Carson of Venus has some positives, but the Venus novels are already much lower on the quality scale of Burroughs’s work. The Pellucidar novels went into a decline with 1937’s Back to the Stone Age and hit bottom with Land of Terror, which Burroughs failed to sell to any magazine when he wrote it in 1938 and waited to publish it on his own in 1944. The previous Barsoom novel, Synthetic Men of Mars (1939), is one of the few stains on that otherwise superlative series. Today’s Installment: Escape on Venus (1942) The BackstoryĪt the start of the 1940s, Edgar Rice Burroughs decided to try an experiment with three of his properties, all of which had sailed into creative doldrums: Mars/Barsoom, Pellucidar, and Venus/Amtor. Previous Installments: Pirates of Venus (1932), Lost on Venus (1933), Carson of Venus (1938). Carson’s story covers three novels, a volume of connected novellas, and an orphaned novella. Carson finds time during his adventuring to fall for Duare, forbidden daughter of a Vepajan king. The planet is caught in a battle between the country of Vepaja and the tyrannical Thorists. There he discovers a lush jungle planet of bizarre creatures and humanoids who have uncovered the secret of longevity. Carson Napier, former stuntman and amateur rocketeer, who tries to get to Mars and ends up on Venus, a.k.a. Oh, let’s just leap into this and get it over with. But, I must admit, sometimes he wrote … this kind of thing…. His novels have had an enormous influence on me as a writer and as a pulp fan. Edgar Rice Burroughs died in 1950.I love Edgar Rice Burroughs. Although he wrote in many genres, Burroughs is best known for his creation of the archetypal jungle hero, Tarzan. He found almost instant success when his story 'Under the Moons of Mars' was serialised in All-Story Magazine in 1912, earning him the then-princely sum of $400.īurroughs went on to have tremendous success as a writer, his wide-ranging imagination taking in other planets (John Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus), a hollow earth (Pellucidar), a lost world, westerns, historicals and adventure stories. After working for five years in his father's business, Burroughs left for a string of disparate and short-lived jobs, and was working as a pencil sharpener wholesaler when he decided to try his hand at writing.

Cavalry before he was diagnosed with a heart problem and discharged. The son of a Civil War veteran, he saw brief military service with the 7TH U.S. Edgar Rice Burroughs was a prolific American author of the 'pulp' era.

Escape on venus edgar rice burroughs