Heard: "Warlord of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Heard: Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1919, Overdrive download.

The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking Robert E. Howard wrote the John Carter of Mars series along with Conan. Nope. Howard created Conan and Burroughs created Tarzan. Well, I suppose Carter and Tarzan are similar enough - neither one seems to own a shirt.

I believe this is the third John Carter novel and came out in 1919. I don't know if it was first serialized - look it up yourself. The novel holds up pretty well after 100 years of change in literature. Okay, most people might not classify this as literature but we don't care about them, do we?

If you are like me and never read a John Carter novel you won't be surprised.  The novel is a straitforward adventure story. Carter is chasing after the bad guys who have kidnapped his wife. There are plenty of sword fights, dangerous Mars animals, dangerous Mars natives, pledges of loyalty and love and revenge, all narrated by an indefatigable hero. I'm sure a pop historian could connect the dots from these stories to knock-off copies, to serialized adventure films, to westerns to blah to blah to blah.

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I've been playing the Len Price 3's new album over and over. This is from an older album.




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This is a fin book. Plenty of adventure and wild coincidences. Burroughs lays on heavy foreshadowing. Bourroughs's pistol on the wall isn't just used it's used to bludgeon everyone in the house. Carter just happens to eavesdrop on several conversations that tell him, and us, exactly what the bad guys are planning, completely rehash the conversation that Carter missed, and how Carter can follow them and defeat them.

I suppose the plot does not matter too much but here it is: John Carter's wife and another woman have been sprung from a prison by the bad guys. The bad guys want revenge on Carter. Carter chases them across Mars to rescue his wife. Along the way he defeats other bad guys, makes friends and allies, reminisces on his wife and his many battles.

Comments:
1. The dialogue incluldes muchejaculating and intercoursing.
2. Silly SciFi names. Barsoom. Dejah Thoris. Tars Tarkis. Thuvia of Ptarth.
3. Here is a one hour 43 minute album release performance. Audio is not very good but my current favorite starts at 2:34 in. https://youtu.be/ggqMZo7a95c