Other editions of book Gulliver of Mars Illustrated

Edwin Lester Linden Arnold (14 May 1857 – 1 March 1935) was an English author. Most of his works were issued under his working name of Edwin Lester Arnold. He became a journalist in 1883, and published his first books A Holiday In Scandinavia (1877) and Bird Life In England (1887) before writing his first novel The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician.

Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a woman—for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it—the pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! I must and will write—it relieves me; read and believe as you list. At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grilled steak and tomatoes—steak crisp and brown on both sides, and tomatoes red as a setting sun! Much else though I have forgotten, THAT fact remains as clear as the last sight of a well-remembered shore in the mind of some wave-tossed traveller. And the occasion which produced that prosaic thought was a night well calculated to make one think of supper and fireside, though the one might be frugal and the other lonely, and as I, Gulliver Jones, the poor foresaid Navy lieutenant, with the honoured stars of our Republic on my collar, and an undeserved snub from those in authority rankling in my heart, picked my way homeward by a short cut through the dismalness of a New York slum I longed for steak and stout, slippers and a pipe, with all the pathetic keenness of a troubled soul.

Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a woman—for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it—the pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! I must and will write—it relieves me; read and believe as you list. At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grilled steak and tomatoes— steak crisp and brown on both sides, and tomatoes red as a setting sun! Much else though I have forgotten, THAT fact remains as clear as the last sight of a well-remembered shore in the mind of some wave-tossed traveller. And the occasion which produced that prosaic thought was a night well calculated to make one think of supper and fireside, though the one might be frugal and the other lonely, and as I, Gulliver Jones, the poor foresaid Navy lieutenant, with the honoured stars of our Republic on my collar, and an undeserved snub from those in authority rankling in my heart, picked my way homeward by a short cut through the dismalness of a New York slum I longed for steak and stout, slippers and a pipe, with all the pathetic keenness of a troubled soul.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a woman—for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it—the pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! I must and will write—it relieves me; read and believe as you list.

Edwin L. Arnold's work represents a sort of a strange bridge between the Jules Verne or H.G. Wells style of science fiction and the pulp fiction heroic science fantasy found later in the twentieth century.“Gulliver of Mars” goes with the classic science fiction stories and it has a real story embedded inside, over 100 years old, but enjoyable even by a 21st century reader, able to approach the story without preconceptions and suspend belief enough to enjoy the magic of Mars.The book was published in 1905 as “Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation”. Gulliver Jones, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy,arrives on Mars on a flying carpet and starts a great adventure in this distant and improbable world, where he often almost saves the day and almost gets the girl. On Mars, he discovers and learns a lot about the indolent society he finds himself in, society that seems to live for its simple pleasures and being not as peaceful and idyllic as it may seem. He falls in love with lovely Princess Heru just in time to see her handed over to the king of the Hither people. He saves her, of course, but then he succumbs to drinking and loses the Martian princess again, through an act of betrayal, after she appears to have become his. There are often other people who save Gulliver Jones from his own ignorance, and many times his attempts at heroism fail. But, in the end, he saves the Princess yet again and helps her survive, while witnessing the destruction of her domain by a comet causing great distress on Mars. There is an escape, a chase, a final confrontation and coincidences that turn the plot around and make the book an incredibly enjoyable read.

Lieut Gullivar Jones: His Vacation was the original title of the last novel by Edwin Lester Arnold. It was first published in 1905, however, when Ace Books reprinted Arnold's novel in 1964, it was retitled Gulliver of Mars.The novel combines elements of both fantasy and science fiction and is considered a precursor and likely inspiration to Edgar Rice Burroughs’s classic A Princess of Mars, which spawned the sword and planet genre. The concept of a military man going to Mars, exploring strange civilizations and falling in love with a princess had been explored as far back as Percy Greg’s Across the Zodiac (1880), but the connections between Gullivar and John Carter, the protagonist of Burroughs' Barsoom novels, are more numerous and stronger.Gullivar Jones is a military man in the United States Navy who arrive on Mars by apparently magical means and has numerous adventures there, including falling in love with Martian princesses. Gullivar stumbles in and out of trouble and never quite succeeds in mastering it. The fact that Gullivar does not quite defeat his enemies or get the girl in the end helps explain why Arnold's Martian saga was not as popular as Burroughs'.

Gulliver of Mars is the tale of Lieutenant Gulliver Jones of the United States Navy who magically appears on Mars. In a fortunate incident he manages to save the life of Martian Princess Heru who sticks with him, as his quick return to Earth is not possible. Gulliver learns a lot about the culture of Martian society as they get through many adventures, going down a River of Death.