The Chessmen of Mars

The Chessmen of Mars is a science fiction novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is the fifth book in the Barsoom series, which follows the adventures of John Carter on the planet Mars. The story takes place several years after the events of the previous book, Thuvia, Maid of Mars. The plot revolves around the princess Tara of Helium, who is kidnapped by the evil Kaldanes, a race of headless humanoids with telepathic abilities. Tara is taken to the city of Manator, where she is forced to play a deadly game of Martian chess, known as Jetan. The outcome of the game will determine Tara's fate and the fate of her companions, including her love interest, Gahan of Gathol. Along the way, they encounter various obstacles and enemies, including the brutal warriors of Manator and the treacherous Princess Haja. The Chessmen of Mars is a thrilling and action-packed adventure that explores the complex politics and cultures of the Martian world. It is a must-read for fans of science fiction and fantasy.1922. After a rambunctious youth and series of short-lived jobs including door-to-door salesman, accountant, a peddler for a quack alcoholism cure and finally pencil sharpener wholesaler, Burroughs found his calling as writer. As the story goes, one of Burroughs' duties was to verify the placement of advertisements for his sharpeners in various magazines. These were all-fiction pulp magazines, a prime source of escapist reading material for the expanding middle class. Burroughs spent time reading those magazines and decided he could write those stories just as well. He was lucky his first time out and sold Under the Moon of Mars. The Tarzan series followed this and Burroughs was now a full-fledged writer. In this volume of the Mars series, Helium, a spoiled princess and John Carter's daughter, rejects Gahan, Jed of Gathol, as a suitor and foolishly flies off into a great storm. Gahan gives chase. By the time he finally catches up to Tara, she has forgotten who he is, and he assumes the name Turjun, a panthan mercenary. Together they challenge the power of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, whose barbaric nation of Red Men have preyed upon Gathol for centuries. The Manatorians have elevated Jetan, Martian chess, to an unprecedented level of skill and excitement: they use live chessmen who fight for live princesses. Gahan finds himself fighting for Tara on the chessboard of Manator, and haunting O-Tar's palace. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.