Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webzines and Webpages In Archive 
Master of Imaginative Fantasy Adventure Creator of Tarzan® and "Grandfather of American Science Fiction" Volume 7170 |
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Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webzines and Webpages In Archive
Master of Imaginative Fantasy Adventure Creator of Tarzan® and "Grandfather of American Science Fiction" Volume 7170 |
As part of their 2020 Virtual ManganiFest, hosts Jess Terrell and Lilla Pop have suggested that
I write a bit about my involvement with ERBzine and the Legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
They suggested a few topics -- ERBzine, Inspirational Friends, Career -- which I've attempted to expand upon.
Thanks Lilla and Jess for your Love of All Things ERB.
ERBzine Vision
When I created my first Edgar Rice Burroughs related Webpage back in 1996 there wasn't much about my favourite author on the relatively new Internet. I expressed my admiration of his works and how he influenced my love of SF and Fantasy Adventure and my collecting hobby. After I finished that first page, I made the naive statement that I didn't think I would have much more to share about my obsession on the Internet. . . I didn't think there would be many ERB crazies on the Web. I was mistaken. I immediately heard from countless fellow "crazies" . . . enough that I was encouraged to share more of my obsession with others.Indeed now, almost 25 years later, my original myopic prediction has been proven wrong by the over 15,000 ERBzine pages that I've since created on the subject. The annual reports from my host server indicate that the pages have been visited over 20 million times worldwide -- each year. My early efforts were soon expanded into daily and weekly releases. The weekly ERBzine Webzine I promised to release every Friday. I've faithfully kept to this schedule.
Once I could afford my own host server account I took pride in having no pop-up advertising on the pages. Later, with the immense help and endorsement of Danton Burroughs and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., I was able to share an unlimited amount of ERB-related material from the Tarzana archive. Countless fans, artists, writers, collectors, and certainly Sue-On, my family and friends have helped tremendously in my research.
Publishing a weekly Webzine, as well as a long line of related pages through the week, has been a labour of love -- I haven't missed an issue. Sticking to schedule hasn't always been easy. During my first year as a University professor, the issues had to be relayed by satellite from my remote classrooms in Canada's far North. During our music tours, ERBzines had to be uploaded from our tour bus via my laptop and remote WiFi services. Other interesting locations were from hospital beds, restaurants, as well as hotel rooms across Canada, USA, Mexico, UK, Holland and Germany. We've travelled extensively after retiring from University so these Webpages were uploaded via WiFi during our month-long adventures in China, India, Malaysia, SE Asia and other Asian countries.
Life has been good. I owe so much to the many fans who have been so supportive. Thanks gang.
Memories of Danton Burroughs and George McWhorter
Sue-On and I have made countless life-long friends and acquaintances during our ERB years. A major inspiration has been ERB's grandson, Danton Burroughs. When Disney's rights to Tarzan.com expired, Dan asked that I take over the site as well as the Tarzan.org site and he also shared some great info for ERBzine.com. I suggested that we also do tribute sites on his artist/writer father, John Coleman Burroughs and Tarzana.ca This led to long hours of sharing information and ideas.It also resulted in many flights to Tarzana where we explored and documented the Burroughs archive in Dan's home, office, warehouse, and storage lockers in the valley. Major projects came out of our going through ERB's personal storage boxes, library, films, journals, letters, photos, art, artifacts and the meeting with other members of the Burroughs family and Dan's many show business acquaintances. My saddest visit to Tarzana was my flight from Canada to deliver the eulogy at Dan's memorial in 2008.
Another major inspiration has been George T. McWhorter, who donated and curated the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection in the Ekstrom Rare Books Dept at the University of Louisville. During each of our many visits with George he thrilled us with his devotion to the memory and legacy of ERB. During our visits he spent hours guiding us through the entire collection and sharing rare anecdotes as we took countless photos. Upon leaving he always gifted us with armfuls of treasures from his personal collection.
We have a special memory of our last visit. We felt very honoured when George accompanied us to his Chrisitan Science Cathedral where he had sung every Sunday since the '70s. Following this we had our usual lunch at George's favourite restaurant -- a nearby Denny's. The last memory we have of him was saying farewell at his apartment.
My feelings of admiration, love and friendship for both these men were cemented forever when they came together at the 2003 Louisville Dum-Dum Celebration to co-present me with the Edgar Rice Burroughs BB Lifetime Achievement Award.
Life is Good
As I write this, Sue-On and I are celebrating our 54th Wedding Anniversary. Through these years we have shared major interests: three wonderful kids ~ a +50-year music career which has taken us to many far off lands and adventures ~ 40 decades as educators: high school teachers and university profs ~ the exploring of 25 countries ~ and undying mutual love and respect. On this long journey, the spirit of a friend we never met in person has weaved in and out of our lives and has kept appearing in many guises: The Grandfather of American Science Fiction and the Master of Fantasy Adventure. 
Click for full-size photo bar
The Hillmans On Barsoom
Art by Thomas Yeates and Milan Fibiger
OUR WEBSITES OF INTEREST
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www.tarzan.com
www.tarzan.org
www.tarzana.ca
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