HYPERBOREA / Hadon of Ancient Opar

**Posted by rhialto** 10/20/2015 4:58 am

Again, never heard of these until reading about them on the Black Gate blog: Philip Jose Farmer's spin on Opar (an ERB city referred to in the Tarzan books), contemporary of Atlantis. Just started it, no comments other than cheap copies can be had on Amazon.

**Posted by grodog** 10/20/2015 10:22 pm

I like Farmer a lot, but I've not read any if his Tarzan pastiches thus far.

**Posted by rhialto** 10/21/2015 3:54 am

This is my first foray into Opar: I've read World of Tiers and Riverworld, but oh so long ago...I will post some impressions and opinions when I'm done.

**Posted by rhialto** 11/06/2015 4:39 pm

So this passage ought to inspire some sort of unique item:
"The axe was indeed a curious one, one which Hadon might have coveted if he had not been a swordsman. Its head was massive, so heavy that only a very strong man could use it effectively. It was crudely fashioned from a lump of iron and some other metal, but it had a sharp edge. The handle, according to Paga, had been made from the solid lower leg bone of some kind of antelope* that was found only in the northern part of the lands beyond the Ringing Sea...He had worked out a deep slot at one end for receipt of the neck of the ax, and he had bound it with strips from the hide of something like the giant antelope but smaller. After the haft and the ax had been lashed together with these, he had knotted the ends and poured the resin of heated amber over the lashings. The bone haft was also lashed with strips of hide. At the other end of the bone, which has as hard as elephant ivory, was a knob, the knuckle joint. Paga had rubbed this down to make a smooth sphere."
Philip Jose Farmer, Hadon of Ancient Opar
*The giant Irish elk.

**Posted by Ghul** 11/06/2015 9:03 pm

Ok, I need this book! eBay is my friend...

**Posted by rhialto** 11/07/2015 6:16 am

Don't rush to eBay just yet...yesterday I received the Gods of Opar edition (compilation of Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar and The Song of Kwasin)...I'm sure we could work something out.

**Posted by Ghul** 11/09/2015 6:52 am

rhialto wrote:
Don't rush to eBay just yet...yesterday I received the Gods of Opar edition (compilation of Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar and The Song of Kwasin)...I'm sure we could work something out.

Too late! Perhaps someone else here at this fine forum might be interested . . .

**Posted by rhialto** 11/09/2015 8:13 am

Ghul wrote:
rhialto wrote:
Don't rush to eBay just yet...yesterday I received the Gods of Opar edition (compilation of Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar and The Song of Kwasin)...I'm sure we could work something out.
Too late! Perhaps someone else here at this fine forum might be interested . . .

Sure: I'm mere hours away from the next step in my Master Plan to Secure S&S Tomes, and will have available other worthies for a pittance of sequins.

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 11/09/2015 10:19 am

rhialto wrote:
Ghul wrote:
rhialto wrote:
Don't rush to eBay just yet...yesterday I received the Gods of Opar edition (compilation of Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar and The Song of Kwasin)...I'm sure we could work something out.
Too late! Perhaps someone else here at this fine forum might be interested . . .

Sure: I'm mere hours away from the next step in my Master Plan to Secure S&S Tomes, and will have available other worthies for a pittance of sequins.

Do tell . . .

**Posted by rhialto** 11/10/2015 3:27 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
rhialto wrote:
Sure: I'm mere hours away from the next step in my Master Plan to Secure S&S Tomes, and will have available other worthies for a pittance of sequins.
Do tell . . .

I secured Gods in Darkness, and so have available 5 Kane paperbacks, plus the two Opar books. I was thinking a contest here, winner(s) simply pay shipping...

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 11/10/2015 3:30 pm

Shall we say pistols at dawn?

**Posted by rhialto** 11/10/2015 5:02 pm

I was thinking something cerebral, but that works: when you have shot your foe, let me know.

**Posted by rhialto** 11/12/2015 4:50 am

Final spoiler-free impressions of Hadon of Ancient Opar:

Very interesting world-building, with some basis in fact: two inland seas in the heart of ancient Africa, with the Sahara as a vast savannah, the Ice Age retreating in Europe, etc.
Anachronisms such as Bronze-Age technology existing 12,000 years ago (but with an explanation), Caucasians in Africa, etc.
Good Swords & Sorcery feel, if light on the "sorcery" part
Typical attitudes of the day, but easily overlooked if you understand that some day readers will be railing against writers of now for their blindness too

Looking forward to the next in the series, Flight to Opar. Contest for my two superfluous paperbacks coming up...

**Posted by Ghul** 11/13/2015 11:50 pm

**Posted by rhialto** 11/14/2015 5:42 am

Enjoy! Both the books and the libation...