BARSOOM SAGA Volume 5 The Chessman of Mars

One of the longest Mars novels; including the 68 bonus pages with art and letters, this is 358 pages! The largest storm in the history of Barsoom sweeps the flier of Tara of Helium, headstrong daughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, halfway across the face of the planet to the mysterious Valley of Bantoom. There rule the ghoulish, bodiless heads known as kaldanes, riding upon the eerie headless torsos of their rykor mounts. Behind Tara comes the warrior Gahan of Gathol, intent on rescuing the princess who has spurned his love. But escape from the spine-chilling warrens of Bantoom’s kaldane king will lead Tara and Gahan -- along with Ghek, their unlikely kaldane companion -- to the even stranger and deadlier city of Manator, where they must survive the arena in a bloodthirsty game of living chess. An amazing 68 pages present facsimile letters between ERB and the publishers and artist; all the J. Allen St. John interior artwork for the first edition; other illustrators' interior artwork from foreign editions; dozens of U.S. and overseas book and paperback covers for variant editions; the original pulp covers and chapter headings and far more. It's a journey through the history of this one title from the beginning in the pulps until now. Much of this bonus material has never before been seen. Joe Jusko is knocking himself out on these new cover. I swear each one is better than the last. This is one of my favorites so far. On the rear of the dust jacket is a photo of ERB and his daughter.