1) Confederate officer John Carter is transported to the planet Barsoom (Mars) where he finds himself in the middle of an epic conflict. 2) On Mars, Carter allies with the Green Martian Tars Tarkas and falls in love with the Martian princess Dejah Thoris. 3) Over the course of three books, Carter helps lead revolutions to overthrow evil forces and save the Martian people, utilizing his enhanced strength from the lower Mars gravity.

1. A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away
BEFORE STAR WARS and the
desert planet of TATOOINE

2. BEFORE SUPERMAN learned to FLY!

3. BEFORE the Cliffhanging Serial
Adventures of Indiana Jones...

4. ...Comes Edgar Rice Burroughs' Grandaddy
of all Science Fiction Stories

5. The John Carter of Mars Trilogy
A Princess of Mars * The Gods of Mars * The Warlord of Mars

6. BARSOOM

7. SETTING: PLANET BARSOOM (MARS)

8. Arizona 1866: While attempting to evade Apache Indians
who are hot in pursuit, Confederate Officer John Carter
takes cover in a sacred cave. Suddenly he is transported to
a whole new place and finds himself waking up on the
planet Mars (Called Barsoom by its inhabitants.)

9. The low gravity of the planet, increases his speed and
strength making him a force to be to reckoned with. He
soon falls in with a nomadic tribe of warlike Green Martians
known as Tharks. They are around 15 feet tall, with tusks
protruding from their mouths, green skin and six-limbs.
Thanks to Carter’s strength and martial prowess, he rises to
a high position in the tribe and earns the respect and
eventually the friendship of Tars Tarkas, one of the Thark
Chiefs.

10. In the first installment of the trilogy, Carter not only earns the
respect of the Martian Warlord, Tars Tarkas but eventually
wins the affections of the “Princess of Mars,“Dejah Thoris.

11. The story continues in The Gods of Mars where Carter
engages the Black Pirates in airborne combat above the
dead seas of Mars and leads a revolt to free the Martian
races from a religion that thrives on living sacrifices. In
the third book, Warlord of Mars, Carter overcomes the
forces of evil that would destroy the planet.

12. Book Genre: Science Fiction

13. Tars Tarkas
John Carter
Dejah Thoris

14. Confederate Officer John Carter
Born in Virginia, John Carter served as an officer in the Confederate army in
the Civil War. He is an honorable and courageous hero, but the ravages of
the Civil War have left him broken, dispirited and personally defeated.
Accidentally transported to Barsoom (Mars), Carter begins to realize that his
strength and jumping abilities are greatly amplified in the low gravity of the
planet. Carter reluctantly begins a journey to rediscover his humanity while
at the same time saving his newfound world.

15. Dejah Thoris
Dejah Thoris, the beautiful, raven-haired princess of Helium, is a passionate
advocate for the Heliumites and their way of life. Dejah is Regent of the
Royal Academy of Science, and was trained to rule and fight. She is on the
verge of a discovery that could permanently shift the balance of power
between her nation Helium and their enemy Zodanga. But time is running
out, and Dejah must convince John Carter to enlist in the fight to save
Helium.

16. Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas is a
fierce green
Martian warrior
who is the Jeddak
(King) of the
Tharks. The last
vestige of nobility
runs in his blood
and is the only
thing that keeps
the Thark tribe
from turning into
beasts.
Blessed with a
good sense of
humor and
patience, Tars
befriends the
earthman John
Carter and gives
him the Thark
name Dotar
Sojat, which
roughly
translates as
"my right arms."

17. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote in such a way that he was
able to transport readers to a world that was engaging,
and that seemed to possess imagery with an innate
appeal. The imaginary people and places that he
describes in his stories seem all too familiar, making it
easy for readers to connect with his material. His Post-
Victorian Science Fiction made science an integral part
of his story telling which also contained elements of
adventure and fantasy.

18. In many of Edgar Rice Burroughs' works, he combines
multiple genres and builds strange new worlds that
churn the imagination. He was one of the first authors to
do this and after Burroughs, modern science fiction
followed his lead. His work is fast paced and jumps from
one adventurous image to the next. He’s not a great
writer, but he sure is fun to read.

19. Edgar Rice Burroughs failed in nearly every enterprise that he
ever tried. Born in 1875, Burroughs, a private in the Seventh
U.S. Cavalry, served at Fort Grant in the Arizona desert. His
mission, as he put it, was to “chase the Apaches," but like the
many other failures in his life, I never caught up with any of
them.” Burroughs had many odd jobs throughout his life. He
became a cowboy in Idaho, then a shopkeeper, a railroad
policeman, a gold miner, and even an “expert accountant”,
although he knew nothing of the profession.

20. Finally at age 35, he hit rock bottom and found himself
unsuccessfully selling lead-pencil sharpeners. During his leisure
moments, he started writing UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS, his first
story which he sold to a magazine for $400.
Success would follow with TARZAN OF THE APES which became a best-selling
novel in 1911. A torrent of novels followed; stories about Mars, Venus,
Apaches, westerns, social commentaries, detective stories, tales of the Moon
and of the middle of the Earth–and more and more TARZAN books.
By the time his pen was stilled, nearly 100 stories bore Edgar Rice Burroughs’
name.

21. If you're a fan of
Old-school pulpy
goodness and
enjoy reading fun
filled adventures
which strive to
teach the virtues of
manhood, then the
Mars Trilogy might
be just for you.
John Carter,
Warlord of Mars,
is the greatest
Swordsman of two
worlds', with super
human abilities
which inspired Jerry
Siegel and Joe
Shuster to create
Superman "The
Man of Steel."