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Thundar: Man of Two Worlds
"Thrilling! The Logical Successor to Edgar Rice Burroughs!" -Amazing Stories.If you like high-adventure on far worlds, tales of strong men and women pitted against dangers both human and alien, if you love John Carter or Tarzan, then you will love Man of Two Worlds! Michael Storm, a twentieth-century archaeologist, has stumbled upon a strange new world. Deep in the mountains of Peru, he crosses a gateway leading to a world of mutated monsters, tribal apemen, and wondrous futuristic technology. The key to Storm's survival in this bizarre new reality is his very identity - is he the godlike warrior Thundar, spoken of in the prophecies, or merely a man in the wrong place at the wrong time? A tale of myth and adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs. With a new introduction by the author describing his experiences in Peru after World War II and how his search for lost Incan treasure helped inspire this book.
Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1971
4 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Stuart J. Byrne
43 books3 followersStuart James Byrne or S.J. Byrne (born October 26, 1913) is an American screenwriter and writer of science fiction and fantasy. He published under his own name and the pseudonyms Rothayne Amare, John Bloodstone, Howard Dare, and Marx Kaye (a house pseudonym).
Byrne was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, he recalled, "I was in there early enough to see magic lantern slides instead of movies, to watch the little man in the black suit climb his ladder to light our gas lamp out front, and in the early twenties I was excited by whisperings of a thing called radio!" Favorite fiction memories of the time included Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland, L. Frank Baum's Oz stories, the Rover Boys, the Boy Allies, Gernsback science-fiction, and "the life-changing impact of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books."
At the age of twelve, he moved with his family to California. In his teen years, his interest in science fiction continued. He also became an avid amateur astronomer. Years later, he recalled that "many a summer night ... were spent in awe ... in the Pleiades and the great Orion Nebula, or surfing the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. In fact at fifteen I was grinding parabolic mirrors for my amateur telescope."
In the 1930s, he married Joey and fathered two children, Richard and Joanne. He earned an M.A. at UCLA. He published his first science fiction story, entitled "Music of the Spheres" in Amazing Stories in 1935. It told how a young man sacrificed his life to send a passenger spaceship away from a fatal encounter with the sun. In their capsule review of the book, Bleiler and Bleiler state, "The story, which is purple in writing, now considers the sensations of the young man as he approaches death in the sun, fancying that he hears the music of the spheres."
In the 1940s and 1950s, Byrne published in Science Stories, Amazing Stories, Imagination, and Other Worlds.
He was especially noted as the creator of Michael Flanagan, the hero of three stories that appeared in Amazing Stories: "The Land Beyond the Lens," "The Golden Gods," and "The Return of Michael Flannigan," all listed as by John Bloodstone. The first two of these stories were collected as Godman (spelled "Godman!" on the cover) in 1970. According to Byrne's later reminiscence, the name "John Bloodstone" was suggested by Ray Palmer to fool Howard Browne, the editor of Amazing, who had requested that Palmer write a story about a picture showing a man going through some kind of lens. Palmer passed the job over to Byrne, but eventually confessed the switch to Browne.
In 1955, Byrne became known as the author of an unpublishable new Tarzan novel called Tarzan on Mars via an editorial called "Tarzan Never Dies," by editor Ray Palmer, in Other Worlds Science Stories magazine. The novel could not be published because Palmer was unable to get authorization from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
As a screenwriter, Byrne wrote for the "Men into Space" TV show in 1959 and 1960. He is credited with writing the episode entitled "Quarantine" (1959) and providing the story for the one entitled "Contraband" (1960). He received credit for the story of the 1971 film called "The Deserter" as well as the original story and screenplay for the 1972 film "The Doomsday Machine". According to Bleiler and Bleiler, he was also a screenwriter for the 1975 film Journey into Fear, although he is not so credited in the IMdb online database.
Byrne reverted to the Bloodstone pseudonym for the publication of his original paperback novel Thundar. This vivid novel of the adventures of Michael Storm, also known as Thundar, on earth in the far future is one of Byrne's best. After a framing device concerning Michael Storm's diaries, the story begins with Storm's adventures in the Peruvian mountains searching for the legendary time-gate of Viricocha. According to Byrne, "The scenes and locale of the opening adventure in the Peruvian Andes are authenticated by the fact that I spent
Byrne was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, he recalled, "I was in there early enough to see magic lantern slides instead of movies, to watch the little man in the black suit climb his ladder to light our gas lamp out front, and in the early twenties I was excited by whisperings of a thing called radio!" Favorite fiction memories of the time included Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland, L. Frank Baum's Oz stories, the Rover Boys, the Boy Allies, Gernsback science-fiction, and "the life-changing impact of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books."
At the age of twelve, he moved with his family to California. In his teen years, his interest in science fiction continued. He also became an avid amateur astronomer. Years later, he recalled that "many a summer night ... were spent in awe ... in the Pleiades and the great Orion Nebula, or surfing the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. In fact at fifteen I was grinding parabolic mirrors for my amateur telescope."
In the 1930s, he married Joey and fathered two children, Richard and Joanne. He earned an M.A. at UCLA. He published his first science fiction story, entitled "Music of the Spheres" in Amazing Stories in 1935. It told how a young man sacrificed his life to send a passenger spaceship away from a fatal encounter with the sun. In their capsule review of the book, Bleiler and Bleiler state, "The story, which is purple in writing, now considers the sensations of the young man as he approaches death in the sun, fancying that he hears the music of the spheres."
In the 1940s and 1950s, Byrne published in Science Stories, Amazing Stories, Imagination, and Other Worlds.
He was especially noted as the creator of Michael Flanagan, the hero of three stories that appeared in Amazing Stories: "The Land Beyond the Lens," "The Golden Gods," and "The Return of Michael Flannigan," all listed as by John Bloodstone. The first two of these stories were collected as Godman (spelled "Godman!" on the cover) in 1970. According to Byrne's later reminiscence, the name "John Bloodstone" was suggested by Ray Palmer to fool Howard Browne, the editor of Amazing, who had requested that Palmer write a story about a picture showing a man going through some kind of lens. Palmer passed the job over to Byrne, but eventually confessed the switch to Browne.
In 1955, Byrne became known as the author of an unpublishable new Tarzan novel called Tarzan on Mars via an editorial called "Tarzan Never Dies," by editor Ray Palmer, in Other Worlds Science Stories magazine. The novel could not be published because Palmer was unable to get authorization from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
As a screenwriter, Byrne wrote for the "Men into Space" TV show in 1959 and 1960. He is credited with writing the episode entitled "Quarantine" (1959) and providing the story for the one entitled "Contraband" (1960). He received credit for the story of the 1971 film called "The Deserter" as well as the original story and screenplay for the 1972 film "The Doomsday Machine". According to Bleiler and Bleiler, he was also a screenwriter for the 1975 film Journey into Fear, although he is not so credited in the IMdb online database.
Byrne reverted to the Bloodstone pseudonym for the publication of his original paperback novel Thundar. This vivid novel of the adventures of Michael Storm, also known as Thundar, on earth in the far future is one of Byrne's best. After a framing device concerning Michael Storm's diaries, the story begins with Storm's adventures in the Peruvian mountains searching for the legendary time-gate of Viricocha. According to Byrne, "The scenes and locale of the opening adventure in the Peruvian Andes are authenticated by the fact that I spent
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 6, 2020
I'd never read this because, until recently, I thought this was a story based on the cartoon series, Thundar. It isn't. The original copyright is 1954. I thought it was very well written, if maybe a touch overwritten. There's a tendency to use bigger words than necessary, but they're cool words and it gives the story a sense of style that meshes with the heroic fantasy genre.
This is one of those books that straddles the border between Sword and Sorcery and Sword and Planet. I think I'd put it more in the sword and planet camp, as the subtitle, "Man of two worlds" suggests. The worlds in fact are both earth, but one is so far in the future and so changed from our world that it definitely has the feeling of an alien planet. I thought the world building was particularly good.
The story ends with a setup for a sequel, although as far as I know, no sequel ever appeared. There's a lot of mystery left unresolved in this book, and the ending comes a bit too easily, I thought, since it has the character relating the end rather than the reader being "shown" the actions.
All in all, a worthy novel, although not without some flaws. If you like Burroughs and Lin Carter then you'll probably enjoy this quite a lot.
This is one of those books that straddles the border between Sword and Sorcery and Sword and Planet. I think I'd put it more in the sword and planet camp, as the subtitle, "Man of two worlds" suggests. The worlds in fact are both earth, but one is so far in the future and so changed from our world that it definitely has the feeling of an alien planet. I thought the world building was particularly good.
The story ends with a setup for a sequel, although as far as I know, no sequel ever appeared. There's a lot of mystery left unresolved in this book, and the ending comes a bit too easily, I thought, since it has the character relating the end rather than the reader being "shown" the actions.
All in all, a worthy novel, although not without some flaws. If you like Burroughs and Lin Carter then you'll probably enjoy this quite a lot.
May 5, 2024
Very good book written by one of the golden age of science fiction pulp writers. The story’s protagonist goes through a portal one million years into the Earth’s future. An intriguing Burroughs type tale ensues. It’s almost like a sword and planet type book, yet it still takes place on Earth. Recommend!
May 1, 2018
This is definitely an Edgar Rice Burroughs homage following the general plot outline of A Princess of Mars. Unfortunately, it does retain some of the contentious points from ERB's writing namely the presented view's on race and women. Fortunately, it also shares most of the positives although they do not seem to be as fresh as they do in the original although by now even the original is cliche. So if you want something very akin to Burroughs this is it.
I did enjoy the read although at some points it did get a little tedious but there are tidbits that are so hokey as to be enjoyable such as the lead character and his father believing that the Inca were inter-dimensional supermen. My favorite quote: So that was it! - I thought. A knife duel with an apeman. This did not come under the heading of fencing.
The story concerns one Michael Storm, adopted son with shadowy origins, and his pursuit of his father's theory that the Inca had traveled to our world through an inter-dimensional gateway (this is where the questionable attitudes towards race comes in). Of course, our hero falls in and is teleported to a savage world of "Dawn People", alien monsters, steaming jungles, and random high-tech-magic shenanigans. There's also two warring factions of humans as well. Basically the story can be separated into three distinct phases which I rather enjoyed however the ending felt really rushed leaving me a little disappointed.
I would mention a few other eccentricities that the story introduces about the nature of the Dawn People and Humans but I don't want to spoil anything because these bits of strangeness mixed with the homage quality is really what is attractive here. Note that the original paperback is not very well edited with several misspellings and missing or partial footnotes. If any of the previous sounded interesting to you I would recommend this book for some light reading.
May 17, 2020
Utilizing the saved search option on eBay helped me to nab an affordable copy of this pretty hard to find paperback. Although, I was unaware this was also available for Kindle and paperback; cheaper than I paid, mind you. I have a case of buyers remorse. Meh.
Don't believe the hype. The story is framed up similar to any of Burroughs stories, but it's not a rip-off or clone, like I've seen others comment. This lacks Burroughs breakneck pacing most notably.
John Bloodstone (Stuart J. Byrne) has crafted an adventure story within a portal fantasy set within the far future. I have been having trouble focusing on any reading, so my enjoyment or lack thereof may be from that result. Most of the book just plodded along. Not really piquing my interest. The latter part of the book picked up in action and moved along faster.
Recommended!
Don't believe the hype. The story is framed up similar to any of Burroughs stories, but it's not a rip-off or clone, like I've seen others comment. This lacks Burroughs breakneck pacing most notably.
John Bloodstone (Stuart J. Byrne) has crafted an adventure story within a portal fantasy set within the far future. I have been having trouble focusing on any reading, so my enjoyment or lack thereof may be from that result. Most of the book just plodded along. Not really piquing my interest. The latter part of the book picked up in action and moved along faster.
Recommended!
May 24, 2016
Fun little ERB rip-off....that was then ripped off again to create the Saturday morning cartoon.
August 1, 2020
As other readers have noted, this is clearly a knock-off of ERB's well worn model of a contemporary man flung into a strange world filled with non-stop action. It does not have the breakneck speed of ERB (at one point the main character lives as an amnesiac wild man in the jungle for seven years) but it is the action that carries the story forward.
I was thrown off at how abruptly the central story ended and reverted back to the framing story to somewhat complete the few plot lines, which awkwardly set up sequels that never got written.
I was thrown off at how abruptly the central story ended and reverted back to the framing story to somewhat complete the few plot lines, which awkwardly set up sequels that never got written.
December 11, 2020
Some say this story is a lot like John Carter of Mars. In many ways the idea is the same, but set in the far future and talks about what could happen to Earth.
This is nothing like the cartoon at all, but the story does hold its own. Is there a hint at a sequel? Lots if twist. Lost romance, alien, etc.
This is nothing like the cartoon at all, but the story does hold its own. Is there a hint at a sequel? Lots if twist. Lost romance, alien, etc.
September 19, 2019
This was a fine book that really should have been made into a series.
I lost my copy to a chewing mouse back in 77 or 79. I became curious if the author ever wrote a sequel.
No.
Pity.
I lost my copy to a chewing mouse back in 77 or 79. I became curious if the author ever wrote a sequel.
No.
Pity.
August 1, 2020
Derivative and boring. If you picked this up hoping to find some semblance of the Saturday morning cartoon, put it back down. Other than the title, there is nothing relating the two.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews