A Fighting Man of Mars

infobox Book |
name = A Fighting Man of Mars
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = dust-jacket for "A Fighting Man of Mars"
author = Edgar Rice Burroughs
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Barsoom
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Metropolitan Books
release_date = 1931
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 319 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = The Master Mind of Mars
followed_by = Swords of Mars

"A Fighting Man of Mars" is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the seventh of his famous "Barsoom" series. Burroughs began writing it on February 28, 1929, and the finished story was first published in "Blue Book Magazine" as a six-part serial in the issues for April to September, 1930. It was later published as a complete novel by Metropolitan in May, 1931.

Plot and Story Line

The story is purportedly relayed back to earth via the Gridley Wave, a sort of super radio frequency previously introduced in "Tanar of Pellucidar", the third of Burrough's "Pellucidar" novels, which thus provides a link between the two series. The story-teller is Ulysses Paxton, protagonist of the previous novel, "The Master Mind of Mars", but this story is not about him; rather, it is the tale of Tan Hadron of Hastor, a lowly, poor padwar (a low-ranking officer) who is in love with the beautiful, haughty Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, a minor but rich noble. As he is only a padwar, Sanoma spurns him. Then Sanoma Tora is kidnapped, and the novel moves into high gear.

As Tan Hadron crosses Mars ("Barsoom", as Burroughs calls it) searching for Sanoma Tora, he encounters some of Burroughs's most ferocious beasts—huge, many-armed, flesh-eating white apes, gigantic spiders, and the insane cannibals of U-Gor. He also meets the mad scientist Phor Tak, who cackles "Heigh-oo!" and is crazed with the desire for revenge.

The initial simplicity of Burroughs' well-worn pursuit plot is elaborated by Hadron's rescue of an escaped slave, Tavia, from a band of six-limbed green Tharks, en route to the city of Jahar where Hadron believes Sanoma Tora has been taken. Tavia is an atypical Burroughs heroine; depicted as self-reliant and competent with weapons, witty and intelligent, she compares favorably for both reader and Hadron with beautiful but shallow Sanoma Tora, who ultimately shows herself unworthy of the virtuous hero. With the addition of Nur An, a disaffected Jaharian warrior, and another escaped woman slave, Phao, Hadron's quest becomes more collaborative than Burroughs' usual, although Tavia, in an unsurprising plot development, is revealed to be a princess at the end.

Copyright

The copyright for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia.

References

*cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=66 | date=1948

External links

* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100211.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100211.txt Text file] at Project Gutenberg Australia
* [http://www.erblist.com/erblist/fmmsummary.html Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for "A Fighting Man of Mars"]