Mars, the Dire Planet

Freelance writer and blogger Josh Reynolds has written a neat piece about the History of a Most Dire Planet, which recounts the history of science fiction writing about Mars.

We’re familiar with many of the authors and works that Reynolds mentions, but we learned a few new ones:

• Doctor Omega (1906), by Arnould Galopin

• The Vampires of Mars (1909), by Gustave Le Rouge

• The Nyctalope on Mars (1911), by Jean de La Hire

• The Martian Epic (1921, 1922), by Octave Joncquel & Théo Varlet

All of these books, originally written in French, have been adapted to English and published by Black Coat Press.

Josh Reynolds also mentions The Dire Planet Digital Book Tour, which is a promotional campaign for a trilogy of Mars books written by Joel Jenkins and published by PulpWork Press:

• Dire Planet (2005), pictured above

• Exiles of the Dire Planet (2006)

• Into the Dire Planet (2007)

According to Russ Anderson, "If you like John Carter of Mars or Conan, chances are good you'll love Dire Planet. The world its heroes exist in is as rich and textured and politically complicated as anything you're going to find in a Robert E. Howard or an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel."