It was with great shock and a deep sadness that, on March 6, 2011, we learned of his passing.

An "Abused Childhood" 
by Bruce Salen (Hadron - The Brooklyn Banth)
From ERBzine 0060 Lend an ear, O Jeddak and all --
Yay, be ye now the regal audience to this mine unnerving tale of woe and sorrow.

Hear ye now the sage of my abused childhood, to wit:--

Of a veritable sooth, when I were but a wee bairn, my parents and I lived in the same apartment building as did my maternal grandparents - we lived on the fourth floor on the north side of the building, and they lived on the ground floor of the south side.

Every night at bed-time, my father would put me to be, and make up a Robin Hood story to tell me.

First thing after breakfast the following morning, I would toddle downstairs to my grandparents apartment, where my grandfather would make up a Tarzan story for my private entertainment.

A few years later, with the advent of TV, two new heroes were quickly added to my private pantheon, to wit:-- The Lone Ranger, and my all-time #1, Hopalong Cassidy.

"Abused childhood" -- Robin Hood at bed-time; Tarzan the next morning, after breakfast; then, with the coming of television -- The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy.

Then comes that fateful summer of 1960 -- my favorite summer, come to think of it.  And one of the reasons is the fact that some time in June, or early July, I made an amazing discovery -- a load of Grosset & Dunlap ERB hardcovers, that my father had bought and read when they first came out, and had saved all these years.  For me.

THE WARLORD OF MARS -- TARZAN THE TERRIBLE -- TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN -- TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR -- THE MOON MAID -- THE CAVE GIRL -- CHESSMEN OF MARS.

I read all of them during that fateful summer, and I was hooked on and by the Master Story-teller, ERB.  And have been hooked ever since.

"Abused childhood" -- Robin Hood stories and bed-time -- Tarzan stories after breakfast -- and my father's collection of Burroughs books.

As Gene Kelly sang it in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS -- "Who can ask for anything more?"

I can't.

The Brooklyn Banth.

From early September through mid-December, 1992, rural England was plagued by a series of horrifying murders.  They were committed at various times, and at various locations throughout the land.  Only two things seemed to link the crimes - their apparent wantonness, and the fact that the body of each victim had been carefully mutilated in some way.

Soon after this series of killings began, Scotland Yard put together a team to spearhead the search for the killers.  Heading this team were two of its most renowned and successful detectives, Sean Ferguson and John Kelly.

In the course of their careers, Ferguson and Kelly have dealt with a variety of crimes and criminals -- including serial killings and psychottic killers -- but after three-plus months on the case, they find themselves hopelessly stale-mated -- as do the other police forces throughout the country.

In desperation, Ferguson decides to make a phone-call to a special friend, and enlist his help in the quest for the killer(s).

Eliezer Jordan is a Professor of Biblical Literature, Egyptology, and Semitic Languages at two universities in the New York metropolitan area. Early on in his academic career, he developed an interest in the religions of the ancient Near East.  This, in turn, led him to study the Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition.

In the course of time, he earned a reputation for his mastery of that vast body of esoteric learning, and for the unusual abilities that his mystical know-ledge gave him.

Upon hearing of Ferguson's problem, Jordan flies to London, and places his spe-cial knowledge, abilities, and experiences at the disposal of his two friends.

Ferguson and Kelly give him a concise summary of the events of the past three-and-a-half months -- then and where the murders were committed; when, where, and by whom the bodies were found; when, where, and by whom the autopsies were performed; etc.  They also show him photographs of the bodies of the victims, and the reports of the Forensic specialists of the various police forces work-ing on the cases.

Jordan decides to visit the scenes of some of the murders on his own -- from Bodmin, in Cornwall, up to a temple of the ancient Persian sun-god, Mithra, at Hadrian's wall.  Indeed, he arrives at one of the sites only to find that another murder was committed but a few hours earlier.

Jordan, Ferguson, and Kelly combine their varied experiences, knowledge, and abilities to find the killer who has been terrorizing England with such a reckless abandon. Before their work is done, they find themselves dealing with ancient Celtic mythology, Druids, prehistoric stone monuments, and the rebirth of one of the most revered cults of the ancient Celtic religgion -- the Cult of the Severed Head.  And they must deal with three more attempted murders -- including of Jordan himself, as he finds himself the guest of honor at a human sacrifice, to be performed at one of Britain's prehistoric mono-lithic circles.