Synopsis
*** The Phoenix Science Fiction Classics series has been designed for the convenience of students. Special margins provide liberal space for students to take notes. *** These distinctive trade paperbacks have also been priced to make them one of the most affordable critical series in the market today, making them easily accessible to students of all economic means. *** Each book includes notes, critical essays, chronologies, bibliographies and more. *** *** Dejah Thoris, Princess of the red humanoid race on Mars, is captured by the four-armed green 'Tharks.' John Carter, mysteriously transported from Arizona (and now possessing super strength) rescues the Princess resulting in grand romantic adventure. *** One of the great pulp science fictions of the early twentieth century, A Princess of Mars inspired many future science fiction writers including Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury. Carl Sagan, who read the book as a child, was fascinated by it. A map of Mars, as imagined by Burroughs, hung outside Sagan's offices in Cornell University.*** This edition includes critical essays by acclaimed author and senior lecturer (Arizona State University) Paul Cook and by Alexei and Cory Panshin (adapted from their Hugo-winning work on science fiction, The World Beyond the Hill).
Review
Although Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is justifiably famous as the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, that uprooted Englishman was not his only popular hero. Burroughs's first sale (in 1912) was A Princess of Mars, opening the floodgates to one of the must successful--and prolific--literary careers in history. This is a wonderful scientific romance that perhaps can be best described as early science fiction melded with an epic dose of romantic adventure. A Princess of Mars is the first adventure of John Carter, a Civil War veteran who unexpectedly find himself transplanted to the planet Mars. Yet this red planet is far more than a dusty, barren place; it's a fantasy world populated with giant green barbarians, beautiful maidens in distress, and weird flora and monstrous fauna the likes of which could only exist in the author's boundless imagination. Sheer escapism of the tallest order, the Martian novels are perfect entertainment for those who find Tarzan's fantastic adventures aren't, well, fantastic enough. Although this novel can stand alone, there are a total of 11 volumes in this classic series of otherworldly, swashbuckling adventure. --Stanley Wiater
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
