The Passion of The The Outlaw of Torn The

I was prepared not to feel great love for The Outlaw of Torn. 

For one thing, it was Edgar Rice Burroughs's second novel...and even though I did dearly love the first, A Princess of Mars, that second novel is often problematic.... The first novel might be the product of years or even decades of work, but that second one is often quite rushed.  And, having read the complete works of several writers now, it's become obvious that the earliest and latest published works are usually not the best stuff. In fact, one of the reasons I read this book now was because I didn't want to get to the end of the Burroughs oeuvre and only have third or fourth rate works to read--as has been the case with quite a few of my beloved writers (Willeford, Doctorow, Ellison...even Vonnegut).

Also, I've been reading a bit of John Taliaferro's Tarzan Forever, a biography of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and there are a couple of details about The Outlaw of Torn which prepared me for a sub-substandard work. First, ERB had, indeed, written the work very quickly. In fact, after his editor had suggested that ERB try his hand at a historical romance for his second effort, it took him only three weeks to write The Outlaw of Torn. Second, the novel was rejected. Twice. And to add insult to injury, the editor offered to buy the plot from ERB and give it to another writer. In response to all of that, ERB actually wrote a letter saying that he was thinking of giving up on the whole writing schtick, as he obviously didn't have what it took to be a real writer. Wow. Had he stuck to that, I'd guess that John Carter of Mars would have been quickly forgotten...and of course the world would never have heard of Tarzan. Or The Land That Time Forgot. Or Pellucidar. Or Carson of Venus. Or that great Metallica song, "The Outlaw Torn." Or....

I just finished reading The Outlaw of Torn. I'm not sure when I started it, but not more than a few days. It was a bit stilted at times, I'll confess, but I really liked this book. A lot. I wish that there had been a sequel. Or two. It did not seem like the rushed work of a novice writer at all. In fact, I found it chock full not only of action and romance, but humor and even wisdom.

Highly recommended.

Here are a few pretties for you:

"But what are the duties?" said he whom they called Peter the Hermit. "To follow Norman of Torn where he may lead, to protect the poor and the weak, to lay down your lives in defence of woman, and to prey upon rich Englishmen and harass the King of England." The last two clauses of these articles of faith appealed to the ruffians so strongly that they would have subscribed to anything, even daily mass, and a bath, had that been necessary to admit them to the service of Norman of Torn.

"...his huge stomach made it necessary for him to go upon all fours before he could rise, so that he got up much after the manner of a cow, raising his stern high in air in a most ludicrous fashion. As he gained his feet he saw the girl turn her head from him to hide the laughter on her face."

"For my part" laughed the outlaw, "I am willing to leave it in His hands; which seems to be the way with Christians. When one would shirk a responsibility, or explain an error, lo, one shoulders it upon the Lord."

"I may be wrong, for I am ill-versed in religious matters, but my conception of God and scapegoat is not that they are synonymous."

Oh, yeah. Give me more of that, foe show.