First and Only Weekly Online Fanzine Devoted to the Life and Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages and Webzines in Archive

Volume 0419
The Hillmans' Virtual Visit to The Nell Dismukes McWhorter
Memorial Edgar Rice Burroughs Collection

The main directory for this virtual tour is at:
www.erbzine.com/mag4/0402.html

Virtual Tour & Scrapbook 17:
UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS
Pulp Magazines
From the photo collection of
Bob "Tarak" Woodley


All-Story Magazine ~ February - July, 1912

A Princess of Stories

Here I happily hold the true infancy of ERB. The first publication of the first chapters of “Under the Moons of Mars.”  This is it. This is the February, 1912 issue of “All-Story” a pulp which perhaps grumpy and tired readers opened one day or night, after a hard day’s work, probably in late December of 1911 or early January of 1912.  Outside the wind blew and snow was perhaps falling. Life was hard, and pleasures were few. Money was scarce for many, but they spent their ten cents each month in hopes that they would be transported away from the often dreary reality of their own lives; to adventurous places where dwelt handsome men and beautiful women; and where excitement and love and honor and courage were the standards.

A month previous they had perhaps noticed a couple of lines advertising this new story: “In February will appear the first installment of NORMAL BEAN’S UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS A surprisingly vivid Interplanetary romance....................”

I don’t know how frequently such readers dealt with interplanetary romances, vivid or otherwise, but this certainly must have piqued their interest. The cover story that month was “Prince Imbecile”, so this must have heralded at least a bit of an imaginative departure. I suppose this was delivered a month or so prior to the January publication date, so readers probably first heard of this story in November or December, 1911.

And then, a month later, there it was. It didn’t make the cover,  but inside it received top billing, just above the first installment of  “The Hand of Hate”,  and the second installment of  Prince Imbecile. “Six Serial Stories. UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS,  Part I. The romance of a soul astray ... Norman Bean   1912

Then you turn to that page, and there it is. The “editor’s note” type of beginning which ERB used sometimes, and to such great effect...

...and then:

“I am a very old man; how old, I do now know.”

All Story - February 1912 - Under the Moons of Mars 1/6

At the top we have our very first ERB art. A green man with his spear. Perhaps a city far in the background, and perhaps Thuria rising or setting above an alien landscape. From only this and the words of the writer would visions of Barsoom be woven into the minds and imaginations of these first readers.

Unfortunately the story stops just when John Carter has escaped his guardian calot, but suddenly has been grasped by a white ape. What must it have been like to have read those first twenty-some pages and to have to wait another month for the story to continue? I just can’t imagine.

Next month we get to Chapter VI, however; and we get something else; a synopsis of the preceding month(s)’ story. This is something I had never seen, and I read each of these as I looked at the six pulps which contain this story.

All-Story March 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 2/6	All-Story March 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 2/6 contents	All-Story March 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 2/6
All Story - April 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 3/6	All Story - April 1912 - Under the Moons of Mars 3/6	All Story - April 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 3/6
All Story - May 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 4/6	All Story - May 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 4/6 contents	All Story - May 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 4/6
All-Story June 1912:  Under the Moons of Mars 5/6	All-Story June 1912:  Under the Moons of Mars 5/6 contents	All-Story June 1912:  Under the Moons of Mars 5/6
All Story - July 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 6/6	All Story - July 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 6/6 contents	All Story - July 1912 -  Under the Moons of Mars 6/6

Finally, on page 598, in the July issue of All-Story, we are able to conclude this story; or to the extent which is possible given the ending:

“I can see her shining in the sky through the little window by my desk, and to-night she seems calling to me again as she had not called before since that long dead night. I think I can see, across that awful abyss, a beautiful black-haired woman standing in the garden of a palace, and at her side is a little boy who puts his arm around her as she points to the sky toward the planet earth. I think I see them, and something tells me I shall soon know.”

Thus did Edgar Rice Burroughs leave his readers spellbound in July, 1912, with such prose and such imagination and such a longing need for more.

And soon he would deliver. The next two issues were devoid of his writing skills; but the second of those months;  September, 1912, would mention a new story which would appear in the October issue. In fact it would set forth a brief discussion of the story, for the editor had read it on one sitting and had been mesmerized. And so too would the world be mesmerized, for that story would be “Tarzan of the Apes”.

Tarak holding All-Story Tarzan issue and complete pulp saga of Under the Moons of Mars

---

All-Story Table-Talk
Letters to the Editor

[We thought that "Under the Moons of Mars" was] about as original a yarn as has been seen in a long while, and we shall be very much disappointed if we don't hear the same from some of our friendly readers. Every time a letter comes that seems to back up some choice or other which we have made, we are a great deal more than pleased. For instance, take this letter from W.A.E.: Seattle, Washington, July 8, 1912 All-Story Table-Talk Dear Sir: I have been a reader of the All-Story for thh past three years, and believe it to be the best of all fiction magazines. I read "The Red Book of Mystery" in July and enjoyed it immensely. I have just finished "Under the Moons of Mars," which was fine, and I am patiently waiting for the next instalment of "At Close Range." . . .  .One moment more - please don't print any more stories like "The Bustle." . . . . W.A.E.

I note that W.A.E. asked the editors of All-Story not to print any more stories like "The Bustle", which obviously suffered from its placement immediately following the last words of Under the Moons of Mars. How could anything seem good after that?

Tarak with A Princess of Mars first hardcover edition

PULPS

.
PORTAL TO OUR OFFICIAL JOHN CARTER WEBSITES

JOHN CARTER OF MARS FILM
Release Date March 9, 2012

TAKE OUR LATEST TOUR OF THE McWHORTER ERB COLLECTION
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From

The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
ERB Companion Sites Created by Bill Hillman

Tarzan.com	ERBzine.com	DantonBurroughs.com	Tarzan.org
BurroughsBibliophiles.com	JohnColemanBurroughs.com	Tarzan.com/tarzine	JohnCarterOfMars.ca
ERBzine.com/edgarriceburroughs	Weekly Webzine	Weekly Webzine	Pellucidar.org
John Carter Film	ERB, Inc. Corporate Site	ERB Centennial	tarzana.ca