Tarzan at the Earth's Core
Encyclopedia
Tarzan at the Earth's Core is a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

, simultaneously the thirteenth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

 and the fourth in his series set in the interior world of Pellucidar
Pellucidar
Pellucidar is a fictional Hollow Earth milieu invented by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs for a series of action adventure stories. In a notable crossover event between Burroughs' series, there is a Tarzan story in which the Ape Man travels into Pellucidar.The stories initially involve the...

.

Plot summary

In response to a radio plea from Abner Perry, a scientist who with his friend David Innes
David Innes
David Innes is a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as the main protagonist of his Pellucidar novels.-The early novels:David Innes is introduced in the first Pellucidar novel, At the Earth's Core, as a mining heir who finances the experimental "iron mole," an excavating vehicle...

has discovered the interior world of Pellucidar
Pellucidar
Pellucidar is a fictional Hollow Earth milieu invented by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs for a series of action adventure stories. In a notable crossover event between Burroughs' series, there is a Tarzan story in which the Ape Man travels into Pellucidar.The stories initially involve the...

at the Earth's core, Jason Gridley launches an expedition to rescue Innes from the Korsars (corsairs), the scourge of the internal seas. He enlists Tarzan, and a fabulous airship is constructed to penetrate Pellucidar via the natural polar opening connecting the outer and inner worlds. The airship is crewed primarily by Germans, with Tarzan's Waziri
Waziri (fictional tribe)
Waziri is the name of a fictional African tribe created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Tarzan books.In The Return of Tarzan Tarzan returns from civilization to his beloved jungle. But he has changed: when he meets a black warrior, instead of killing him he saves him from Numa, the lion. The warrior...

 warriors under their chief Muviro
Muviro
Muviro, chief of the Waziri, is a character in the Tarzan saga created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.-Character:Muviro is depicted as a somewhat elderly warrior of the Wazari, wise, brave and respected, and a good friend of Tarzan. He serves as the sub-chief of the tribe under Tarzan...

also along for the expedition.

In Pellucidar Tarzan and Gridley are each separated from the main force of the expedition and must struggle for survival against the prehistoric creatures and peoples of the inner world. Gridley wins the love of the native cave-woman Jana, the Red Flower of Zoram. Eventually everyone is reunited, and the party succeeds in rescuing Innes.

As Tarzan and the others prepare to return home, Gridley decides to stay to search for Frederich Wilhelm Eric von Mendeldorf und von Horst, one last member of the expedition who remains lost (The missing Von Horst's adventures are told in a sequel, Back to the Stone Age
Back to the Stone Age
Back to the Stone Age is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth in his series set in the interior world of Pellucidar. It first appeared as a six-part serial in Argosy Weekly from January 9 to February 13, 1937 under the title "Seven Worlds to Conquer." It was first published in book...

, which does not involve either Gridley or Tarzan).

Comic adaptations

The book has been adapted into comic
Tarzan (comics)
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.-Comic strips:...

 form by Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...

 in Tarzan nos. 179-181, dated November 1969-January 1970, with a script by Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois , or DuBois In his lifetime he wrote well over 3000 comic book stories and comic strips as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure...

 and art by Doug Wildey
Doug Wildey
Douglas S. Wildey was a cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his co-creation of the 1964 animated television series, Jonny Quest for Hanna-Barbera Productions.-Early life and career:...

.

Copyright

The copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 for this story has expired in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and thus now resides in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

 there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia
Project Gutenberg Australia
Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. The site hosts free ebooks or e-texts which are in the public domain in Australia. The ebooks have been prepared and submitted by volunteers...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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