KORAK AT THE EARTH’S CORE: MY REVIEW

February 29, 2024
KORAK AT THE EARTH’S CORE: MY REVIEW

I can’t remember after so many years if it was for a book or a movie, or possibly even a TV show, but years I ago I read a review in which the writer began by saying that the best review he could ever imagine sharing would consist of just a single word: “Wow!”


That single word review pretty well sums up my reaction to Win Scott Eckert’s latest addition to the ever-expanding mythology created well over a century ago by my all-time favorite storyteller, Edgar Rice Burroughs. I’ve written in the past about how - thanks to the early reading lessons I received from my mother and father, both lifelong voracious readers themselves - I was already delving into the works of ERB while most of my grade school classmates were still struggling their way through Sally, Dick and Jane. One of the Burroughs tales that really grabbed hold of me at the time was The Son of Tarzan - in part, I suppose, because I so identified with the young Jack Clayton’s thirst for adventure at that book’s beginning, and so wanted at that age to be just like Korak and his legendary father. Korak quickly became one of my favorites among the ERB cast of characters - and while I appreciated seeing him pop up for the occasional cameo appearance in the later Tarzan novels, it always grieved me that ERB didn’t give the character the full-blown “spin-off” treatment he deserved by writing additional adventures focused solely on Korak.


Well, it took roughly half a century, but I’ve finally got the Korak adventure I’ve been waiting for. Eckert - already a Master of Adventure in his own right - gives us a Korak that I’m pretty sure Burroughs himself would have no trouble recognizing: older, somewhat wiser, but still struggling with certain demons from his past as he sets out to rescue his daughter Suzanne following her disappearance in Pellucidar. He is joined along the way by family and friends old and new - Eckert’s portrayal of Korak’s wife Meriem is a particular delight - as his journey takes him ever deeper into the world at the earth’s core… and, perhaps, answers to a mystery that Burroughs himself set the stage for but never got around to solving for us.


Make that “mysteries,” plural, as this novel also touches upon events and characters from several of ERB’s non-Tarzan tales, as well as one of the Ape-Man’s own later adventures, in the process further enhancing the Burroughs Universe while at the same time sending it into new and dynamic directions. Eckert makes the most of adventures written by other authors that ERB Inc. has deemed to be part of the proper “ERB Universe Canon,” especially the two Pellucidar novels of John Eric Holmes  - the first of which, Mahars of Pellucidar, I snapped up at the old B. Dalton Bookstore we used to frequent back in the 1970s while the poor clerk was still trying to put copies on the store shelves when the original Ace Books paperback edition was first released…


This is one of those reviews that is, to be honest, a little difficult for me - I love the book so much and want to share that here, but at the same time I want to avoid accidentally giving any spoilers that might ruin the enjoyment of other readers as they discover the book for themselves. Suffice it to say that Korak At The Earth’s Core is a great story, a tale I really believe Burroughs himself would have greatly enjoyed - and a worthy addition to pop culture’s first genuine “cohesive universe,” one created well before Kevin Feige and Stan Lee put their heads together and said, “Maybe it’s time we make some Marvel movies.”

It is one that can be enjoyed by both lifelong ERB fans like myself who have clamored for such adventures for decades, and by a new generation of fans for whom it can serve as an excellent jumping-off point for delving deeper into the original books that inspired it.


In other words: “Wow!”


ADDENDUM: There’s one other thing I’d like to say about this book if I may - something of a somewhat personal nature, and stems from something may not have been been intentional on the part of the author.


Back in 2007, I published my first book - a collection of western stories entitled Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West, still available on Amazon.com if you’re interested (or even if you’re not). One of those “legends and tales” was a story entitled “Buck Mason Loses His Horse,” the protagonist of which happens to share the name of the main character in the ERB western novel The Deputy Sheriff Of Comanche County. The original idea was that my Buck Mason and Burroughs' character were one and the same, and I indicated as much in my afterward to Days Gone By.

After the book was published, however, I went back and re-read the Burroughs novel for the first time in a number of years - and realized with horror that my tale had been set in the mid-1880s, while Burroughs' novel was set in the early 20th century. (Which, if nothing else, should be a lesson in the importance of doing one's homework.)


A few years later, Win Scott Eckert included listings for that story - as well as several of my other Sipokni West tales - in the timeline of his two-volume opus Crossovers (Black Coat Press, 2010). And it was there he saved my literary bacon by providing the obvious solution to my Buck Mason screw-up; he listed MY Buck Mason as being the father of the character in the Burroughs book, thereby allowing me to save face while maintaining the JAS-ERB connection. (And in case I didn’t say it before: Thanks, Win!)


Whether intentional or not, Win has now provided what I like to think of as a further link between my story and the works of ERB - courtesy of a scene in Korak At The Earth’s Core that is brief but certainly got my attention, in which passing reference is made to the father of Burroughs’ Buck Mason. A relationship which Eckert himself had already established in his earlier book


Mind you, there is no specific reference to my story in Win’s novel. I wouldn’t have dared expect there to be - and besides, enough time had passed between Crossovers and Korak that I can’t say with certainty that Win even remembered his solution to my chronological mishap when he was writing the latter. (And I like and respect the man far too much to put the question to him directly, and run the risk of creating the accidental impression that I might seeking credit for something that I know I don’t deserve.)


That said, I will happily admit that it does give me a certain sense of joy to know the link is there - even if it exists only within the dimly lit caverns of my own personal head canon, sharing space with all manner of character crossovers (both real and imagined) that I’ve had a hand in creating both as a fan and as a professional writer. 


Not such a bad place to hang out, really, all things considered…


So, again: Thanks, Win!

(Copyright 2023 by John A. Small)

 

EXPERIMENT IN SHORT FICTION: SUNDAY MORNING WITH AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE

February 23, 2024

(Digital Art by Me!)

Still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Nathaniel Rackham (Smoky Gulch High School Class of 1957 - Go Wombats!) stumbled into the kitchen one Sunday morning after sleeping in late and gave his wife of sixty years a peck on the cheek as she prepared breakfast. 


Allene smiled at her husband in response as she stirred the corned beef hash she was browning in the skillet. But her smile faded as she noticed the unusual expression etched upon Nathaniel’s face.


“Something wron...


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Which Three Would YOU Pick?

January 3, 2024

(NOTE: On New Year’s Eve, my Facebook friend posted a photograph of Alan Young in the final scene of the classic George Pal adaptation of The Time Machine, and it reminded me of a newspaper column I wrote back in 2019 that was partly inspired by that same scene. A quick check indicated that I apparently never got around to sharing that column here, for whatever reason, and because Arnold reminded me of it in the first place - and because my feelings on the subject haven’t really changed i...


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CLAYTON TROTWOOD AND THE IDEA THAT FAILED (A CHRISTMAS MEMORY)

December 22, 2023

The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect…

 

Well, let’s just be upfront and honest about it, shall we? The names have been changed to protect ME. 


I mean, yeah, sure, okay, it all happened a little over four decades ago and roughly 900 miles (give or take) from here - but these people are still around, and they know where to find me. So why take chances?


Anyway...


When I was a teenager in Illinois attending Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High Schoo...


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MAKING THE CASE FOR AN INTERFAITH SOLIDARITY…

September 14, 2023

I reckon there are going to be some who won’t much like some of what I have to say this time. Apologies for that in advance; it is never my intention to deliberately offend, even on those occasions when it might actually be justified. (Hey, it happens…)


But one thing I learned from my late parents is that, whether we like it or not, there are times when giving offense simply cannot be avoided - and I suspect this is going to be one of those times. But seeing how this is America and I hav...


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THE FLASH: MY REVIEW

June 22, 2023

Okay. So… The Flash.


Wow…


Just… wow.


All right, let’s be honest: Yes, the film has its faults. And I’ll get to those in just a bit. But for the moment…


When you’ve a guy who spent most of his first sixty revolutions around Ol’ Sol subsisting on a fairly steady diet of superhero comic books and TV shows and movies and related novelizations and tie-ins… when your earliest childhood memories are of sitting on your daddy’s knee at the age of 3 watching episodes of the orig...


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A BIRTHDAY LETTER TO MY GRANDDAUGHTERS

June 1, 2023

Dear Zoey and Willow:


I realize that you are both too young at the moment to understand most of what I’m about to tell you. Zoey, after all, won’t celebrate her fifth birthday until late October - and Willow is only a couple of months old now as I write this. (Roughly the same age that your Uncle Josh was when we moved here from Illinois all those years ago, now that I think about it.)


Even so, it occurred to me the other day that now was the right time to write this letter to you - and...


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I’m Not At All Sure Why, But I Do Remember...

May 25, 2023

To be honest, I’m really not sure what might have prompted it.


It might have been that photograph we ran on the front page of last week’s Johnston County Sentinel of the Stay Golden Inn, the new Airbnb located in the building that had been the home of the Johnston County Capital-Democrat for more than a century. The fact that the historic building has been given both a long-overdue renovation and a new purpose pleases more than I can say, and I wish nothing but success for new owners Car...


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Were they celebrating nerds like me... or making fun of us?

May 12, 2023


Sometimes I just stand there, staring at myself in the mirror and wondering how I keep getting myself into these things...

This past Monday night I was here at the office, scouring the digital landscape in search of a possible topic or two for my column in this week’s issue of the newspaper, when I stumbled upon an online debate over the merits - or, in the minds of some, the perceived lack thereof - of the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

Full disclosure before going any further: I w...


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TODAY'S LESSON: MONEY GOOD, TRUTH BAD

April 19, 2023
I'm sorry.

I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and then I tried some more. And the more I tried, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it.

I simply cannot see the Fox-Dominion settlement as any kind of real "victory." Okay, sure, Dominion's pocket book will be a little thicker and Fox's a little leaner - but other than that, what was accomplished?

Nothing.

That became obvious the moment Fox released that ridiculous statement about their "continued commitment to the highest journalis...

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About Me


John Allen Small John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996). Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.) John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something. In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems. He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.

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