A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I followed the adventures of John Carter the way readers of a certain detective followed his exploits in issues of The Strand. Prime among the treasures to be found in those bags were the Barsoom novels of ERB. This was the way I got one of my first scents of the lifetime of reading that awaited.

Lift the treasure to your nose and inhale deeply. I remember the glee I felt when a parcel would arrive, the soft packaging that sprinkled to the floor if you opened the pull-tag a little too energetically. Wells, Robert Heinlein, Jules Verne, and plenty more from that gang of idiots. Of course there were others, all vying for my immature attention, Arthur C. And the brazen hussy that led me down that path was none other than Edgar Rice Burroughs. Not with a girl, (well, there were one or two cracks opened in that young heart, but we do not speak of that now) but with reading. Some years back David Bowie asked the musical question, 'Is there life on Mars?' Had he read A Princess of Mars he might have known the answer.īack in the early 60’s I fell in love. Similar in face and figure to women of Earth, she was nevertheless a true Martian-and prisoner of the fierce green giants who held me captive, as well! Her oval face was beautiful in the extreme, her every feature finely chisled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. And when his captors take as prisoner Dejah Thoris, the lovely human-looking princess of the city of Helium, Carter must call upon every ounce of strength, courage, and ingenuity to rescue her-before Dejah becomes the slave of the depraved Thark leader, Tal Hajus!

Captured by a band of six-limbed, green-skinned savage giants called Tharks, Carter soon is accorded all the honor of a chieftain after it's discovered that his muscles, accustomed to Earth's greater gravity, now give him a decided advantage in strength. It's the beginning of an incredible odyssey in which John Carter, a gentleman from Virginia and a Civil War veteran, unexpectedly finds himself on to the red planet, scene of continuing combat among rival tribes. A Princess of Mars is the first of eleven thrilling novels that comprise Edgar Rice Burroughs' most exciting saga, known as The Martian Series.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs