Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Currently Reading: 'Return To Barsoom' by Scott Dutton

After ploughing through the whole Barsoom series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and really enjoying the John Carter film, I still needed my Barsoomian fix! And lo and behold, I discovered this ebook by Scott Dutton, and my hunger was definitely satisfied.

The blurb:
It has been over 60 years since we last heard from John Carter, the Warlord of Mars. We now know that Mars is cold, dusty and with an atmosphere so thin water will not liquify. Life as we know it cannot exist on Mars.

So why is Chester Ventura getting in a rocket and plotting a course?

Set in present times, 150 or so years after when the events of the John Carter books are said to be set, and acknowledging what we currently know about Mars, the book charts the story of Chester Ventura, just an ordinary joe who discovers a shuttle space craft sent from John Carter on Barsoom meant for his nephew Edgar, and his unexpected journey and adventures on Mars.

I really enjoyed reading this as I did with the original books. I felt it brought the stories bang up to date, and, as I mentioned, with what we know about Mars today, the desolation and emptiness, it seemed more real. Plus, we see another side to some well known characters. I hope the author decides to write the next book in Chester's Barsoomian adventure.

If you enjoyed the original books by ERB, I would certainly recommend this to you as well.

You can pick up this ebook from Scott's website for free in epub and mobi formats.

Right, I'm off to re-read my hardback version of the original John Carter trilogy.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks very much for taking the time to comment, Andy. Glad you enjoyed the book.

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    1. Not a problem. Look forward to Chester's next adventure!

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  2. Me too, Andy! Especially after reading that terrible "Under the Moons of Mars" collection. I'm thinking of rereading Scott's just to get the taste out of my mouth...

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    1. Read that some of the stories in that anthology were a bit hit and miss, more miss than hit though. Scott's book I feel was Barsoom done right.

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