''Llana of Gathol'' is a collection of four

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

stories 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 ...

, which were originally published in ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'' in 1941. The first collected edition of ''Llana of Gathol'' was published in 1948 with an apparently new foreword. It is the penultimate book in the ''Barsoom'' series and the last to be published during Burroughs's lifetime. The stories in ''Llana of Gathol'' have a somewhat more humorous tone than earlier entries of the ''Barsoom'' series, and this book is considered to be an example of Burroughs engaging in self-parody late in his career.

Stories

*"The Ancient Dead" (originally "The City of Mummies") *"The Black Pirates of Barsoom" *"Escape on Mars" (originally "Yellow Men of Mars") *"Invisible Men of Mars"

Plot summary

Martian Family of John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom Novels

The stories in this collection revolve around John Carter's granddaughter Llana of Gathol, who plays the "

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

" role played by

Dejah Thoris Dejah Thoris is a fictional character and princess of the Martian city-state/empire of Helium in Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of Martian novels. She is the daughter of Mors Kajak, Jed (chieftain) of Lesser Helium, and the granddaughter of Tardos ...

and Thuvia in earlier entries of 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. In search of solitude, John Carter flies to the deserted city of Horz. By one of those coincidences which are common in Burroughs's books, he discovers his own granddaughter, Llana of Gathol, who is being held captive. The subsequent attempts to get Llana safely back home bring Carter, Llana and Pan Dan Chee, a young man they pick up along the way, through a series of adventures. They meet an ancient, mad hypnotist who has preserved people for nearly a million years by the power of hypnotism. They find a valley occupied by Black Men who imprison them. They travel to the land of Pankor where soldiers are frozen and kept in reserve until needed for a war. Finally they reach the land of Invak where the inhabitants have mastered the art of invisibility.

Influence

The book's title was aped by that of the later novel '' Ylana of Callisto'' by

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

, a volume in his Burroughs-inspired

Callisto series The ''Callisto series'' is a sequence of eight science fiction novels by Lin Carter, of the sword and planet subgenre, first published by Dell Books from 1972-1978. They were written in homage to the Barsoom and Amtor novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs ...

Copyright

The

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

there. The text is available via

Project Gutenberg Australia Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. It is a sister site of Project Gutenberg, though there is no formal relationship between the two organizations. The site hosts free eboo ...

External links

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ERBzine C.H.A.S.E.R ENCYCLOPEDIA entry for ''Llana of Gathol

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Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for ''Llana of Gathol''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llana Of Gathol 1941 fantasy novels 1941 science fiction novels 1948 short story collections American science fiction novels Fantasy short story collections Martian novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs Science fiction short story collections Short story collections by Edgar Rice Burroughs Works originally published in Amazing Stories