Beyond Tarzan:
The Martian Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs

For some light reading this summer, try out one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian novels. Before Burroughs ever achieved fame through his Tarzan books, he wrote eleven adventure stories set on Mars that are equally exciting. Featuring John Carter, the Swordsman of Mars, these books maintain a pace of constant action, adventure, and romance that rivals the best swashbuckling tale.

The first book of the series is entitled A Princess of Mars, which introduces John Carter as an American Civil War veteran who is gold-prospecting in Arizona when he is attacked by Apache Indians.  After being driven into a cave for safety, Carter finds himself magically transported to Mars. Here he discovers that, because his muscles are adapted for Earth instead of Mars, he can jump extreme distances and he possesses incredible strength.  Carter finds the “princess of Mars,” after whom the book is titled, imprisoned by a giant green race of Martians who are called Tharks. With four arms, the Tharks are a somewhat nomadic group of people who travel along the “dead-sea bottoms” of Mars and exist in the form of various warring factions. Because of his superior strength and agility, Carter is able to gain respect among these people and begins planning a rescue attempt of the beautiful princess, Dejah Thoris.

The following two books, Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars, catalogue the continuing adventures of John Carter and introduce new varieties of indigenous Martian life. Gods of Mars, while maintaining its exhilarating pace, also presents a scathing critique of organized religion through its portrayal of a myth that the Martians believe concerning the afterlife. The Martian inhabitants believe that when their time has come to die, they must travel down the River Iss into the Lost Sea of Korus. Carter comes to find that this myth is propagated by a race called the Therns who live in the valley at the end of the river. Martians who take their final pilgrimage down the river are either killed by strange plant-men and white apes or taken as slaves by the Therns. It is up to Carter to rectify this injustice and expose a system of hierarchy and deception that has existed for thousands of years.

The Martian “novels” were originally published in serial form in pulp magazines in the early twentieth century, and in many ways, they read as such. From the minute you begin reading, John Carter does not seem to take a breath, so thick is the action. The books are filled with cliffhangers, hot pursuits, close calls, and full-fledged battles. But despite the continuous action, Burroughs sends a clear message against ignorance and corruption, using the dying Martian landscape as a backdrop for many of the social problems we face.

--Jason Hogue