Under the Moon of Mars

by John Joseph Adams (Editor), Tamora Pierce (Foreword), Meinert Hansen (Illustrator)

Readers of all ages have read and loved Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars series since the first book, A Princess of Mars, was published in 1912. Fans have marveled at the adventures of John Carter, an Earthman who suddenly finds himself on a strange new world: Mars. Now, in time for the 100th anniversary of that seminal work and the release of a Disney feature film, comes an anthology of original stories featuring John Carter of Mars, in brand new adventures. Collected by veteran anthology editor John Joseph Adams, this anthology features a forward by Tamora Pierce, stories and original art from titans of literature and illustrations such as Peter S. Beagle, Garth Nix, Charles Vess, and many more, plus a glossary of Mars by Richard A. Lupoff.

This book has not been prepared, approved, licensed, or authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. or any other entity associated with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate.

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Planet, Adventure

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll sum up both the Intro & FW by saying that if you're interested in reading this book, you'll agree with them & appreciate their sentiments. Yes, ERB had his faults, but he was one of my earliest introductions into SF & Fantasy. He'll always hold a special place & my thanks for that.

If you didn't grow up reading Barsoom, I doubt this collection will do much for you. The science is fantasy, the characters 2D, & the coincidences very convenient. On top of that, ERB hasn't aged well socially, although some of these stories have. At least he's not particularly racist in this one. The girls often need rescuing, but so do most of the boys. Most handle weapons well, no matter their color or gender. Lots of colors, pretty much all alike, save one that's just BAD guys & another with some extra arms. Good & bad in most, though. Still, they're fun adventures if you just go with it & don't look too hard.

Each story has a little introduction for those not familiar with the series. They're very well done. Unless I say otherwise, they're good. Ditto for the illustrations. They're B&W done in various ways.

From http://www.johnjosephadams.com/under-...

Under the Moons of Mars includes the following stories and illustrations.
Foreword by Tamora Pierce
Introduction by John Joseph Adams

The Metal Men of Mars by Joe R. Lansdale Illustrated by Gregory Manchess & could have been written by ERB himself. JC goes off & gets into trouble again. Interesting trouble. 3 stars.

Three Deaths by David Barr Kirtley —Illustrated by Charles Vess is not a story ERB would have ever written, but I liked it. 4 stars.

The Ape-Man of Mars by Peter S. Beagle —Illustrated by Jeremy Bastian is Tarzan meets JC. Didn't care for it, but that's probably what would have happened. 3 stars.

A Tinker of Warhoon by Tobias S. Buckell —Illustrated by Chrissie Zullo
Vengeance of Mars by Robin Wasserman —Illustrated by Misako Rocks!
Woola’s Song by Theodora Goss —Illustrated by Joe Sutphin
The River Gods of Mars by Austin Grossman —Illustrated by Meinert Hansen
The Bronze Man of Mars by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. —Illustrated by Tom Daly
A Game of Mars by Genevieve Valentine —Illustrated by Molly Crabapple
The group above were all OK, 2.5 - 3 stars, but I'm getting a tired of modern tender sensibilities in this setting.

Sidekick of Mars by Garth Nix —Illustrated by Mike Cavallaro. Tried for humor. Failed. 2 stars.

The Ghost That Haunts the Superstition Mountains by Chris Claremont —Illustrated by John Picacio, just didn't work for me, but wasn't awful, 2 stars.

The Jasoom Project by S. M. Stirling —Illustrated by Jeff Carlisle, should have been novel. It was too choppy & covered too much ground for a short story, but captured ERB's style pretty well. 3 stars.

Coming of Age in Barsoom by Catherynne M. Valente —Illustrated by Michael Wm. Kaluta. She has to be kidding me. Did she ever read the novels? Where the rest of the stories may have expanded on some things, she came up with an idea that negates the entire collection. Just doesn't work at all. Negative stars - shouldn't have been published much less included in this collection.

The Death Song of Dwar Guntha by Jonathan Maberry —Illustrated by Daren Bader. 4 stars, one of the best in the collection.

Appendix: A Barsoomian Gazetteer, or, Who’s Who and What’s What on Mars by Richard A. Lupoff A pretty good reference. 3 stars.

I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way too far.

[Karl]

Contents:

ix - Foreword by Tamora Pierce
xiii - Introduction by John Joseph Adams
001 - "The Metal Men of Mars" by Joe R. Lansdale Illustrated by Gregory Manchess
027 - "Three Deaths" by David Barr Kirtley Illustrated by Charles Vess
045 - "The Ape-Man of Mars" by Peter S. Beagle Illustrated by Jeremy Bastian
065 - "A Tinker of Warhoon" by Tobias S. Buckell Illustrated by Chrissie Zullo
087 - "Vengeance of Mars" by Robin Wasserman Illustrated by Misako Rocks
109 - "Woola’s Song by Theodora Goss" Illlustrated by Joe Sutphin
127 - "The River Gods of Mars" by Austin Grossman Illustrated by Meinert Hansen
145 - "The Bronze Man of Mars" by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Illustrated by Tom Daly
167 - "A Game of Mars" by Genevieve Valentine Illustrated by Molly Crabapple
187 - "Sidekick of Mars" by Garth Nix Illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
209 - "The Ghost of the Superstition Mountains" by Chris Claremont Illustrated by John Picacio
237 - "The Jasoom Project" by S. M. Stirling Illustrated by Jeff Carlisle
279 - "Coming of Age in Barsoom" by Catherynne M. Valente Illustrated by Michael Wm. Kaluta
293 - "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha" by Jonathan Maberry Illustrated by Daren Bader
313 - Appendix: A Barsoomian Gazetteer, or, Who’s Who and What’s What on Mars by Richard A. Lupoff
337 - About the contributors
351 - Acknowledgements

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say about 3 1/2 stars. There are some really good tales here and generally the anthology is enjoyable, but there's also one awful story that really set my teeth on edge and left a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, it arrives pretty early in the book and it took me a while to recover. I'm talking about a story called "The Ape Man of Mars," by Peter S. Beagle, which, while adequately written, did a hatchet job on John Carter and presented completely altered characterizations on both Dejah Thoris and Tarzan. In the tale, Tarzan gets transported to Mars and is met by an arrogant, bullying, jealous, and vain John Carter. Dejah Thoris is presented as a long-suffering wife who is attracted to Tarzan and Tarzan returns that attraction. This was so out of character for all three figures, especially Carter, that I could hardly believe that Beagle had ever read the original stories. Only the fact that his hatred for the character of John Carter was so egregious indicated that he must have at least had some familiarity with ERB's creation. Two other stories in the book presented unkind viewpoints on John Carter, but they did so from within the viewpoints of the narrators of the stories, and while both characters seemed clearly inaccurate on their judgments of Carter, (One came across very much as a villain to me), these were legitimate alternate viewpoints that one might expect from real characters. This was not true of the Beagle tale.

On the other hand, there were three very strong stories and several others that I found quite enjoyable. The first of the real strong pieces was "The Ghost that Haunts the Superstitious Mountains" by Chris Claremont. It features Carter, Dejah, and Tars Tarkas on "Earth." This could easily have been expanded into a novel and I'd love to read it. The main problem with the tale was that it really didn't have an ending. Clearly more needed to be told, but I still greatly enjoyed it. I know Claremont's name from the comics, though I've not really read any of those by him, but I will remedy that.

The second very strong story was "The Jasoom Project" by S. M. Stirling, which was a complicated tale and also ended open-endedly. This one, too, could easily have been expanded to an exciting novel. Finally, they picked exactly the right story to end the anthology with. This was "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha" by Jonathan Maberry. The best story in the book and a complete tale with a solid ending.

Some other strong stories were "Vengeance of Mars" by Robin Wasserman, "The Metal Men of Mars" by Joe Lansdale, and "Woola's Song" by Theodora Goss, which was sort of a sentimental favorite of mine since I'm very fond of Woola. Overall, I can recommend the book, except for that one story. There's also a pretty cool cover and some nice interior illustrations as well.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get the impression that producing this sort of collection is a thankless task. Any Burroughs/Barsoom enthusiast will find something to hate: it hews too close to the original material and feels like rewarmed leftovers; it is stylistically or thematically different and is rejected out of hand; or it doesn't line up with canon material (or each other) therefore nerd rage.

They are all very different riffs on the original material, especially on Princess of Mars. Several stories use that base as a springboard to see inside Woola's head, or the later days and death of Sarkoja, or the Warhoons at the atmosphere plant. Others turn the lens back on John Carter and fill out what he may have omitted from his own narration (generally, not reflecting positive traits).

Many bounce the theme that Barsoom is a planet in serious decline, and that the end is relatively near, although this is usually more along the lines of changes due to John Carter, or anticipated changes from the general arrival of more Earthmen. This is far more melancholic than ERB intended, but which I consider a natural outgrowth that he didn't consider.

For favorites, I'd have to list "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha", which recasts The Battle of Thermopylae with old Heliumite soldiers just before a battle whose results are certain and irrelevant, and their lament that the world will see peace and their songs will not be sung. It puts the end-times themes into characters' mouths but in terms of John Carter unifying all of Barsoom and eliminating armed conflict.

"The Jasoom Project" is a kitchen sink of Burroughs references and action, jumping from seedy, half-rebuilt Zodanga to Earth to new adventures, and drawing in both descendants-of-main-characters and old villains. It shouldn't work but does.

"The Bronze Man of Mars" is the most successful straight Burroughs tale, capturing the original spirit with a pair of new characters. This, like "Three Deaths" and "A Tinker of Warhoon", introduce protagonists that are more than the usual Red Man Warrior or Earth Man On Mars, and are the most interesting way of carrying the setting forward without the navel-gazing of remixing events of Princess of Mars.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice but uneven collection of fourteen stories set on Barsoom, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars, celebrating the centennial of the publication of the first book, A PRINCESS OF MARS. (And probably celebrating the release of the film that flopped.) The stories vary in their faithfulness to the source material; I thought the Maberry story was probably best in that regard. I also enjoyed the stories by Goss, Claremont, Buckell, and Lansdale, and was surprised to find that I thought the only really bad story included was the Beagle. Each story is accompanied by an illustration which I thought was very nice touch. I thought the best were closest to what one have found in the original pulps, particularly those rendered by Molly Crabapple, Meinert Hansen, Charles Vess, and Daren Bader. A gazetteer by Richard Lupoff is appended which will probably be most handy for those not familiar with the original series.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag: some stories I probably won't read again, and some I will. I was surprised that I disliked Peter S. Beagle's contribution, in which Tarzan travels to Mars, but I deeply disagreed with its portrayal of John Carter. Probably my favorite was S.M. Stirling's "The Jasoom Project", an ingenious mash-up of Barsoom, the Moon Maid books, Tarzan, and Pellucidar -- I only wished it were longer!

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Carter, Warlord of Mars, is not as famous as Edgar Rice Burroughs' other creation, Tarzan. And I discovered the Mars books long after I had attained adulthood. Nonetheless I have a particular affection for ERB's Mars series-they are the nectar of pure adventure. So I really enjoyed revisiting the characters and places Burroughs' originated when I read Under the Moons of Mars, which is a sort of "tribute" anthology. It features stories from talented authors whose work I enjoy, including Peter S Beagle, Joe Lansdale, and Chris Claremont. Beagle chronicles a meeting between Tarzan and John Carter which is quite wonderful, and this is not Lansdale's first rodeo as he has written ERB's characters before-he perfectly captures the "voice" of John Carter. This book is fun from beginning to end and there is not a bad story here-it is a rare day that you can say that about any short story collection.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

The three stars I’ve given (unremarked) to most of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter novels in my library reflect adolescent nostalgia more than a reasoned assessment of quality. By any objective criteria, ERB is not a good writer. The stories are formulaic – protagonist must set out to rescue his true love, and succeeds after a series of adventures and absurd coincidences – and get old rapidly. It infected even Burroughs. The quality of the original stories drop off sharply, and the series ends abruptly with Carter and the Incomparable Dejah Thoris (an epithet admittedly on a par with Homer’s “cow-eyed Hera”) trapped among the moons of Jupiter.

Some random issues of the “John Carter, Warlord of Mars” comics innocently picked up at the bookstore were my introduction to Barsoom. I then acquired a copy of The Gods of Mars, book two. Eventually, I got the first five books via Sci-fi Book Club editions. And I enjoyed them. Mostly for the idea of a civilization in the twilight of its life. ERB has never been a favored author. I was never tempted by any of the Tarzan novels; only watched the Pellucidar novels via their cinematic adaptations (with Doug McClure and Caroline Munro – CAROLINE MUNRO! [sorry, my 13-year-old self is showing through]); and came to Amtor, Barsoom’s Venusian cousin, after my romance with the author had faded. At this point in my reading life, I’m unable to go back to Barsoom with much enjoyment. A lot of that has to do with John Carter. Firstly, he’s as dumb as a rock and oblivious to his surroundings. If not for some awfully far-fetched contrivances and unbelievable narcissism, his rotting corpse would have long since crumbled into the Martian soil. He couldn’t put two facts together to reach a conclusion even when his life depended upon it, and blunders through adventures with ham-fisted, bull-headed violence. Contrast this with Robert Howard’s Conan. Our favorite barbarian favored direct action but he was no fool, as “Shadows in Zamboula,” “Red Nails,” “Beyond the Black River,” and other tales, show. He matured as a person. He wasn’t the inexperienced, impetuous boy from “The Tower of the Elephant” when he seized the Aquilonian throne. Secondly, let’s not forget who John Carter is – a traitor, a captain in the Confederate Army. A man who spent five years fighting to preserve the right of one group of people to own another. He certainly never evinces any doubts about the institution as it exists on Barsoom. Thirdly, ERB is no early feminist author. The Incomparable Dejah Thoris’ bad-assery is post Burroughs. In the series, she’s largely a cypher without agency. A Boy Wonder constantly being abducted by the Joker and needing rescue. A fate true of all ERB’s women – Tara, Llana, Thuvia, Tavia, Valla Dia.

Burroughs has a fertile but limited imagination. The fact that the vision of Barsoom still lives & still inspires readers’ and authors’ imaginations (i.e., Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, and the writers in this collection) is testament to that. It’s why, despite all of the above, I’ll still pull down A Princess of Mars or Mastermind of Mars occasionally. But he rarely thought things through or utilized ideas except to make the plot move along. How often do we remember that Martians are telepathic? How is it possible that John Carter and the Incomparable Dejah Thoris (a mammal and an egg-laying alien, respectively) can have children? You do know that Martians don’t wear clothes? That all Martians speak the same language?

Which brings me to this collection of stories set on Barsoom (mostly, one takes place in the American Southwest). It’s a mixed bag, of course, but no story really stands out as especially good. In fact, as other reviews have pointed out, some authors appear to have but a cursory knowledge of the setting and characters.

“The Metal Men of Mars,” Joe R. Lansdale
Faithful homage to the typical ERB tale. It seemed a bit more graphically violent than Burroughs usually was but then I remembered scenes from the originals where mad Jeds barbequed people alive and Issus used Red and White slave girls for a year before butchering and eating them. I guess Lansdale is not straying too far from the source after all.

“Three Deaths,” David Barr Kirtley
A not-bad tale about a Green Martian who’s life is radically changed by an encounter with John Carter.

“The Ape-Man of Mars,” Peter S. Beagle
What would happen if two alpha males met. Tarzan and John Carter duke it out on the red sands of Mars; and we discover that the Incomparable Dejah Thoris may not be entirely the devoted wife Carter thinks she is. This story gets a lot of flack in other reviews but, upon reflection, I think this is probably the best story in the collection.

“A Tinker of Warhoon,” Tobias S. Buckell
An attempt to go beyond the stereotypical Green Martian to look at the travails of a Warhoon who’s more interested in fixing things than fighting.

“Vengeance of Mars,” Robin Wasserman
A tale of Sakoja’s ultimate fate. There are some interesting points raised, especially the point of view of the Zodangans who survived the destruction of their city by Carter and the Tharks, but not sufficiently developed. And the characters of Rok and Zana Lor are more interesting than Sarkoja’s.

“Woola’s Song,” Theodora Goss
A Princess of Mars as seen through the eyes of Woola, Carter’s faithful calot. I never bought the conceit that calots are as intelligent as humans; great apes or dolphins, perhaps. Even if I did buy the premise, Woola’s voice is no different than any other non-Carter character. I would have hoped some unique flavor from a creature so inhuman.

“The River Gods of Mars,” Austin Grossman
Another story where I’m bucking the reviewing trend – this was neither a good nor engaging story. And when could it ever be said of the Incomparable Dejah Thoris: “She greeted me formally, hiding any emotion she might be feeling, as is her way”? (p. 139)

“The Bronze Man of Mars,” L.E. Modesitt
Recapitulates the plot of A Fighting Man of Mars with the son of Llana of Gathol and Pan Dan Chee.

“A Game of Mars,” Genevieve Valentine
Valentine gets everything wrong – Kaldanes, Manator, Barsoomian women, etc. Even if she did know what she was writing about, the writing ain’t good, e.g., “Carthoris hauled her up by the ribs”? Huh? (p. 182)

“A Sidekick of Mars,” Garth Nix
Largely inoffensive (we’ll overlook the slave-girl given to Lam to warm his bed) and forgettable story about Lam Jones, a former Union soldier who finds himself teleported to Mars. He’s just a grunt who doesn’t yearn for adventure or glory and wants to get back to Earth above all. There’s potential here – comedic or otherwise – but nothing’s developed.

“The Ghost that Haunts the Superstitious Mountains,” Chris Claremont
A chapter from a longer work? It carries the header “Chapter 11.” As such, it starts in medias res and ends without resolution. The writing is also cringeworthy. I have no desire to read any more of this story.

“The Jasoom Project,” S.M. Stirling
Like “Ghost,” Stirling’s story reads like the first draft of a longer work. The first part, when John Carter’s great grandson (another child of Llana and Pan Dan Chee) is infiltrating a rebellion in Zodanga, is the most interesting but then it moves on to an expedition to Jasoom and ends practically mid-sentence.

“Coming of Age on Barsoom,” Catherynne M. Valente
Well written tale about a Thark who can’t adjust to Tars Tarkas’ rule. It fails because there’s no engagement with Falm Rojut. It’s a just-the-facts newspaper article for all the emotion one feels.

“The Death Song of Dwar Guntha,” Jonathan Maberry
Boring. I’ve read any number of doomed-last-stand stories and this one doesn’t stand out in any way. IMO, it would have been more interesting to explore the unintended consequences of Helium conquering Barsoom and bringing peace the planet.

Can’t recommend this collection, even for less critical fans of Barsoom.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

To anyone with only a passing interest in ERB's Martian Tales, I might recommend reading just A Princess of Mars and then the better stories from this collection.

I've starred the stories that I liked and detailed my thoughts below. Regarding the work as a whole, the editing could have been better (e.g. one story has Olovarian when Orovarian is meant; one story consistently misspells Toonolian as Tonoolian; etc.), but the forewords to each of the stories are excellent, and the gazetteer is probably very helpful to most readers.

Strictly speaking, most of the stories take some poetic license with ERB's setting, which I think is great when it works, adding some coherent new perspective or sense of possibilities to it. Simply doing ERB pastiche is also appropriate for a volume like this. I was disappointed to find some contributors hadn't read or reviewed relevant Mars books, and there were a few cases where poetic license may have been stretched to the point of not really caring about the source material while also failing to create a good original story.

But overall, this was a very good collection. Even the weak stories were competently written.

---

*Lansdale - good as pastiche; true to ERB but subtly tongue-in-cheek.

*Kirtley - solid exploration of the consequences of meeting/fighting John Carter.

Beagle - Tarzan goes to Mars in scenes cut-and-pasted from Princess and meets John Carter; it's clever and slightly amusing as a crossover/pastiche, but unfortunately, John Carter is badly mischaracterized (more generously, re-imagined) for not very humorous effect.

*Buckell - an episode from Princess retold well from another POV, creating a memorable footnote character.

*Wasserman - tragic continuation of Sarkoja's story; a little over the top, but pretty good.

*Goss - Princess from Woola's POV; a very warm "whatever happened to …?"

Grossman - misses the mark in several ways; voice and characterization are off, but not for any clear reason; not really successful as pastiche, nor parody, nor literary re-imagining, etc. Incidentally, given the well-established Gridley Wave communications between Barsoom and Earth as well as Barsoom having at least two viable spaceships, the big reveal in this story being presented as something momentous suggests the author hasn't read most of the books.

*Modesitt - straight sequel to book 10, though following a new descendant of John Carter like books 4 and 5; good pastiche, extremely like an ERB Mars novel at a more readable 20 pages.

Valentine - the foreword to this story politely avoids mentioning that the Kaldanes have no real connection to Manator aside from being in the same book, so here we have a direct sequel to book 5, perhaps based on no reading of book 5 at all (maybe inspired by cover art or a poor summary?), that also fails to add perspective or invention.

Nix - inspired by Princess's frame story, Nix inserts a no-nonsense miner sidekick with uneven Old West mannerisms into the margins of John Carter's adventures, ineffectively poking fun.

Claremont - Barsoomians come to Earth's Old West; the story packs in too many Earth-historical references and a moral that's not very ERB-ish.

*Stirling - cleverly blends story elements from throughout the Mars novels and also from the Tarzan, Pellucidar, and Moon books; decent pastiche, though fairly dry.

*Valente - delightful re-imagination of the ordinary Thark POV, taking as clues to their inner lives their birth/adoption process, limited telepathy, and grim laughter.

*Maberry - very nice 'red shirt' / grunt POV story reminiscent of heroic, battle-glorifying scenes in books 1-3 where John Carter and/or Tars Tarkas fight atop piles of bodies.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review on Moons of Mars:
Metal Men of Mars-perfunctory and uninspired (2 stars)
Three Deaths- Tale of Gar Han who lost arm to John Carter (5 stars)
Ape-Man of Mars- Tarzan comes on to Dejah Thoris, and John Carter is a jerk. Desconstructionist rewrite that makes Carter a villain. (0 stars)
A Tinker of Warhoon-Warhoons perspective on Atmosphere Plant (5 stars)
Vengeance on Mars- Sarkoja plans her revenge (5 stars)
Woola's Song- Not usually a fan of stories from an animal's perspective. This one anthropomorphicizes Woola, basically making him human. Not bad despite this. (3 stars)
River God of Mars- Starts out good, but doesn't come together (3 stars)
The Bronze Man of Mars- Grandson of John Carter has adventure (5 stars)
A Game of Mars-Thuvia adventure with Kaldanes (a little on the soap opera side) (4 stars)
A Sidekick of Mars-This is told from the viewpoint of another transplant from Earth, Lam Jones, whose view is a little less reverent than John Carter's. This flirts with deconstructionism, but not so much that it threatens to make the Carter the villain--rather it paints him to be a bit egotistic, so capable that he doesn't comprehend when others fall short, and extremely lucky. Also, since the narrator might not be completely reliable, so the reader takes Lam's words with a grain of salt (5 stars)
The Ghost that Haunts the Superstition Mountains, by Chris Claremont--Claremont previously did some writing on the John Carter Warlord of Mars comic book. This story brings Carter, Dejah Thoris, and Tars Tarkas to Earth. (5 stars)
The Jasoom Project by SM Stirling- killer story. The author throws in everything and the kitchen sink and makes it work (5 stars)
Coming of Age on Barsoom- Another deconstructionist tale where Carter is not the hero but a murderer and the villain of the story. Told from the point of view of a Thark named Falm Rojut (0 stars)
The Death Song of Dwar Guntha-Another killer tale, and a great way to wrap up the book. Told from the viewpoint of some common warriors (5 stars)
Barsoomian Gazetteer-this Barsoomian gazetteer has entries on everything from apts (six-limbed creatures found near the Martian north pole) to Zode ( a Martian unit of time equivalent to an hour). This has appeared elsewhere previously. (5 stars)
Average Rating: (50 stars/14 stories=3.57) Rounded up to 4 for the strength of some of these stories.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I'm not a big fan of short stories (I rarely make it thru a collection) but as a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs since 8th grade, I couldn't resist this. I read all the Mars books at least twice in high school and despite the uneven quality of the collection, I'm giving it an extra star for the nostalgia. My favorites in the bunch were those by Valente, Nix, Lansdale, and Maberry.

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical anthology; some of the stories were very fun, others were forgettable, and a very few were outright bad. My favorites were the last two, "Coming of Age" and "Death Song of Dwar Guntha"; most of the rest were middling, with a typical Barsoomian adventure structure. There was one I couldn't finish - "Game of Mars". Valentine seemed to think the Kaldanes and the men of Manator were the same thing? Since Chessmen is my favorite John Carter story, it was crazy distracting and annoying, so I abandoned it.

Woo, anthologies! They are making up my October, for some reason.

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noteworthy for the originality of so many of the stories here, which explore different perspectives on Burroughs' fictional world, frequently from the viewpoints of its non-humanoid races, subverting the triumphal narrative of John Carter and his allies.

[Elliott Bäck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely nostalgia, would be even better if so much time wasn't name-dropping original characters / plots.

[John Devenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read many of the ERB mars books as a young kid I was surprised to find how bad they were when I attempted a reread a few years ago. I found them almost unreadable and gave up.
This anthology seemed to offer a modern take on the Barsoom stories as it featured many writers who I knew and enjoyed. At best it was readable but many of the stories were repetitious and while the writing was far superior to ERB’s most still fell flat for me. This sort of sf belongs to an earlier age of lesser sophistication and should probably be left there.

[Cori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note to self: don’t buy an anthology about a canon you know nothing about just bc an author you like wrote the foreword

Two stories I’ll exempt from my very biased one-Star because I was able to read and enjoy them while still having almost no idea what was going on: coming of age on barsoon by Catherine m valente and a game of mars by Genevieve Valentine. Four stars for each of those two.

[Azhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me actually like The Barsoom Stories

I'm not a fan of the original Barsoom stuff, but this anthology made me actually like the world. My favorites were Sidekick of Mars, Coming of an Age, Death Song, and Metal Men.

[shannon Stubbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good some oo

Some of the stories are very good and you feel like you are on Barsoom. Some of the stories are ok. Some I just hated. I love the art. It's definitely a tribute to the Princess of Mars.

[READERS RETREAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read of short stories my favorite is The Apeman of Mars

[Brett T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since "The Skeleton Men of Jupiter" was published in Amazing Stories in 1943, writers have turned their hands towards continuing the adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter, the ageless Earthman battling his way across the fantastic world of Barsoom -- what its inhabitants called the planet Mars.

Some writers have simply re-worked the stories in their own fashion. Lin Carter moved out a ways from the sun and wrote about Jandar of Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Others took the characters and settings of Barsoom and attempted to re-imagine them with their own vision, like Andrew Stanton. Some, like Michael Moorcock's "Kane of Old Mars" trilogy, work well. Some, like Carter's and Stanton's, don't.

Under the Moons of Mars, a collection of short stories set on Barsoom and in some cases using Burroughs' own characters, has the same collection of hits and misses. Some of the writers attempt a straight-up homage to Burroughs; Joe R. Lansdale's "The Metal Men of Mars" does the best job at this, although Chris Claremont's "The Ghost That Haunts the Superstition Mountains" and Jonathan Maberry's "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha" are very close seconds. Others see about telling their own stories on Burroughs' world. Not as many of these succeed, but Robin Wasserman's "Vengeance of Mars" and Tobias Buckell's "A Tinker of Warhoon" stand out as two that do.

And some fail, badly. Peter S. Beagle takes Burroughs' best-known character, Tarzan of the Apes, and transports him to Mars. where he finds a John Carter who is more than a bit of a jerk and a Dejah Thoris who shows she's willing to be just as faithful to her husband Carter as Tarzan is to his wife, Jane Clayton. Overall, the collection, which was given the name used when Burrough's first Barsoom novel was serialized in All-Story magazine in 1912, offers some real gems to which one might wish the Burroughs estate would pay some attention in authorizing some new tales of those who rove the dead sea bottom of dying Mars, in spite of the absolute duds like Beagle's.

Original available here.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the John Carter of Mars series. It's not great writing, but it is fun - a guilty pleasure and an inspiration for later SF writers and themes. This book is 15 short stories by established writers of SFF giving their take on further adventures set in the worlds of Barsoom. It is edited by John Joseph Adams and features writers such as S.M. Stirling, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and Garth Nix - to name a few. When writing in the style or playground of older writers such as Burroughs some authors feel the need to emulate the syntax to copy the author. In most cases it doesn't work well. That is pretty much the case here. Some of the stories work, some don't. What is fun is an exploration of characters who are not necessarily featured in the main books. "Woola's Song", by Theodora Goss is one that is especially fun.

The editor does a good job giving you background on the stories - where they fit into the overall story arc and background. The appendix also gives you background on the main characters in the Burroughs stories and the background of Barsoom. For people who don't know about John carter, it might be confusing and not as enticing. For those familiar with the series, they will make you smile, but may fall a little flat.

This is worth a look if like the original series or if you have an inquisitive new reader interested in SF. Overall the book is ok, somewhere in the middle with some fun and some flat stories.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most books of this type its a mixed bag. It does best when dealing with the "others" of the world, characters whose story was never given full voice. Poor John Carter gets re-imagined in so many ways. In some stories he is almost unrecognizable. Generally this book is best for examining the thoughts and trends of the 21st century than exploring Barsoom.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were really a lot of good stories by some well-known writers in this collection. For anyone who is a Burroughs fan, or has become a "John Carter of Mars" fan simply by seeing the new film...this is a good read of short stories set in that universe.

[Scott Gillespie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole, the stories were enjoyable. A few broke with canon, but were balanced with intriguing concepts and skillful writing, but one (A game of Mars) read like the author skimmed a few Wikipedia pages on the subject and wrote it while sitting on the toilet.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, but uneven, collection of stories set in the Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs. For the most part the stories were faithful to the source material, but I was surprised at a few that had an unflattering characterization of John Carter.

[Ken Boorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this short story collection from modern writers giving their take on ERB's Barsoom sagas. There were only 2 short stories included in this book that IMHO did not continue or contain the spirit of ERB's writings. Overall though - quite enjoyable

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professional fan fiction

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

some really good stories and some that could have been left out. Couple in there that hopefully will become full length novels as they left ya hanging.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun stories, most of which are in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs. All of them are based on his Barsoom books. I would recommend it for those who enjoy John Carter and his many friends.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a shared anthology of John carter of mars.