Pulp Review: The Planet of Peril

It is a weird coincidence that many of the stories I've read on my journey into pulp literature were published in the pages of Argosy. True, much of it comes from the fact that I've been reading a lot of Burroughs & Merritt over the last year (who are giants of the era), but when it comes to discussion of pulp magazines themselves, Argosy in the 10s and 20s doesn't get as much mention in my Pulp Revolution running crew as Weird Tales or Astounding, or even the later Analog and Planet Stories. I'd guess because it lacks a strong editorial personality like Farnsworth Wright, Hugo Gernsback or John W. Campbell. Just an observation.

Otis Adelbert Kline (1891-1946) was a pulp author closely associated with Weird Tales, with his first published story appearing in that magazine's first issue in 1923. An assistant editor and regular story contributor to Weird Tales, he would also find success with Argosy before becoming a literary agent. His most famous client? Robert E. Howard.

The Planet of Peril is the first of Kline's Venus stories, planetary romance swashbucklers in the same vein as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. It was first serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1929 and published as a novel that same year. Here, Robert Grandon is a WWI veteran who's bored with the modern world when he's approached by a Dr. Morgan who offers him a route to adventure and excitement. Grandon agrees and through a process of hypnosis Dr. Morgan sends Grandon's mind across space and time to Venus, where he mentally swaps places with the lost Prince of Uxpo. Awakening as a slave of the fearsome kingdom of Reabon, Grandon wastes no time in leading a prisoners' revolt and running into the deadly jungles of Zarovia (the locals' name for Venus).

Through various happenstances, he rescues Queen Vernia of Reabon, a commanding woman of action who was responsible for imprisoning Grandon's body before he arrived. Proud,haughty and beautiful, Grandon naturally falls in love with her, and the two travel across Venus to get her back to Reabon within a year or else her political rivals will usurp her throne because of byzantine Zarovian laws.

This is an obvious imitation of John Carter, aimed at fans of that series (which is probably why Argosy picked it up. Burroughs got his start in their pages with A Princess of Mars and Tarzan). The story moves at a fast clip. Perhaps too fast, at times. When Grandon rescues Vernia from a giant monster threatening to eat her, its built up as a great threat, and Grandon quickly dispatches it. This happens semi-regularly throughout the book. The sabit sequence is satisfying because it takes a little more time, starting with the horrors of people being forced into communal living conditions (even being unable to choose who they mate with) against their will and ending in a titanic battle where thousands of the giant ants are killed in the revolt.

Its got action, adventure, and romance aplenty, though the quality isn't as high as Burroughs. There's a few pieces of convenient deus ex machina plot resolutions here and there, but even so, its great fun when carnivorous bird-men are being gunned down from an airship over a lake made of lava. Vernia is an amazingly strong female character, just a few steps shy of Dejah Thoris. I do recommend it, though in a “If you enjoyed A Princess of Mars, then you'll enjoy this” sort of way.