Since the Pixar film will be coming in one short year, it’s time to hype up the Barsoom machine, thus there is suddenly a new John Carter of Mars anthology coming out!
The New Adventures of John Carter of Mars, edited by John Joseph Adams, will hit shelves in spring 2012, just in time to get people excited to go see the film. So hopefully the book is good. With the array of authors they are boasting below, at least some of the stories will be awesome.
I’ll just copy the press release below because that’s easier than doing actual writing:
SIMON AND SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS TO PUBLISH NEW ANTHOLOGY BASED ON THE CLASSIC JOHN CARTER OF MARS SERIES BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
New York, NY, May 19, 2011-Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing announced today it will publish a new original anthology called The New Adventures of John Carter of Mars, edited by John Joseph Adams and based on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Publication will be in the spring of 2012 and will coincide with the 100th anniversary of A Princess of Mars, the first book to feature John Carter. The anthology envisions all-new adventures set in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fantastical version of Mars (known in the series as “Barsoom.”) This anthology not only imagines new or the lost adventures of John Carter, but also explores the other characters and niches not fully explored by Burroughs. David Gale is the acquiring editor, and Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency brokered the deal. Simon & Schuster holds World English rights.
Celebrated fantasy writer Tamora Pierce will write the foreword to the anthology, and John Joseph Adams will write the introduction and header notes. The collection will include stories by Joe R. Lansdale; Jonathan Maberry; David Barr Kirtley; Peter S. Beagle; Tobias S. Buckell; Robin Wasserman; Theodora Goss; Genevieve Valentine; L. E. Modesitt, Jr.; Garth Nix; Chris Claremont; S. M. Stirling; Catherynne M. Valente; and Austin Grossman. There will also be a “Barsoomian Gazetteer,” a who’s who and what’s what on Barsoom, written by science fiction author and noted Barsoom expert Richard A. Lupoff. In addition, each story will feature an original illustration by noted artists such as Charles Vess, John Picacio, Michael Kaluta, and Misako Rocks.
At the same time, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish John Carter of Mars, a bind-up of the first three John Carter books: A Princess of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, and The Gods of Mars, with all-new illustrations by Mark Zug, Scott Fischer, and Scott Gustafson.
“I still vividly recall the summer as a teenager that I read all eleven of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels in one enthusiastic gulp,” said Jon Anderson, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Books for Young Readers. “The opportunity to revisit that experience with new stories from this stellar roster of authors was too much to resist!”
