A Princess of Mars
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About this story
A Confederate veteran hides from Apaches in an Arizona cave and wakes, naked and unarmed, under two moons. The lighter gravity of Mars gives John Carter the leaps of a giant; the fifteen-foot, four-armed green warriors of Thark give him a cage. Then a red-skinned princess is dragged into the camp, and the whole dying planet — its ancient canals, its warring city-states, its fleets of flying ships — turns on what he will do about her.
A Princess of Mars is the book that invented planetary romance. Burroughs wrote it in 1911 in the margins of a failing career, serialized it as "Under the Moons of Mars" the following year, and set off a century of imitators from Flash Gordon to Star Wars and Avatar. It is fast, earnest, occasionally absurd, and impossible to put down — the closest thing pulp fiction has to a founding document.
This edition is the complete, unabridged 1912 text, about eight hours, directed for a cast of nineteen. Carter narrates; Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkas, Sola, Kantos Kan and the rest each have their own voice, so the long stretches of Thark council and Zodangan court play as scenes rather than summary. The text is on screen and highlighted as it is read, which suits a novel many readers first meet as a school-age paperback and return to as adults.
The cast
- Narrator
- John Carter
- Dejah Thoris
- Tars Tarkas
- Sola
- Kantos Kan
- Sab Than
- Tal Hajus
- Lorquas Ptomel
- Dak Kova
- Woola
How this was made
This is a full-cast production, not a single narrator reading a book. Each character has its own voice, the lines are directed for pace and emotion, and the story plays inside a live sound environment — a crackling hearth and a quiet cottage — that shifts as the scenes change. The voices are synthetic (high-quality text-to-speech, directed by people), and the words appear on screen as they are spoken, so you can read along or follow in a second language.
Questions
Is this the complete novel?
Yes — all twenty-eight chapters of the 1917 book text, unabridged, about eight hours at normal speed.
Is it the same story as the John Carter film?
The 2012 film was adapted from this book. The novel is the original: Carter's arrival on Barsoom, the Tharks, Dejah Thoris, the atmosphere factory and the ending the film changed.
Does it pick up where I left off?
Yes. Your position is saved on every device you sign in on, and the chapter list lets you jump anywhere.
How much does it cost?
The opening is free to hear right now, no account needed. The full story is $14.99, a one-time purchase with a free account that stays in your library. Several stories on this site are free in full.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Press Play and it opens in your browser. It works on iPhone, iPad, Android and desktop.
Can I read along?
Yes. The text is highlighted word by word as it is spoken, and you can switch the on-screen text to Spanish while listening in English (or the other way round).
Source and rights
"A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, serialized in The All-Story (1912) as "Under the Moons of Mars" and published in book form in 1917. Public domain. Complete text from Project Gutenberg, directed by ImmersivePage. Cover and chapter art created for this edition.
