Land of Terror

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Publishing History/Plot Summary

The story was written from October 17, 1938 to April 17, 1939 (60,000 words).  

It did not appear in a magazine, being rejected by Thrilling Wonder Stories, Argosy, Blue Book, Ziff-Davis Publications, and West Magazine. 

It was first published as a book May 1, 1944 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. This was five years after it was written, and during that time, the first three stories of Savage Pellucidar were published. This hardcover has a dust jacket illustration by the author’s son, John Coleman Burroughs. The book cover is blue with red lettering. A frontispiece and many interior illustrations had been prepared by the artist but were not included in the book. Twenty-four years later in 1968, Vern Coriell published twenty-eight of these in a fifty-six page Burroughs Bibliophiles booklet called David Innes of Pellucidar. Some of these illustrations were reproduced in ERBzine #0347 , ERBzine #0348 , and the Burroughs Bulletin New Series #64, Fall 2005.

1963 Canaveral Press hardcover with dust jacket and seven interior illustrations by Roy Krenkel - The book cover is green with black lettering.

1964 Ace paperback with cover and title page drawing by Frank Frazetta (three printings)

1973 Ace paperback - This edition has a completely different Frazetta illustration on the cover than does the 1964 edition (seven printings).

1990 Ballantine-Del Rey paperback with cover by David Mattingly (one printing)

2007 Bison Books trade paperback with cover image by iStockphoto.com/Adrian Chesterman - There is a frontispiece and six illustrations by Roy Krenkel from the 1963 Canaveral Press edition. There is an introduction by Anne Harris, the award-winning author of The Nature of Smoke, Accidental Creatures, and Inventing Memory.  

    It has been thirty-six years since David Innes and Abner Perry first bored their way through the Earth's crust to the inner world and yet the men don't look or feel much older. Returning from Lo-har, where he had found von Horst, David is captured by the bearded warrior-women of Oog. In this culture the men are the weaker sex. He is put to work as a slave in the fields and becomes friends with another slave, Zor from Zoram. The two manage to escape during an attack from the neighboring tribe of Julok, a race of dyal-riding warrior-women, by hopping on a riderless dyal. They continue to ride the bird until they reach the snowy mountains where the creature refuses to go any further.

Next they are captured by the mad Jukans. In the palace of Meeza the king, they befriend a fellow captive, Kleeto, a girl from Suvi. David has to kill a palace functionary, and then he and Zor, dressed as Jukans, attempt to find their way out of the palace. David is caught and thrown into prison. The "prison" in which the madmen threw him in is in fact a network of passageways. Exploring, he breaks into a room where Moko, the king's son, is attacking Dian the Beautiful! David defeats Moko in a fight and is reunited with his mate. The two escape back into the secret corridor. They follow a tunnel to a cave in a hillside just outside the village.

Dian tells David that the rest of the Sarian warriors of his group had returned home and reported him dead. Do-gad, the visiting nephew of the King of Suvi, heard this and wanted Dian for his own, eventually pursuing her until she was captured by the Jukans.

David leaves Dian safe in the cave, and disguised, returns to the Jukan village to rescue Zor and Kleeto. He bluffs his way into the palace and manages to free only Zor. Zor returns to free Kleeto and David discovers that Dian has disappeared from the cave. He is unable to pick up her spoor and eventually rejoins Zor and Kleeto. They decide to return to Suvi, which is in the general direction of Sari, and perhaps pick up Dian's trail.

As they travel, Kleeto reveals that Do-gad was also after her when they were at Suvi. They rescue a baby maj (mastodon) that is mired in a marsh. The parents appear grateful and travel with them for a while.

The man-eating giants of Azar then capture the three. They are tied to poles to be fattened up. They learn from another prisoner that Dian and Do-gad had just escaped. In the distance, David can hear the trumpeting of a mastodon. On a lark he tries calling to the maj. A herd of mastodons bursts through the palisade and carries David off a great distance.

Lost, and separated from his friends, David decides to follow a river to the ocean and then the coast to Sari. Shortly thereafter, giant ants capture him. David and a fellow prisoner, U-Val of Ruva, one of The Floating Islands, escape from the ants when a colossal ant bear attacks the anthill.

Links

Land of Terror (ERBzine # 746)

chapter summary and essay (ERBzine #324 article by David Adams)

chapter summary (ERBlist)

Sources:

q    The first edition reproduction dust jacket picture above is from Bruce Wood's site. This one and other fine reproductions can be purchased there.      

q     The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography by Robert B. Zeuschner (1996)

q       Guide to the Edgar Rice Burroughs Paperbacks Issues by Lee J. Barrie (1996)

q      A Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs by Henry Hardy Heins (2001)

q      Price and Reference Guide to books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs by James A. Bergen, Jr. (1991)

q        Findings On Collecting Ace Paperback Books for 29 Years by Bill Ross from ERB Collector #48

q       The Edgar Rice Burroughs Collector's Pocket Checklist by J. G. Huckenpöhler

q       Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan by Irwin Porges (1976)

q       The Burroughs Bulletin New Series #43, #44, #58, and #64

q       Rating the ERB Books by George Alonso from ERB-APA #40, Winter 1993

q       Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs by Richard A. Lupoff (1965)

von Horst's Pellucidar established 12-25-98