He does not seem to have known that the lesser Martian moon, Deimos, is so small that it would appear more like a bright star than a moon from the surface of the planet. On the other hand, Burroughs was not a scientific expert. Mars' moons are frequently referred to, as they are distinctly different from Earth's moon - the larger moon, which we call Phobos, travels across the sky very quickly and this is a recurrent motif in any description of a Martian night scene. His Earth-born muscles allow him to jump to great heights and he is immensely strong compared with the natives. The planet's lower gravity gives John Carter a huge advantage. The floating warships and fliers are held aloft by buoyancy tanks full of 'Martian rays'. So everlasting lights in tunnels are powered by 'radium'. While these are swash-buckling adventures rather than science fiction, Burroughs tried to keep them scientific - he tried to explain Martian inventions in terms of known science. The books are now out of copyright in some parts of the world (although still in copyright in Europe until 1 January, 2021) so they can easily and cheaply be downloaded from Gutenberg or your favourite e-book store. John Carter kissing the princess is about as racy as it gets. Despite this, there's no sex in these books. Everybody is naked except for a leather harness for holding swords, keys and other possessions. An unusual feature of Martian life is that the inhabitants never developed the habit of wearing clothes. The stories are adventures in which the hero will always get the girl and there's lots of hand-to-hand combat. They are also sometimes called the 'John Carter books', but in fact John Carter is only the main character in six of the 11 books. The inhabitants' name for Mars is 'Barsoom', so these are often called the Barsoom books to distinguish them from other stories about Mars. He fights his way up to being Warlord of Mars and wins a princess along the way. A veteran soldier of the American Civil War, John Carter, is mysteriously transported to Mars. They feature planet Mars occupied by warring nations who have a mixture of high and low technology - they fly around in giant warships kept in the air by antigravity, and have guns so accurate they can hit a target 100 miles 1 away, but tend to prefer hand-to-hand combat with swords.
Probably the best and most popular of these are the Mars/Barsoom books. He is most famous for his invention of the character Tarzan, the child who was abandoned in the jungle and was brought up by apes, going on to be the muscle-bound ruler of the jungle.īurroughs wrote many other series of books, and while none of them is as famous as Tarzan, they were well received in their time.
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was an American writer of adventure stories in the early 20th Century.
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