Burroughs, Barsoom and Spacemouse 9

A while back, I watched Disney's John Carter. The movie got me thinking about Science Fantasy literature and how Spacemouse 9 fits within the genre. John Carter is based on Edgar Rice Burrough's 1912 serialized pulp magazine story "Under the Moons of Mars". In 1917, the serial was collected and published as the novel A Princess of Mars. The story line of A Princess of Mars follows the exploits of Civil War veteran John Carter after he is mysteriously transported to the planet Barsoom (Burroughs name for Mars). Many consider A Princess of Mars to be one of the earliest Science Fantasy novels.

I have a dim memory of reading one of Burrough's John Carter novels when I was young, but not remembering many details, I decided to download a free copy of A Princess of Mars and reintroduce myself to the world of Barsoom. Right away I noticed several unintentional similarities between the book and Spacemouse 9:

• Stranger in a Strange Land - Both stories involve a  hero who is transported to an alien world. In the case of Spacemouse 9, the hero is an alien who is transported to Earth.
• Telepathy - Burroughs writes that telepathy "is the universal language of Mars, through the medium of which the higher and lower animals of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate to a greater or less extent..." I haven't written of it before now, but my intent is that Spacemouse 9's species will communicate primarily through telepathy.
• A Detailed Universe - Across the twelve books of the Barsoom Series, Burroughs lays out the history, language, and technology of the planet Mars. With my "Appendix of the Spacemouse 9 Universe" started I feel like I am on my way to a similar level of detail.

In many ways A Princess of Mars is more fantasy than science with its monsters and swordplay, but certain features such as anti-gravity "air ships" keep the story firmly in the genre of Science Fantasy. Reviewing what I have written of Spacemouse 9 so far, I would say that science is dominating, however I have an ending for the story in mind that involves a race of mythical beings. My struggle has been how to integrate the later fantasy elements with the earlier science elements without having the fantasy seem too absurd when it is introduced. Perhaps a solution is to maintain a more equal mix of science and fantasy throughout the entire story. Working through these types of issues in my own book has caused me to appreciate even more the sublime ability of Edgar Rice Burroughs to weave together fantasy and science. That I might do as well as he!

The image above is a detail of the cover art by Frank Shoonover for the 1917 edition of A Princess of Mars.