Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in 1912, and published as a novel as A Princess of Mars in 1917. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters. The first five novels are in the public domain in U.S., but are still under copyright laws in most of the rest of the world.
The world of Barsoom is a romantic vision of a dying Mars. Writers and science popularizers like Camille Flammarion, who was convinced that Mars was at a later stage of evolution than Earth and therefore much more dry,[1] took the ideas further and published books like Les Terres du Ciel (1884), which contained illustrations of a planet covered with canals.[2] Burroughs gives credits to him in his writings, and goes as far as to say that he based his vision of Mars on that of Flammarion.[3] John Carter is transported to Mars in a way described by Flammarion in Urania (1889), where a man from earth is transported to Mars as an astral body where he wakes up to a lower gravity, two moons, strange plants and animals and several races of advanced humans. In The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds and Lumen, he further speculates about plant people and other creaturs on far away planets, elements that would later appear in the Barsoom stories.
The Barsoom series, where John Carter in the late 1800s is mysteriously transported from Earth to a Mars suffering from dwindling resources, has been cited by many well known science fiction writers as having inspired and motivated them in their youth, as well as by key scientists involved in both space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Elements of the books have been adapted by many writers, in novels, short stories, comics, television and film.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
| Order | Title | Published as serial | Published as novel | Fictional narrator | Year in novel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Princess of Mars | February–July 1912, All-Story | October 1917, McClurg | John Carter | 1866–1876 |
| 2 | The Gods of Mars | January–May 1913, All-Story | September 1918, McClurg | John Carter | 1886 |
| 3 | The Warlord of Mars | December 1913-March 1914, All-Story | September 1919, McClurg | John Carter | 1887–1888 |
| 4 | Thuvia, Maid of Mars | April 1916, All-Story Weekly | October 1920, McClurg | third person | 1888~1898 |
| 5 | The Chessmen of Mars | February–March 1922, Argosy All-Story Weekly | November 1922, McClurg | third person | 1898~1917 |
| 6 | The Master Mind of Mars | July 15, 1927, Amazing Stories Annual | March 1928, McClurg | Ulysses Paxton | 1917 |
| 7 | A Fighting Man of Mars | April–September 1930, Blue Book | May 1931, Metropolitan | Tan Hadron | 1928 |
| 8 | Swords of Mars | November 1934-April 1935, Blue Book | February 1936, Burroughs | John Carter | 1928~1934 |
| 9 | Synthetic Men of Mars | January–February 1939, Argosy Weekly | March 1940, Burroughs | Vor Daj | 1934~1938 |
| 10 | Llana of Gathol | March–October 1941, Amazing Stories | March 1948, Burroughs | John Carter | 1938~1940 |
| 11 | John Carter of Mars – a novella collection containing:John Carter and the Giant of Mars (attributed to John Coleman Burroughs) |
January 1941, Amazing Stories | July 1964, Canaveral | third person | 1940 |
| Skeleton Men of Jupiter (attributed to Edgar Rice Burroughs) |
February 1943, Amazing Stories | John Carter | 1941–1942 |