Pulp SF author Joel Jenkins' Dire Planet series

Thanks to the generosity of pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins, you can read the first chapter of each novel in his Dire Planet series, a collection of sword & planet books which chronicle hero Garvey Dire and his swashbuckling adventures on the planet Mars. Inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, the series consists of three books to date, all of which were published by Pulpwork Press:

• Dire Planet (2005) "Thrust into the savage Martian past, Garvey Dire must solve the mystery of time in a world of alien monsters and brutal violence, or see his own world destroyed by war!"

• Exiles of the Dire Planet (2006) "In the savage Martian past, Garvey Dire discovers an old nemesis gathering vicious killers beneath his banner to conquer, crush and build a new empire on the blood and bones of the innocent!"

• Into the Dire Planet (2007) "To defeat his bloody nemesis and free an enslaved people, Garvey Dire explores the depths of the Martian planet to uncover the hideous secrets of the lost city of Caladrex!"

Jenkins is plotting a fourth book in the series, tentatively titled Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet. It is scheduled to be completed and published by the end of 2010.

Also worth reading is a November 2008 interview between Joel Jenkins and the blog Dark Worlds, in which Jenkins discusses the role of pulp science fiction in an "age of post-modern reconstructionism" and voices his thoughts about the prospects for a John Carter of Mars film.

Pictured above: Cover of Dire Planet (2005).