacre1000 I think we, more or less, understand each other here.
My use of "some people" was an attempt to steer my comment away from personal projection. "Some people exaggerate Moorcock's criticism," as opposed to "you exaggerate Moorcock's criticism." I omitted a comment towards the end of my response for the sake of economy, but it probably would have been helpful, so I'll include it here.
"I'm not accusing you of being neurotic and insecure about Moorcock's now infamous essay. I am, however, accusing other people of being neurotic and insecure about it."
I base this on a growing list of message board threads, RUclips livestreams, and other similar digital mediums, where the responses are more than just an impromptu, slightly tongue-in-cheek remark.
I'll disagree that I'm projecting in that context, but based on your reply, I think we're, more or less, in agreement there anyway.
So, cheers.
Moorcock is almost always courteous when speaking of other authors, even authors he doesn't like or has good reasons to sue!
He doesn't "shit on LOTR" as you say.
He says he doesn't like it, he says it's not for him, he says he doesn't like what it did to commercial fantasy, And he has often referred to it as a Proto- Fascist text, but he's quick to add that he is not calling Tolkien fascist and that he does recognize and respect the vast amount of work that went into it. But creating an idealized English mythology is really not his bag, nor his politics.
@@waltera13 I doubt you know what Moorcock does or doesn't say, as you are completely incapable of understanding what I am saying, and I was pretty clear. Fanboying should never muddle your reading comprehension. Be better.
😊
I have no idea why they feel that watering-down the political and certain racial slurs ar enot left to show how bad things were.
There are ugly names that others are called and left, or still put in books, (my mother was Italian, we do not accept the "W" word and the "D" word is simply as bad as the "N" word, but there are new book that use those with no recourse. Irish (my other side), are badly portrayed, (Star Trek was bad for that in most of the series), and yes, the Germans are always fair game for evil. I dare to guess there are more. It is wrong to change authors' works.
Joe-the-Husband has been hearing me LOL at you, and my run-downs of your reports, (I generally listen early with earbuds). With your S&S movie list, I had him listen and although the Hawk and Ladyhawk movies, and Conan, he agrees with your list, in fact, he owns most of them. We will look for the ones we haven't seen. It surprised me that he never saw Conan, and we will see it, although you hooked me on the books and, yikes, Schwarzenegger! But I will put it aside and look at it as something different.
Roger has no taste for dogs, huh?
I tried reading the first Tarzan novel and I just had to stop. It's a fine adventure but it's like being on a cool road trip with a mad racist who every once in a while without much prompting turns to you and says something incredibly racist then just continues on. It's the superior attitude of the white characters as much as the racism that just left me frustrated because I can't root for a character like that and it took me out of the flow of the story. That said censoring it is just ridiculous, isn't this kind of thing exactly what trigger warnings are for? If it's good enough for horror authors it's good enough for republished classics.