''Carson of Venus'' is a

science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

novel by American writer

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

, the third book in the

Venus series The Venus series (or Amtor series) is a science fantasy series consisting of four novels and one novelette written by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Most of the stories were first serialized in '' Argosy'', an American pulp magazine. It i ...

(Sometimes called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"). Burroughs wrote the novel in July and August 1937. It was serialized in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

in six weekly installments from January 8 to February 12 in '' Argosy'', the same publication where the previous two Venus novels appeared. It was published in book form a year later by

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. is an American holding company founded in 1923 by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is based in Tarzana, California. The company holds the rights to the literary estate of Burroughs that are still protected by copyright ...

Burroughs originally submitted the novel to a number of the "slick" magazines: ''

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'', and ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...

''. All rejected the story. The novel, which was written two years before the outbreak of World War II, satirizes

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

by including a fascist political faction called the "Zani". There is also a character named "Muso" as a reference to

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

. Unlike the first two Venus novels, ''Carson of Venus'' focuses on spy intrigue and war instead of wilderness adventuring.Harvey, Ryan
"Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus, Part 3: ''Carson of Venus''".
''Black Gate'' It also indicates a change of political orientation from that of the earlier books, where the villains were modeled on Russian Communists. ''Carson of Venus'' was nominated for a Retro-Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of 1939. The award went to T. H. White's ''The Sword in the Stone''.

Copyright

The

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

for this story has expired in Australia and in Canada, and thus now resides in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

there. The text is available via

Project Gutenberg Australia Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. It is a sister site of Project Gutenberg, though there is no formal relationship between the two organizations. The site hosts free ebo ...

and Faded Page in Canada.

References

External links

Edgar Rice Burroughs Online Bibliography from ERBzine.com
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carson Of Venus 1937 fantasy novels 1937 science fiction novels 1939 American novels American fantasy novels American science fiction novels Science fantasy novels Sequel novels Novels first published in serial form Venus novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs Works originally published in Argosy (magazine)