SHEA had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, I had gleaned what questionable satisfaction I might by twitting him with this indication of failing mentality by calling his attention to the nth time to that theory, propounded by certain scientists, which is based upon the assertion that phenomenal chess players are always found to be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults over seventy-two or the mentally defective—a

A Princess of Mars is the first in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. This science fiction planetary romance, packed full of dangerous feats and swordplay, is set on a dying Mars. It went on to inspire some of the great imaginations, among them Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury and Carl Sagan. Civil War veteran John Carter is unexpectedly transported to Barsoom, the planet we call Mars, and finds with the weaker gravity that he has super-human

Warlord of Mars is the third novel in Burroughs' Barsoom series. The setting is an inhabited, dying Mars, where the different races fight over dwindling resources. It is a frontier world full of honor, glory and desperation; lost cities and ancient secrets provide the landscape for heroic adventures.