Princess of Mars »

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875 1950) was the author of more than sixty books, including the immensely popular Tarzan adventures.
John Seelye is the author of numerous books on American literature and has edited the Penguin Classics edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, among others.

First Published - 1912.
John Carter, a Virginia Civil War officer, is transported mysteriously to Mars. There he meets and befriends Tars Tarkas, who with Carter's help rises to become Jeddak of Thark, and Carter falls in love with Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. Carter and Dejah Thoris settle in Helium for almost ten years, where they have an egg (in which a son forms), but just before the five-year incubation period ends someone assassinates the keeper of the atmosphere plant and his assistant. Carter helps the Barsoomians open and restart the plant, but he passes out from lack of air and awakes to find himself again on Earth.

Library Journal

Burroughs's first published fiction was Under the Moons of Mars, a wild sf adventure about a man named John Carter who mysteriously finds himself on Mars. Later published in book form as A Princess of Mars (1917), it is arguably the most fun of the 11 Martian tales Burroughs eventually wrote, as almost everything in it is new and strange from the giant four-armed green Martians to the fantastic six-legged thoats. Tarzan may be Burroughs's most famous character, but his Mars stories are still widely read. With few audio versions of these works available, good unabridged recordings are sure to be in demand, so this is recommended for all fiction collections. However, if Blackstone plans further Mars recordings, it would be well advised to offer more energetic readings than that provided here by Dennis McKee, whose interpretations of Martian dialog sound too much like Tarzan introducing himself to Jane. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.