Wednesday, September 16, 2009

That Good Old SF Gal, Thuvia

Thuvia, Maid of Mars! Edgar Rice Burroughs is best remembered for his Tarzan books, but boy howdy, he wrote some wild Science Fiction in his time. Hey, it takes place on Mars, that makes it SF in my book. Despite prose like this: "Her cheek was close to his. Death, unseen and of unknown form, seemed close upon them, and because unseen and unknowable infinitely more terrifying. 'Courage, my princess', he whispered." Because while the previous may have appeared in a straight romance novel, would said novel feature green men with 4 arms? One-eyed blue plant men? I thought not. There are also some familiar-sounding terms in the book: Jed, a king; Jeddak, an emperor; Padwar, a lieutenant; Sith, a hornet-like monster; Banth, a Barsoomian lion. (Who can forget Jabba's jolly 'bantha pudu' joke?) Great men think alike. Just makes Thuvia all the more fun.

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