When Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars in 1912 (originally published as a serial in the magazine All-Story, as Under the Moons of Mars), he gave birth to the iconic character John Carter and his wondrous vision of Mars (or as the natives call it, Barsoom). With this setting and character, Burroughs created something that has enthralled generation after generation of readers. Now, a hundred years after the series first debuted in print, new generations of readers—thanks, in part, to the new Disney film—are still finding and discovering the adventures of John Carter for the first time.
Edgar Rice Burroughs—who also authored the Tarzan and Pellucidar series, and dozens of other books—wrote only ten Barsoom novels (plus one collection of two stories). Yet anyone who’s read the novels cannot help but imagine the plentiful adventures of John Carter and his ilk that were never cataloged by Burroughs. The last Barsoom story written by Burroughs (“Skeleton Men of Jupiter”) was published in the magazine Amazing Stories in 1943, intended to be one of a series of short stories that would later be collected into book form. It was the last ever published by Burroughs, however, and legions of fans have been left waiting for the new adventures of John Carter ever since.
Until now.
My new anthology, Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom (Simon & Schuster, February 7, 2012), depicts all-new adventures set in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s fantastical world of Barsoom. For more information about the anthology, please visit the promotional site we’ve setup to help publicize the book, which features excerpts of other stories in the anthology, the artwork featured in the book, and interviews with the authors and artists.
Meanwhile, please enjoy this exclusive Tor.com preview of the anthology, the first story in the book: “The Metal Men of Mars” by Joe R. Lansdale.
