Rebels of Mars

Space Babe :: Barbara Crampton

Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (1986), his Lovecraftian follow-up to the classic Re-Animator (1985), has finally -- for the very first time -- been released on DVD, and in a full dierctor's cut. So it's finally time to sing the praises of the delicious Barbara Crampton, who memorably appeared in both movies. I first went ga-ga over Miss C in Re-Animator, where she played the cutey-pie daughter of the college dean. She has two sex scenes in that film...one of which may qualify as not just over-the-top but groundbreaking in the history of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi movies. But then there was From Beyond...

This was Barbara's real star-vehicle. She was, for all intents and purposes, the lead. She played the slightly mad shrink who turns from uptight librarian type to full-throttle, leatherbound, whip-wielding sex kitten. Her performance is brilliant, and thank gawd we now have it to watch and study on DVD.

Interestingly, Ms. Crampton went from making these fantastic genre movies in the 1980s to a career as a very big TV soap star, appearing in Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, Guiding Light, and The Bold and the Beautiful. And now in her mid-40s, she's still extremely hot.

Posted by Wally Conger, who wishes there were a lot more Barbara Crampton movies to watch.

Revisiting Ras Thavas and Ulysses Paxton

For the past couple of years, I've been devouring a very large number of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, revisiting a few and making new friends of books I might have read as a kid but can no longer recall.

One ERB series that I've been re-reading in order is the Mars/Barsoom (aka John Carter of Mars) sequence, 11 books in all. This week, I tackled #6, The Master Mind of Mars, first published in the late 1920s.

I know I read this book about 37 years ago, when I was fresh out of the eighth grade, but this was like reading it for the first time; I couldn't remember any of it. It's not a major entry in the Mars canon, but it does offer a pleasant and entertaining retro sci-fi adverture.

Following the original Mars trilogy (starring John Carter) and the first two sequels (starring Carter's children), Master Mind has nothing at all to do with John Carter. Rather, it involves a U.S. soldier from the Great War, Ulysses Paxton, who, like Carter before him, is mysteriously/spiritually transported to Barsoom -- specifically, to the laboratories of a mad scientist named Ras Thavas, who spends all his time switching brains and other vital organs between fellow Martians and even between Barsoomian apes and such. Paxton becomes an assistant to Ras Thavas, falls in love with one of the brain-transplant "patients," and begins a quest to reunite his loved one's brain with her correct (and gorgeous) body. High thrills ensue.

The Master Mind of Mars is recommended for fans of mad-scientist fiction and organ tampering.

Posted by Wally Conger, who's always loved the brain-transplant scenes from Young Frankenstein.

The Monster Men

My post on Scott Sigler’s extraordinary podcast novel Ancestor prompted a comment from fellow Burroughsian Tom Novak. Tom wrote that Sigler’s prior novel, EarthCore, fell definitely into the “Burroughs tradition” (Edgar Rice, not William S., and important to those of us who hang here at Rebels of Mars), but he argued that Ancestor falls more comfortably into the Mary Shelley (i.e., Frankenstein) tradition. I reminded Tom of Burroughs’ unique spin on Shelley’s monster, The Monster Men, and contended that it made Ancestor as much a part of the Burroughs tradition as EarthCore. What we both agreed on, though, was that neither of us had read The Monster Men in a very, very long time.

Both Tom and I rectified that problem this past week by reading the novel in one or two quick gulps. What a rediscovery! Both of us loved it. No, The Monster Men is no Tarzan of the Apes or Princess of Mars or At the Earth’s Core, but it is a thrill-a-minute corker of a book, featuring a crazyass professor with a “creator complex,” a gorgeous, spunky blonde, a bad guy with worse intentions, pirates, an evil rajah, and a dozen half-human bipeds — all stuck together on an otherwise deserted isle. Whew.

The Monster Men is one of those “lost” ERB novels that’s been in and out of print for the past 65 years. While first-time Burroughs readers should probably start with a Mars or Tarzan book, this one is not to be ignored. Pick it up.

Posted by Wally Conger, who’d jump over Carl von Horn's box of treasure for a peek under Virginia Maxon’s knickers any day.

ANCESTOR kicks Crichton's butt

[Cross-posted at out of step]

The nineteenth and last episode of Scott Sigler’s newest podcast novel, Ancestor, arrived sometime during my vacation, so I’ve been playing catch-up. Like EarthCore, its predecessor from last spring and summer, Ancestor is a compelling sci-fi thriller filled with, as Scott reminds us before each episode, “adult language, mature themes, and lots and lots of violence.” It’s kickass. Here’s Scott’s summary of the novel:

On a remote island in Lake Superior, scientists struggle to solve the problem of xenotransplantation — using animal tissue to replace failing human organs. Funded by the biotech firm Genada, Dr. Claus Rhumkorrf seeks to recreate the ancestor of all mammals. By getting back to the root of our creation, Rhumkorrf hopes to create an animal with human internal organs. Rhumkorrf discovers the ancestor, but it is not the small, harmless creature he envisions. His genius gives birth to a fast-growing evil that nature eradicated 250 million years ago — an evil now on the loose, and very, very hungry.

A few of you are probably nodding and muttering, “ Jurassic Park.” No way. I promise. I honestly think Crichton takes a backseat to Sigler. Scott’s heroes (when you find them) are sympathetic...and shockingly dispensable. His bad guys are strikingly vile. And his “monsters”...

Scott reads/performs Ancestor himself, and he does a remarkable job. He’s learned a lot since EarthCore and seems to have put a greater effort into making each character’s “voice” unique. There isn’t a single slow moment.

You can download Scott’s entire performance of Ancestor, all 19 installments, for free. And look for EarthCore, if you haven’t already listened to it.

Posted by Wally Conger, who loves saying the word xenotransplantation.

Hm, I wonder ... atmospherium?