''John Carter of Mars'' is the eleventh and final book in the ''

Barsoom 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' ...

'' series by American writer

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

. It is not a novel, but rather a collection of two ''John Carter of Mars'' stories. The first story was originally published in 1940 by Whitman as a Better Little Book entitled ''John Carter of Mars''. Although credited to

, it was written (and illustrated) by his son, John Coleman Burroughs and was later expanded and re-published in the January issue of '' Amazing Stories'' in 1941 as "John Carter and the Giant of Mars", the name it goes under in the collection. The second story, "Skeleton Men of Jupiter", was first published in '' Amazing Stories'' in 1943. Intended as the first in a series of novelettes to be later collected in book form, in the fashion of '' Llana of Gathol'', it ends with the plot unresolved, and the intended sequels were never written. Several other writers have written

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

endings for the story. The first edition of ''John Carter of Mars'' (a title that Burroughs never used for any book in the ''

'' series) was published in 1964 by Canaveral Press, fourteen years after his death.

Reception

This book is not highly regarded by fans of the ''

'' series and is generally considered something of an afterthought. However, in the book '' Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs'',

Richard A. Lupoff Richard Allen Lupoff (February 21, 1935 – October 22, 2020) was an American science-fiction and mystery author, who also wrote humor, satire, nonfiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he a ...

, the editor of the 1964 Canaveral Press edition of ''John Carter of Mars'', writes that it is interesting for its contrast between "real" Burroughs (''Skeleton Men of Jupiter'') and "ersatz" Burroughs (''John Carter and the Giant of Mars'').

Copyright

The copyright for this book has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia.

References

External links

ERBzine C.H.A.S.E.R ENCYCLOPEDIA entry for ''John Carter of Mars
*
Text file of "John Carter and the Giant of Mars"
at Project Gutenberg Australiabr>Zip fileText file of "Skeleton Men of Jupiter"
at Project Gutenberg Australiabr>Zip file
* ttp://www.erblist.com/erblist/jcmskeletonsum.html Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for "Skeleton Men of Jupiter" {{Barsoom Martian novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs Short story collections by Edgar Rice Burroughs Fantasy short story collections Science fiction short story collections Fiction set on Jupiter 1964 short story collections