Read sample pages from Eric Brown’s forthcoming novella Gilbert and Edgar on Mars

PS Publishing in the United Kingdom recently posted the first 17 pages (PDF) of Gilbert and Edgar on Mars, a forthcoming novella written by British science fiction author Eric Brown. Scheduled to be released in December 2009, the novella focuses on an encounter between English literary giant G.K. Chesterton and American pulp author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Here’s a synopsis, provided by PS Publishing:

G.K. Chesterton, fantastical novelist, literary journalist, paradoxical poet and prolific short story writer penned more than a hundred books in his lifetime as well as countless articles and essays on every subject under the sun -- but only now can his travels across the face of the red planet be revealed.

In this exuberant novella Eric Brown recounts Chesterton's astounding adventures on Mars, his meeting with Edgar Rice Burroughs and his treatment at the hands of the Six Philosophers.

Why was Chesterton whisked away from planet Earth -- and will he ever return?

Eric Brown writes a monthly science fiction review column for Britain's Guardian newspaper and maintains his own website.

Pictured: Cover art for Gilbert and Edgar on Mars, by science fiction, fantasy, and horror artist J.K. Potter.