Pirates of Venus
Dust-jacket of Pirates of Venus | |
Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
---|---|
Cover artist | J. Allen St. John |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Amtor |
Genre | Science fantasy |
Publisher | Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. |
Publication date | 1932 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 314 |
Followed by | Lost on Venus |
Pirates of Venus is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first book in the Venus series (also called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"), the last major series in Burroughs's career (the other major series were Tarzan, Barsoom, and Pellucidar). It was first serialized in six parts in Argosy in 1932 and published in book form two years later by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The events occur on a fictionalized version of the planet Venus, known as "Amtor" to its inhabitants.
The novel contains elements of political satire aimed at communism. The novel's villains, the Thorists, start a revolution in the nation of Vepaja for their own good only, cheating the uneducated masses and killing or driving away those doctors and other highly educated that form the foundation of the society. Throughout the book the Thorists remain distant and unreal, and those few that the hero Carson Napier meets are often stupid or incompetent. The Kalkars, villains of Burroughs' other novel The Moon Maid, were also modeled on the Russian Communists.
Reception
Wonder Stories in 1934 recommended the novel, saying that "the plot of the story is nothing new, [but] a master of fantasy, such as Burroughs, can . . . keep the story absorbing from the first page to the last".[1] Floyd C. Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction in 1963 said that "despite his usual penchant for coincidence and gratuitously fortuitous happenstances (whew!), his power of invention in the realm of pure adventure remains keen throughout the Venusian series".[2]
Copyright
The copyright for this story has expired in Australia, Canada and the United States, and thus now resides in the public domain in those countries. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia, Faded Page, Canada and Project Gutenberg.
Influence on later writers
Poul Anderson, in the Dominic Flandry novel A Plague of Masters, depicts a community of dissidents and rebels against a tyrannical regime, living on the branches of enormous giant trees - strongly reminiscent of the setting in Pirates of Venus.[citation needed]
References
External links
- Pirates of Venus title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Pirates of Venus at Project Gutenberg
- Pirates of Venus at Faded Page (Canada)
- Free Ebook from Project Gutenberg of Australia
- Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for Pirates of Venus
- v
- t
- e
- Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
- The Return of Tarzan (1913)
- The Beasts of Tarzan (1914)
- The Son of Tarzan (1915)
- Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916)
- Tarzan the Terrible (1921)
- Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922/23)
- Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924)
- Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927/28)
- Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928/29)
- Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929/30)
- Tarzan the Invincible (1930/31)
- Tarzan Triumphant (1931/32)
- Tarzan and the City of Gold (1932)
- Tarzan and the Lion Man (1933/34)
- Tarzan and the Leopard Men (1932/33)
- Tarzan's Quest (1935/36)
- Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938)
- Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947)
- Tarzan and the Madman (1964)
- Tarzan: The Lost Adventure (1995)
- Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1919)
- Tarzan the Untamed (1920)
- Tarzan the Magnificent (1939)
- Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1963)
- Tarzan and the Castaways (1965)
short stories
- Tarzan's First Love (1916)
- The Capture of Tarzan (1916)
- The Fight for the Balu (1916)
- The God of Tarzan (1916)
- Tarzan and the Black Boy (1917)
- The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance (1917)
- The End of Bukawai (1917)
- The Lion (1917)
- The Nightmare (1917)
- The Battle for Teeka (1917)
- A Jungle Joke (1917)
- Tarzan Rescues the Moon (1917)
- Tarzan the Untamed (1919)
- Tarzan and the Valley of Luna (1920)
- The Tarzan Twins (1927)
- Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion (1936)
- Tarzan and the Magic Men (1936)
- Tarzan and the Elephant Men (1937/38)
- Tarzan and the Champion (1940)
- Tarzan and the Jungle Murders (1940)
- Tarzan and the Castaways (1941)
adventures
- The Man-Eater (1915)
- The Cave Girl (1925)
- The Eternal Lover (1925)
- Jungle Girl (1932)
- The Lad and the Lion (1938)
- A Princess of Mars (1917)
- The Gods of Mars (1918)
- The Warlord of Mars (1919)
- Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
- The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
- The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
- A Fighting Man of Mars (1931)
- Swords of Mars (1936)
- Synthetic Men of Mars (1940)
- Llana of Gathol (1948)
- John Carter of Mars (1964)
- At the Earth's Core (1914)
- Pellucidar (1915)
- Tanar of Pellucidar (1929)
- Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929)
- Back to the Stone Age (1937)
- Land of Terror (1944)
- Savage Pellucidar (1963)
- Pirates of Venus (1934)
- Lost on Venus (1935)
- Carson of Venus (1939)
- Escape on Venus (1946)
- The Wizard of Venus (1964)
- The Land That Time Forgot (1918)
- The People That Time Forgot (1918)
- Out of Time's Abyss (1918)
speculative fiction
- Beyond Thirty (1915)
- The Moon Maid (1926)
- The Monster Men (1929)
- "The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw" (1937)
- Beyond the Farthest Star (1941)
- Tales of Three Planets (1964)
- The Bandit of Hell's Bend (1926)
- The War Chief (1927)
- Apache Devil (1933)
- The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940)
- The Outlaw of Torn (1914/1927)
- I Am a Barbarian (1967)
- The Rider (1918)
- The Mad King (1926)
novels
- The Mucker (1914/16)
- The Girl from Farris's (1916)
- The Oakdale Affair (1918)
- The Efficiency Expert (1921)
- The Girl from Hollywood (1923)
- Pirate Blood (1970)
- Marcia of the Doorstep (1999)
- The Oakdale Affair and The Rider (1937)
- Beyond Thirty and The Man-Eater (1957)
- Minidoka: 937th Earl of One Mile Series M (1998)
- You Lucky Girl! (1999)
- Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder (2001)
- Brother Men (2005)