Other editions of book A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Science Fantasy

Ex-confederate army captain John Carter finds himself unwittingly transported to Mars, while fleeing Apache Indians. This new world is populated by a race of monstrous Martians, whose culture is based on the ability to fight for their race. Fortunately for John, the gravitational difference between Mars and Earth has endowed him with the strength that he will need for survival on this hostile planet. John Carter battles ferocious Martian creatures, but gains the respect and friendship of the Barsoomians. He also encounters the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and earns her everlasting devotion. This is the first of eleven in the popular 'Martian' series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

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First Published - 1912. John Carter, a Virginia Civil War officer, is transported mysteriously to Mars. There he meets and befriends Tars Tarkas, who with Carter's help rises to become Jeddak of Thark, and Carter falls in love with Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. Carter and Dejah Thoris settle in Helium for almost ten years, where they have an egg (in which a son forms), but just before the five-year incubation period ends someone assassinates the keeper of the atmosphere plant and his assistant. Carter helps the Barsoomians open and restart the plant, but he passes out from lack of air and awakes to find himself again on Earth.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as the creator of Tarzan, was gifted with a limitless imagination. He created entire worlds for his own pleasure. A PRINCESS OF MARS, published in 1912, was Burroughs' first book. In it John Carter, facing death at the hands of the Apaches, wills his transmigration to Mars. There he finds the dying civilization of Barsoom. In his journey across Mars, Carter gains respect and friendship, as well as the devotion of Dejah Thoris, princess of helium. All is well until Barsoom faces suffocation when the atmosphere plant breaks down. It is up to Carter to save the planet. At his death in 1950, Burroughs had written 91 books and a host of short stories and articles. He is remembered best for TARZAN OF THE APES.

John Carter of Mars Series "Only moments before, I lay in the Arizona cave paralyzed by a strange gas. Now, here I stand on the Arizona bluff, my bodiless spirit gazing at the stars. My attention is drawn to a large red star, Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it has always held the power of irresistible enchantment. I closed my eyes, stretched out my arms and was drawn through the trackless immensity of space. There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness. I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars." Read by Jack Sondericker. 6 CD's 6.7 Hrs.

A Princess of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Barsoom series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine from February-July, 1912. Full of swordplay and daring feats, the novel is considered a classic example of 20th-century pulp fiction. It is also a seminal instance of the planetary romance, a subgenre of science fantasy that became highly popular in the decades following its publication. Its early chapters also contain elements of the Western. The story is set on Mars, imagined as a dying planet with a harsh desert environment. This vision of Mars was based on the work of the astronomer Percival Lowell, whose ideas were widely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Barsoom series inspired a number of well-known 20th-century science fiction writers, including Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and John Norman. The series was also inspirational for many scientists in the fields of space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life, including Carl Sagan, who read A Princess of Mars when he was a child. John Carter, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, goes prospecting in Arizona immediately after the war's end. Having struck a rich vein of gold, he runs afoul of the Apaches. While attempting to evade pursuit by hiding in a sacred cave, he is mysteriously transported to Mars, called "Barsoom" by its inhabitants. Carter finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility in this new environment as a result of its lesser gravity and lower atmospheric pressure. He soon falls in with a nomadic tribe of Green Martians, or Tharks, as the planet's warlike, six-limbed, green-skinned inhabitants are known. Thanks to his strength and martial prowess, Carter rises to a high position in the tribe and earns the respect and eventually the friendship of Tars Tarkas, one of the Thark chiefs.