(The Carolinas chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles)
Submitted by
John Hood, President
Aaron Oliver, Secretary
We, the elected officers of the Carolina Calots, are pleased to submit this report about the formation and activities of our Carolinas chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles for the 2023 calendar year. Employing a combination of online and in-person meetings, we strengthened relationships among our members and deepened our appreciation of ERB and his works.
Monthly Meetings
Our regular Zoom gatherings, typically held the second Tuesday of every month, remain the backbone of our chapter. As you can see, we took on a variety of interesting topics:
At our January meeting, we discussed the Dynamite comic series and its role in promoting and sustaining interest in ERB. The Calots in attendance expressed a range of opinions, but a rough consensus emerged that the exploitative aspects of the series were unfortunate and might tend to foster an inaccurate and shallow impression of ERB’s stories and characters.
In February, we began an in-depth analysis of the Mucker trilogy. We discussed The Mucker itself that month, contrasting both the title character and his love interest with the other heroes and heroines of the ERB canon. We then discussed The Return of the Mucker in March and The Oakdale Affair in April. The general consensus was that these were far less effective books than the first in the series, though each offered a few entertaining chapters and situations.
In May, we devoted our Zoom meeting to a round-robin discussion among members about the books that made them fans. Some Calots chose Tarzan novels or even comic strips as their entry portal to the world of ERB. Others cited the Barsoom or Pellucidar series. It was notable that several members said their first reads were not the initial books in their respective series. That they loved the book anyway, despite not possessing a prior knowledge of the characters and fictional universe, is a testament to ERB’s genius as a storyteller.
Next, we traveled to the Hollow Earth for some fun with David Innes — an initially reluctant hero whom we judged to be very different from the likes of Tarzan and John Carter. Our discussion spawned a blog post about Innes, who freely expresses fear and self-doubt. The June meeting focused on At the Earth’s Core, and the July meeting Pellucidar.
In August, we changed gears to discuss writers who followed in the footsteps of Burroughs. Included in this category were both writers who were influenced by ERB (such as Ray Bradbury and Michael Moorcock) as well as writers who tried their hand at either authorized continuations or obvious pastiches to ERB characters and works.
Then we devoted three meetings to the ape-man: Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (September), Tarzan the Untamed (October), and Tarzan the Terrible (November). This exploration of the sprawling Tarzan corpus spawned two blog posts on our website. One amusing post related the disappearance of Jason Gridley’s pants at the earth’s core. Another much-debated post suggested that Taylor Swift would make a great Jane Porter as newly reinvented by ERB Inc. in the company’s graphic novels.
Finally, in December, we staged a Show and Tell. Each Calot displayed a favorite ERB item — book, comic, pulp, artwork, game, or toy — and then related the backstory of what made the item special or memorable.
In-Person Meetings
While we expect Zoom and our website to be the primary ways Calots will interact with each other, John and Aaron felt it was important to arrange as many face-to-face gatherings as we could over the course of 2023. There really is no substitute for them if a club or team wants to build camaraderie and deepen relationships.
Our first meeting was on April 22. Nine members got together for lunch in Cary, North Carolina. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and conversation.
Next, we held three get-togethers in the month of June. First, John traveled to Asheville, in the mountains, to have lunch with one of our members. A couple of weeks later, John and Aaron traveled to Charlotte to meet two additional members for supper. The next day, Aaron attended a “Tarzan of the Apes in the Comics” panel discussion moderated by Henry Franke III (Burroughs Bibliophiles) with panelists Roy Thomas & William Stout. Aaron used the gathering to recruit new members to the Carolina Calots by handing out postcards with a QR to our website. Finally, John went to the coastal community of Morehead City the following week to meet two other members for lunch.
We anticipate organizing similar opportunities in 2024 for groups of Calots to meet for meals or to attend conventions and other events.
Other Projects
The Carolina Calots website can be found at https://carolinacalots.wixsite.com/carolina-calots. Much of the content is derived from our monthly Zoom meetings, though we plan to add more categories in content in 2024.
In June, we began publishing our first newsletter, entitled Calot Communiqués. This we linked to our website and the blog posts published throughout the year. We also launched our brand on Twitter/X (https://twitter.com/carolinacalots) with daily posts promoting our group.
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