When the Viking landers touched
down on Mars in 1976 it was hoped they would find some signs of life. Alas,
they didn't. When the Martian rover went out for a drive on the Red Planet
there was a chance it might find something that Viking missed. Unfortunately,
all we met were rocks named Yogi and Scooby.
For a long time humans have
wanted to believe that there was (or is) life on Mars. Today many people
see evidence of a monumental carved "face" on Mars, even though scientists
say it is only a trick of light and shadow. A hundred years ago, when Percival
Lowell first looked through a telescope at Mars, he "saw" an intricate
system of life-sustaining canals. Thus was born one of the great
scientific myths of the twentieth century.
Edgar Rice Burroughs started
writing his Martian adventures in 1911, and even though science claims
there is no life on Mars his stories remain vibrant and timeless tales,
because Burroughs knew the appeal and power of the Martian myth. Writers
like Ray Bradbury and scientists like Carl Sagan have acknowledged that
Burroughs' Martian tales were the wellspring from which their own careers
arose.
With his opening trilogy
- considered one of the landmarks of science fiction - Burroughs created
a vast and sweeping epic. Captain John Carter of the Confederate Army is
whisked to Mars and discovers a dying world of dry ocean beds where giant
four-armed barbarians rule, of crumbling cities home to an advanced but
decaying civilization, a world of strange beasts and savage combat, a world
where love, honor and loyalty become the stuff of adventure. The world
of Barsoom
In eleven books Burroughs
takes the reader all around the Red Planet (and even to Jupiter), while
the action and excitement never let up. Take a trip down the sacred River
Iss to the Valley Dor at Barsoom's south pole, but be warned ~ you might
wind up the meal for a flesh-eating plant man! Visit the city of Manator,
where the citizens play chess with live pieces ~ to the death. Pay your
respects to Ras Thavas, the Master Mind of Mars, who will be happy to transplant
your brain into the body of your choice ~ or maybe into the body of a giant
ape! Rescue princesses from impenetrable fortresses, gallop across
the sea bottoms of Barsoom astride your eight-legged thoat, or race through
the thin air of Mars aboard your anti-gravity flier. With this combination
of super science and swordplay, not only will Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian
tales provide thrills a-plenty, but you'll also discover that without Burroughs
there probably never would have been Star Wars!
The Complete Mars Series
