BUSHI SFF

Bushi SFF · Article

Mucking about

mucker

Gitabushi has been prodding me for a while now to read The Mucker, one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ lesser known novels. I’m generally not a fan of “Just power through the first 100 pages and then it gets really good” stories, but seeing as how I’ve plowed a-ways through and I’m starting to enjoy it now, I’ll probably finish it this month.

My initial experience with The Mucker reminds me of my aborted reading of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. When you’re expecting SFF and instead you get mundane adventure fiction…well, it can still be a good time, but it can also be something of a letdown. Also I’m not sure why everyone can speak Japanese.

Meanwhile I’m trying to expand my exposure to Philip K. Dick with a book of shorts that Kaiju gifted me. So I guess I’m also Dicking around!

Happy New Year.

Comments

7 responses to “Mucking about”

  1. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    I actually did not mind the first hundred pages, but it gets better when they get to the island.

    Reply
    1. Bushi Avatar
      Bushi

      I mean it’s fine, but my two main reactions were:

      1. Where is the scifi/fantasy? (I didn’t realize when I started reading it that this isn’t SFF)

      2. This protagonist and all the other characters are assholes…I hope we get someone I can root for soon.

      Reply
  2. H.P. Avatar
    H.P.

    I was excited to find a copy of Mucker when I went to a used bookstore down in Texas. Turns out I bought the second book, The Return of the Mucker. Maybe I should start there?

    Reply
    1. Bushi Avatar
      Bushi

      I don’t think I would – that would skip over his whole baddie to good guy arch. But some might advocate for it, I dunno.

      Reply
  3. Bookstooge Avatar
    Bookstooge

    If I want just adventure stories, I would pick somebody else besides burroughs, that is for sure. From the cover I assumed it was some sort of proto-hulk.

    Good luck with Dick, no matter how wrong that sounds…

    Reply
    1. Bushi Avatar
      Bushi

      I know, you’re not a fan of his. 🙂

      Reply
      1. Bookstooge Avatar
        Bookstooge

        I just wasn’t sure I had made that clear enough, so I wanted to make sure 😉

        Reply

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