[Direct quotes are
shown in blue lettering.]
On July 2, 2019, a message was received from Jason Gridley
over Gridley Wave via Twitter:
This is Jason Gridley of Earth.
I must find Victory Harben. She's been hurled across space and across
time itself by a Mahar matriarch.
Next Gridley Wave message was received later on Tuesday,
July 2, 2019:
Is the GW piercing space-time?
Have nearly 70 years passed? I have a feeling that Victory knows more than
I, if only I could find her. [Note that “GW” refers to Gridley
Wave.]
Gridley Wave message received Thursday, July 11, 2019:
Feedback signal indicates successful
transposition of transmitted data into English via Gridley Wave and interface
with a vast information system I have discovered in the future year of
2019, if those I have communicated with are to be believed.
Gridley Wave message for July 19, 2019, at 10 am EDT,
the day of SDCC announcement:
GW receiver-transmitter did
not transition to new world with me. Took 6 months to build new one. Time
differential affecting delivery of messages by a factor of …. Oh no. What
is th [Message ended abruptly.]
Next Gridley Wave message was received later on July 19,
2019, at 1 pm EDT.
How can I find Victory if I
must constantly fight off such monsters?
It had 9 legs and a face like
a demon. Fear its young will return.
I survived.
I shudder to think what terrors
she faces out there in the vast unknown.
Then the announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con on July
19, 2019 5:30 pm EDT.
It was revealed that ERB, Inc., is adding a new product
line to their publishing program. It will feature “a bold new series
of interconnected, canonical novels set in the strange and wondrous worlds
of the Master of Adventure: the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe”.
According to Director of Publishing, Christopher Paul
Carey, the “ERB Universe”, a.k.a. “ERBU”, will feature “internal consistency”
between each of the new novels as well as Burroughs’ original works.
The new books will be tied together with a “super-arc”
that begins in Pellucidar where a mysterious disruption in the Gridley
Wave is centered. This may explain the tweets from Jason Gridley,
shown in this paper, that were received prior to the ERBU announcement.
Quoting from the ERB, Inc., press release:
When a mysterious force catapults
inventors Jason Gridley and Victory Harben from their home in Pellucidar,
separating them from each other and flinging them across space and time,
they embark on a grand tour of strange, wondrous worlds. As their search
for one another leads them to the realms of Amtor, Barsoom, and other worlds
even more distant and outlandish, Jason and Victory will meet heroes and
heroines of unparalleled courage and ability: Carson Napier, Tarzan, John
Carter, and more. With the help of their intrepid allies, Jason and Victory
will uncover a plot both insidious and unthinkable—one that threatens to
tear apart the very fabric of the universe!
THE ERB UNIVERSE NOVELS
The ERB Universe series will be launched in 2020.
These books are the first wave:
Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds by Matt Betts,
Tarzan: Battle for Pellucidar by Win Scott Eckert,
John Carter of Mars: Gods of the Forgotten by Geary Gravel
Victory Harben: Fires of Halos by Christopher Paul Carey.
The next wave of ERBU novels will be announced early in 2020.
That fourth book and the tweets at the beginning of this
article begs the question of “who is Victory Harben?” Based on discussions
in the Facebook group “For the Love of All Things Edgar Rice Burroughs”,
we only know that “Victory Harben is Jason Gridley's goddaughter, and he
feels responsible for her safety.”
For the last couple of years ERB, Inc., has worked with
American Mythology comics and will continue to do so with the ERB Universe.
This was announced:
A prequel comic book miniseries
to Matt Betts' CARSON OF VENUS: THE EDGE OF ALL WORLDS, to be published
by American Mythology, was announced at Comic-Con. CARSON OF
VENUS: THE EYE OF AMTOR will be written by Mike Wolfer based on a plot
by Matt Betts, and in the back pages it will include a bonus comic titled
PELLUCIDAR: DARK OF THE SUN, featuring Jason Gridley and Victory Harben.
The latter is a comic book adaptation of the opening of the super-arc,
which will also be told in prose in Matt Betts' EDGE OF ALL WORLDS.
Following from the press release issued July 25, 2019,
announcing the ERB Universe:
When a mysterious force catapults
inventors Jason Gridley and Victory Harben from their home in Pellucidar,
separating them from each other and flinging them across space and time,
they embark on a grand tour of strange, wondrous worlds. As their search
for one another leads them to the realms of Amtor, Barsoom, and other worlds
even more distant and outlandish, Jason and Victory will meet heroes and
heroines of unparalleled courage and ability: Carson Napier, Tarzan, John
Carter, and more. With the help of their intrepid allies, Jason and Victory
will uncover a plot both insidious and unthinkable—one that threatens to
tear apart the very fabric of the universe!
A century before the term “crossover”
became a buzzword in popular culture, Edgar Rice Burroughs created the
first expansive, fully cohesive literary universe. Coexisting in this vast
cosmos was a pantheon of immortal heroes and heroines—Tarzan of the Apes®,
Jane Clayton™, John Carter®, Dejah Thoris®, Carson Napier™, and
David Innes™ being only the best known among them. In Burroughs’ 80-plus
novels, their epic adventures transported them to the strange and exotic
worlds of Barsoom®, Amtor™, Pellucidar®, Caspak™, and Va-nah™,
as well as the lost civilizations of Earth and even realms beyond the farthest
star. Now the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe expands in an all-new series
of canonical novels written by today’s talented authors!
CARSON OF VENUS: THE EDGE
OF ALL WORLDS by Matt Betts
Stranded on an alien world for
nearly two decades, Earthman Carson Napier finds his own past haunting
him in strange and terrifying ways when he’s confronted by a sinister madman
bent on ruling Amtor. To stop his opponent and his insidious weapon, Carson
must gather an alliance of friends and former enemies alike in an epic
struggle for control of the planet.
Matt Betts is the
author of such science fiction novels as the critically recognized adventure
Odd Men Out and its sequel Red Gear Nine, the urban fantasy Indelible Ink,
and the giant monster vs. giant robot book The Shadow beneath the Waves.
He is also an accomplished speculative poet, and lives in Ohio with his
wife and children.
TARZAN: BATTLE FOR PELLUCIDAR
by Win Scott Eckert
The Lord of the Jungle returns
to the Earth’s core on a mission to stop the Nazis from obtaining a powerful
superweapon. But when the ape-man’s murderous adversaries’ partner with
Pellucidar’s routed reptilian overlords, can Tarzan prevent the conquest
and enslavement of all humanity in both the inner and outer worlds?
Win Scott Eckert is the
legacy author of science-fiction Grand Master Philip José Farmer’s
Patricia Wildman series, as well as the coauthor with Farmer of the upcoming
Doc Caliban novel, The Monster on Hold. Eckert’s other professional credits
include authorized tales of Zorro, the Phantom, Honey West, the Avenger,
and the Green Hornet.
JOHN CARTER OF MARS: GODS
OF THE FORGOTTEN by Geary Gravel
After his strange arrival on
Barsoom, John Carter battled countless perils to win the heart of his beloved
Dejah Thoris and went on to shatter the age-old chains that bound his adopted
world to a false religion. But now an ancient and monstrous evil stirs
beneath the Red Planet’s surface and threatens to destroy all he holds
dear.
Geary Gravel is the author
of the Philip K. Dick Award finalist The Alchemists, as well as the novels
The Pathfinders, A Key for the Nonesuch, and Return of the Breakneck Boys.
He has also written several novelizations, including Hook, based on the
Steven Spielberg film, and Mask of the Phantasm, based on Batman: The Animated
Movie. He lives in western Massachusetts, where he worked for decades as
a Sign Language Interpreter for the Deaf.
VICTORY HARBEN: FIRES
OF HALOS by Christopher Paul Carey
Hurled by a mysterious force
across time and space, young inventor Victory Harben is transported at
dizzying speed from one strange world to another. Soon Victory begins to
wonder whether her unexpected tour of the cosmos is the result of a natural
phenomenon...or an ominous entity intent on using her to achieve its own
malevolent ends.
Christopher Paul Carey
is the author of several novels, including Swords Against the Moon Men,
an authorized sequel to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Moon Maid. He has also
scripted comic books featuring Burroughs’ characters, such as Tarzan, Dejah
Thoris, and Carson of Venus. He is Director of Publishing at Edgar Rice
Burroughs, Inc., and serves as creative director of the Edgar Rice Burroughs
Universe series.
It was also revealed that “Tarzan and the Valley
of Gold” will be regarded as canon for the ERB Universe and issued
with ERB Universe branding. Other books may also be so designated.
The July 19 announcement did not address the other projects
at ERB, Inc. The reprint project for the original ERB Library Collection
is still underway, but no schedule has yet been provided. No
changes were mentioned for the Wild Adventures book line.
The ERB panel at PulpFest in Pittsburgh, August 15 to
18 included these two announcements:
“Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time”,
an authorized novel from 1999 written by Philip Jose Farmer is to be regarded
as canon with ERB Universe branding.
“The Eye of Amtor” is the official, licensed
comics prequel to Matt Betts' “Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds”.
Slated for December 2019 from American Mythology.
Heidi Ruby Miller has agreed to write a new, undesignated
novel for the ERB Universe.
A short biography for Ms. Miller:
Heidi Ruby Miller teaches
writing at Seton Hill University, where she did her graduate studies. Her
books include the AMBASADORA series, MAN OF WAR, a sequel to a Philip José
Farmer novel, and the writing guide MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT. She lives in
Uniontown, PA, with her writer husband, Jason Jack Miller, and two cats.
Christopher Paul Carey, Director of Publishing at ERB,
Inc., stated that
"Heidi is an exceptionally talented
author of science fiction adventure. From the very conception of
the ERB Universe series, I knew I wanted her on board to handle a particular
character. She's the one to do it and I know the fans will love the tale
she has in store for us."
The title and synopsis for Heidi Ruby Miller's novel will
be announced early next year with the second wave of ERB Universe novels.
