''The Master Mind of Mars'' is a

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 ...

novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the sixth of his

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. Burroughs' working titles for the novel were ''A Weird Adventure on Mars'' and ''Vad Varo of Barsoom''. It was first published in the magazine '' Amazing Stories Annual'' vol. 1, on July 15, 1927. The first book edition was published by A. C. McClurg in March, 1928. Burroughs had been unable to place the novel in his standard, higher-paying markets like the Munsey magazines and the

Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

line. Some critics have speculated the publishers were put off by its satirical treatment of religious fundamentalists. He eventually sold it to publisher

Hugo Gernsback Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publ ...

for $1,250: only a third of the rate paid by magazines like '' Argosy All-Story'', where the previous book in the series had first appeared. Gernsback chose the novel's final title and made it the cover feature in his newest magazine. E. F. Bleiler, ''Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years'', Kent State University Press, 1998, p.560

Plot summary

In this novel Burroughs shifts the focus of the series for the second time, the first having been from early protagonists John Carter and

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 Tard ...

to their children after the third book. Now he moves to a completely unrelated hero, Ulysses Paxton, an Earthman like Carter who like him is sent to Mars by looking at the red planet in the sky. Amazing Stories Annual 1927

On Mars, Paxton is taken in by elderly

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or " insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly am ...

Ras Thavas, the "Master Mind" of the title, who educates him in the ways of Barsoom and bestows on him the Martian name Vad Varo. Ras has perfected techniques of transplanting brains, which he uses to provide rich elderly Martians with youthful new bodies for a profit. Distrustful of his fellow Martians, he trains Paxton as his assistant to perform the same operation on him. But Paxton has fallen in love with Valla Dia, one of Ras' young victims, whose body has been swapped for that of the hag Xaxa, Jeddara (empress) of the city-state of Phundahl. He refuses to operate on Ras until his mentor promises to restore her to her rightful body. A quest for that body ensues, in which Paxton is aided by others of Ras' experimental victims, and in the end he attains the hand of his Valla Dia, who in a happy plot twist turns out to be a princess.

Setting

Scientific basis

Burroughs vision of Mars was loosely inspired by

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galax ...

speculation of the time, especially that of

Percival Lowell Percival Lowell (; March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of a ninth planet within the Solar System. ...

, who saw the planet as a formerly

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

like world now becoming less hospitable to life due to its advanced age, whose inhabitants had built canals to bring water from the polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land. Lowell was influenced by Italian astronomer,

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Biography He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory, ...

, who in 1878, had observed features on Mars he called canali (Italian for "channels"). A misunderstanding that "canals" implied water, fueled belief that the planet was inhabited. The theory of an inhabited planet with flowing water was disproved by data provided by Russian and American probes such as the two Viking missions which found a dead, frozen world where water could not exist in a fluid state.

World of Barsoom

A million years before the narrative commences, Mars was a lush world with oceans. As the oceans receded, and the atmosphere grew thin, the planet has devolved into a landscape of partial barbarism; living on an aging planet, with dwindling resources, the inhabitants of

have become hardened and warlike, fighting one another to survive. Barsoomians distribute scarce water supplies via a worldwide system of

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

, controlled by quarreling city-states. The thinning Martian atmosphere is artificially replenished from an "atmosphere plant". It is a world with clear territorial divisions between White, Yellow, Black, Red and Green skinned races. Each has particular traits and qualities, which seem to define the characters of almost every individual within them. Burroughs' concept of race in

, is more similar to species than ethnicity.

Relationship to other works

Ras Thavas reappears later in the series to perform more mad science in the novel ''

Synthetic Men of Mars Synthetic things are composed of multiple parts, often with the implication that they are artificial. In particular, 'synthetic' may refer to: Science * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic o ...

''.

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

enlisted Ras Thavas as guide to Barsoom for his hero

Harold Shea The "Harold Shea" Stories is a name given to a series of five science fantasy stories by the collaborative team of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt and to its later continuation by de Camp alone, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Ma ...

in his short story " Sir Harold of Zodanga" (1995).

Copyright

The copyright for this story was not renewed by December 31, 1955 and therefore is in the public domain.

References

Sources

External links

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ERBzine.com Illustrated Bibliography for ''The Master Mind of Mars''

ERBzine.com Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute Site

barsoom.com Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars Site

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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 ebo ...

Formatted epub version of the book on erb2ebook Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Master Mind Of Mars, The 1928 American novels 1928 fantasy novels 1928 science fiction novels A. C. McClurg books American fantasy novels American science fiction novels Fiction about body swapping Martian novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs Works originally published in Amazing Stories