The Chessmen of Mars
Encyclopedia
The Chessmen of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs
science fiction novel, the fifth of his famous Barsoom
series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1922. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg
in November, 1922.
In this novel Burroughs focuses on another a younger member of the family established by John Carter and Dejah Thoris
, protagonists of the first three books in the series. The heroine this time is their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, whose hand is sought by the gallant Gahan, Jed (prince) of Gathol. Both Helium and Gathol are prominent Barsoomian city states.
. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom. After landing and fleeing from a pack of ferocious Banths (Martian lions), she is captured by the horrific Kaldane
s, who resemble large heads with small, crab-like legs. The Kaldanes have bred a symbiotic race of headless human-like creatures called Rykors, which they can attach themselves to and ride like a horse. While imprisoned, Tara manages to win over one of the Kaldanes, Ghek, with her lovely singing voice.
Gahan, who has fallen in love with Tara, sets out to find her, only to find himself caught up in the same storm, and he falls overboard while attempting to rescue one of his crew. He stumbles upon Bantoom, realm of the Kaldanes, and manages to rescue Tara, and together with Ghek they flee in Tara's crippled flier. Tara doesn't recognize Gahan as the prince she met earlier, as he is worn from his ordeals and no longer dressed in his fancy clothes. In light of her earlier reaction to him, Gahan decides to keep his identity secret, and identifies himself instead as a Panthan (warrior) called Turan.
The three of them manage to reach the isolated city of Manator. Gahan ventures into the city seeking food and water, but is tricked and taken prisoner by the inhabitants. Tara and Ghek are also captured. In Manator, captives are forced to a fight to the death in the arena, in a modified version of Jetan
, a popular Barsoomian board game resembling Chess
; the living version uses people as the game pieces on a life-sized board, with each taking of a piece being a duel to the death.
, the Martian version of Chess, played with living people. Burroughs was a keen chess player, and played games with his assistant, John Shea, while writing the novel, which he invariably won. Burroughs, as he had done in prior Barsoom
novels, cast himself as John Carter's nephew, entrusted with Carter's manuscript of another Martian tale. He actually mentions these games with Shea in the opening pages of the novel.
. This genre is a subset of science fiction
, similar to sword and sorcery
, but including scientific elements. Most of the action in a planetary romance is on the surface of an alien world, usually includes sword fighting, monsters, supernatural elements as telepathy rather than magic, and involves civilizations echoing those on Earth in pre-technological eras, particularly composed of kingdoms or theocratic nations. Spacecraft may appear, but are usually not central to the story.
speculation of the time, especially that of Percival Lowell
, who saw the planet as a formerly Earth
like world now becoming less hospitable to life due to its advanced age, whose inhabitants had built canals to bring water from the polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land. Lowell was influenced by Italian astronomer, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, who in 1878, had observed features on Mars he called canali (Italian for "channels"). Mistranslation of this into English as "canals" fuelled belief the planet was inhabited. The theory of an inhabited planet with flowing water was disproved by data provided by Russian and American probes such as the two Viking missions
which found a dead, frozen world where water could not exist in a fluid state.
have become hardened and warlike, fighting one another to survive. Barsoomians distribute scarce water supplies via a worldwide system of canals
, controlled by quarreling city-states. The thinning Martian atmosphere is artificially replenished from an "atmosphere plant".
It is a world with clear territorial divisions between White, Yellow, Black, Red and Green skinned races. Each has particular traits and qualities, which seem to define the characters of almost every individuals within them. Burroughs concept of race in Barsoom
, is more similar to species than ethnicity.
, with exceptional telepathic powers. Tara of Helium ends up in Bantoom after her flier is blown off course by a massive storm.
. Gahan of Gathol, Tara of Helium and Kaldane, Ghek, discover the location while fleeing the valley of the Kaldanes.
novels, which appear to explore, or parody the limits of excessive intellectual development at the expense of bodily or physical existence. The first was Thuvia, Maid of Mars
, in which Thuvia and Carthoris discover a remnant of ancient White Martian civilization, the Lotharians. The Lotharians have mostly died out, but maintain the illusion of a functioning society through powerful telepathic projections, and have formed two factions, which appear portray the excesses of pointless intellectual debate - one faction, the realists believes in imagining meals to provide sustenance, another, the etherealists, believes in surviving without eating. The Chessmen of Mars is the second example of this trend.
The Chessmen of Mars introduces the Kaldane
s of Bantoom. Their form is almost all head but for six spiderlike legs and a pair of chelae. Their racial goal is to evolve towards pure intellect
and away from bodily existence. In order to function in the physical realm, they have bred the Rykors, a complementary species composed of a body similar to that of a perfect specimen of Red Martian but lacking a head. When the Kaldane
places itself upon the neck of the Rykor, a bundle of tentacles connects with the Rykor's spinal cord
, allowing the brain of the Kaldane
to interface with the body of the Rykor. Should the Rykor become damaged or die, the Kaldane
merely climbs upon another as an earthling might change a horse.
The Kaldanes have sacrificed their bodies to become pure brain, but although they can interface with Rykor bodies, their ability to function compared to a normal people, with an integrated mind and body, is ineffectual and clumsy. The Kaldanes, almost pure brain, are also, while highly intelligent, ugly ineffectual creatures when not interfaced with a Rykor body. Tara of Helium compares them to effete intellectuals from her home city, with a self important sense of superiority, and Gahan of Gathol muses that it might be better to find a balance between the intellect and bodily passions.
The game of Jetan is a Martian variety of chess
. The board consists of 100 black and orange squares, laid in an alternating pattern. Both black and orange players are given 20 pieces. In the novel it is played at life size, at the arena in the Barsoomian location of Manator, with actual living people, who are dressed to appear the same as the pieces they represent. The game is a fight to the death, when a warrior is moved into one of the squares, and a warrior of the opposing color occupies the space, the two must engage in mortal combat. The game is intended to portray a battle between the Black Martians of the south and the Yellow Martians of the North and hence the board is traditionally orientated to these directions. While criminals and slaves are usually used as pieces, nobles also participate on occasions. It is played in Manator to win a beautiful woman, usually an exceptionally comely slave. It undoubtedly originates from Burrough's own fascination with Chess
.
On August 6, 1922 Burroughs received a letter from a prisoner, Elston B. Sweet, an inmate of Leavenworth Prison. Sweet and another inmate had used the references to Jetan
in the novel to make a Jetan
set, with carved pieces, after which they had played numerous games, and the game had become popular with other prisoners. Burroughs wrote back on August 16, 1922 to inform the pair they had created the first ever actual set. Interest in the game from fans was high, consequently he included the rules in an appendix, entitled "Jetan, or Martian Chess", when the novel version was published. A chapter on the game was included in the 1968 book Chess Variations by John Gollon. Gollon made a Jetan set, curious about the game principally as a novelty and played with it; he was surprised by how much he enjoyed the game, and even described it as a 'respectable game'.
The concept inspired imitation by authors of later planetary romance
s influenced by Burroughs, each of whom felt compelled to invent their own extraterrestrial version of chess to be fought with human beings. Instances of such homage include:
J. K. Rowling
's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
provides a rare instance of its use in fantasy, in a scene in which her three protagonists Harry, Hermionie, and Ron must play as pieces in a life-like game of Wizard's Chess.
for this story has expired in the United States and, thus, now resides in the public domain
there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg
.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
science fiction novel, the fifth of his famous Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1922. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg
A. C. McClurg
A. C. McClurg was a Chicago based publisher made famous by their original publishing of the Tarzan of the Apes novels and other stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs....
in November, 1922.
Plot introduction
Dejah Thoris
Dejah Thoris is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Martian novels. Princess of the Martian city state/empire of Helium, Dejah Thoris is the love interest and later the wife of John Carter, an Earthman mystically transported to Mars, and subsequently the mother of their son...
, protagonists of the first three books in the series. The heroine this time is their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, whose hand is sought by the gallant Gahan, Jed (prince) of Gathol. Both Helium and Gathol are prominent Barsoomian city states.
Plot summary
Tara meets Prince Gahan of Gathol, and is initially unimpressed, viewing him as something of a popinjayPopinjay
Popinjay may refer to:* Old-fashioned term for a parrot * A dandy or foppish person* Popinjay , a shooting sport that can be performed with either rifles or archery equipment...
. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom. After landing and fleeing from a pack of ferocious Banths (Martian lions), she is captured by the horrific Kaldane
Kaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
s, who resemble large heads with small, crab-like legs. The Kaldanes have bred a symbiotic race of headless human-like creatures called Rykors, which they can attach themselves to and ride like a horse. While imprisoned, Tara manages to win over one of the Kaldanes, Ghek, with her lovely singing voice.
Gahan, who has fallen in love with Tara, sets out to find her, only to find himself caught up in the same storm, and he falls overboard while attempting to rescue one of his crew. He stumbles upon Bantoom, realm of the Kaldanes, and manages to rescue Tara, and together with Ghek they flee in Tara's crippled flier. Tara doesn't recognize Gahan as the prince she met earlier, as he is worn from his ordeals and no longer dressed in his fancy clothes. In light of her earlier reaction to him, Gahan decides to keep his identity secret, and identifies himself instead as a Panthan (warrior) called Turan.
The three of them manage to reach the isolated city of Manator. Gahan ventures into the city seeking food and water, but is tricked and taken prisoner by the inhabitants. Tara and Ghek are also captured. In Manator, captives are forced to a fight to the death in the arena, in a modified version of Jetan
Jetan
Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
, a popular Barsoomian board game resembling Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
; the living version uses people as the game pieces on a life-sized board, with each taking of a piece being a duel to the death.
Writing
The novel was written during 1921, from January 7 to November 12. It was a particularly inventive and broad piece of imagination, including many details of the traditions, beasts and characters featuring in the novel. While working on the piece, Burroughs created a worksheet with 70 entries relating to architecture, locations, equipment and geographical locations. Of these, probably the most remarkable, is his creation of JetanJetan
Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
, the Martian version of Chess, played with living people. Burroughs was a keen chess player, and played games with his assistant, John Shea, while writing the novel, which he invariably won. Burroughs, as he had done in prior Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
novels, cast himself as John Carter's nephew, entrusted with Carter's manuscript of another Martian tale. He actually mentions these games with Shea in the opening pages of the novel.
Genre
The novel can be classed as a planetary romancePlanetary romance
Planetary romance is a type of science fiction or science fantasy story in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds...
. This genre is a subset of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, similar to sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...
, but including scientific elements. Most of the action in a planetary romance is on the surface of an alien world, usually includes sword fighting, monsters, supernatural elements as telepathy rather than magic, and involves civilizations echoing those on Earth in pre-technological eras, particularly composed of kingdoms or theocratic nations. Spacecraft may appear, but are usually not central to the story.
Major characters
- Gahan of Gathol: A prince of the Martian kingdom of Gathol who falls in love with Tara of Helium and is initially spurned by her when revealing his feelings. He later disguises himself as Turan, a mercenary, after rescuing her from the valley of the Kaldanes, revealing his true identity at the conclusion of the tale, by which time Tara has fallen in love with his assumed identity.
- Tara of Helium: A Princess of Helium, daughter of John CarterJohn Carter (character)John Carter is a fictional character, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who appears in the Barsoom series of novels. Though actually a Virginian from Earth and a visitor to Mars, he is often referred to as "John Carter of Mars" in reference to the general setting in which his deeds are recorded, in...
and Dejah ThorisDejah ThorisDejah Thoris is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Martian novels. Princess of the Martian city state/empire of Helium, Dejah Thoris is the love interest and later the wife of John Carter, an Earthman mystically transported to Mars, and subsequently the mother of their son...
. - Ghek: A Kaldane, unusual among his kind in his ability to appreciate emotion, dissatisfied with KaldaneKaldaneThe Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
society who is charmed by Tara's singing, and joins Gahan of Gathol and Tara of Helium in their escape from the valley of the Kaldanes.
Scientific basis
Burroughs vision of Mars was loosely inspired by astronomicalAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
speculation of the time, especially that of Percival Lowell
Percival Lowell
Percival Lawrence Lowell was a businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death...
, who saw the planet as a formerly Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
like world now becoming less hospitable to life due to its advanced age, whose inhabitants had built canals to bring water from the polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land. Lowell was influenced by Italian astronomer, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, who in 1878, had observed features on Mars he called canali (Italian for "channels"). Mistranslation of this into English as "canals" fuelled belief the planet was inhabited. The theory of an inhabited planet with flowing water was disproved by data provided by Russian and American probes such as the two Viking missions
Viking program
The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...
which found a dead, frozen world where water could not exist in a fluid state.
World of Barsoom
A million years before the narrative commences, Mars was a lush world with oceans. As the oceans receded, and the atmosphere grew thin, the planet has devolved into a landscape of partial barbarism; living on an aging planet, with dwindling resources, the inhabitants of BarsoomBarsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
have become hardened and warlike, fighting one another to survive. Barsoomians distribute scarce water supplies via a worldwide system of canals
Martian canals
For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were canals on Mars. These were a network of long straight lines that appeared in drawings of the planet Mars in the equatorial regions from 60° N. to 60° S. Lat., first observed by the Italian astronomer...
, controlled by quarreling city-states. The thinning Martian atmosphere is artificially replenished from an "atmosphere plant".
It is a world with clear territorial divisions between White, Yellow, Black, Red and Green skinned races. Each has particular traits and qualities, which seem to define the characters of almost every individuals within them. Burroughs concept of race in Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
, is more similar to species than ethnicity.
Bantoom, Valley of the Kaldanes
A hidden valley. Dwelling place of the Kaldanes, which are mostly brain, and the Rykors, headless bodies that the Kaldanes use as vehicles. The Kaldanes mostly live in tunnels below the ground. It is ruled by a king KaldaneKaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
, with exceptional telepathic powers. Tara of Helium ends up in Bantoom after her flier is blown off course by a massive storm.
Manator
A technologically backward Red Martian civilization, which has no firearms or fliers, survives by raiding caravans and prevents anyone from leaving their society. They have two distinctive traditions, firstly a habit of displaying the dead, covered in ornaments, and secondly playing a live version of the Martian chess, JetanJetan
Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
. Gahan of Gathol, Tara of Helium and Kaldane, Ghek, discover the location while fleeing the valley of the Kaldanes.
Excessive intellectualism as a theme
While Burroughs is generally seen as a writer who produced work of limited philosophical value, Burroughs wrote two BarsoomBarsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
novels, which appear to explore, or parody the limits of excessive intellectual development at the expense of bodily or physical existence. The first was Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars is a science fiction novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth of the Barsoom series. The principal characters are the Son of John Carter of Mars, Carthoris, and Thuvia of Ptarth, each of whom appeared in the previous two novels....
, in which Thuvia and Carthoris discover a remnant of ancient White Martian civilization, the Lotharians. The Lotharians have mostly died out, but maintain the illusion of a functioning society through powerful telepathic projections, and have formed two factions, which appear portray the excesses of pointless intellectual debate - one faction, the realists believes in imagining meals to provide sustenance, another, the etherealists, believes in surviving without eating. The Chessmen of Mars is the second example of this trend.
The Chessmen of Mars introduces the Kaldane
Kaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
s of Bantoom. Their form is almost all head but for six spiderlike legs and a pair of chelae. Their racial goal is to evolve towards pure intellect
Intellect
Intellect is a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems...
and away from bodily existence. In order to function in the physical realm, they have bred the Rykors, a complementary species composed of a body similar to that of a perfect specimen of Red Martian but lacking a head. When the Kaldane
Kaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
places itself upon the neck of the Rykor, a bundle of tentacles connects with the Rykor's spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, allowing the brain of the Kaldane
Kaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
to interface with the body of the Rykor. Should the Rykor become damaged or die, the Kaldane
Kaldane
The Kaldanes are a fictitious sapient species existing in the region of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom in the John Carter series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Introduced in the book Chessmen of Mars, the Kaldanes are almost all head, but for six arachnoid legs and a pair of chelae...
merely climbs upon another as an earthling might change a horse.
The Kaldanes have sacrificed their bodies to become pure brain, but although they can interface with Rykor bodies, their ability to function compared to a normal people, with an integrated mind and body, is ineffectual and clumsy. The Kaldanes, almost pure brain, are also, while highly intelligent, ugly ineffectual creatures when not interfaced with a Rykor body. Tara of Helium compares them to effete intellectuals from her home city, with a self important sense of superiority, and Gahan of Gathol muses that it might be better to find a balance between the intellect and bodily passions.
Jetan and its influence
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. The board consists of 100 black and orange squares, laid in an alternating pattern. Both black and orange players are given 20 pieces. In the novel it is played at life size, at the arena in the Barsoomian location of Manator, with actual living people, who are dressed to appear the same as the pieces they represent. The game is a fight to the death, when a warrior is moved into one of the squares, and a warrior of the opposing color occupies the space, the two must engage in mortal combat. The game is intended to portray a battle between the Black Martians of the south and the Yellow Martians of the North and hence the board is traditionally orientated to these directions. While criminals and slaves are usually used as pieces, nobles also participate on occasions. It is played in Manator to win a beautiful woman, usually an exceptionally comely slave. It undoubtedly originates from Burrough's own fascination with Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
.
On August 6, 1922 Burroughs received a letter from a prisoner, Elston B. Sweet, an inmate of Leavenworth Prison. Sweet and another inmate had used the references to Jetan
Jetan
Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
in the novel to make a Jetan
Jetan
Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...
set, with carved pieces, after which they had played numerous games, and the game had become popular with other prisoners. Burroughs wrote back on August 16, 1922 to inform the pair they had created the first ever actual set. Interest in the game from fans was high, consequently he included the rules in an appendix, entitled "Jetan, or Martian Chess", when the novel version was published. A chapter on the game was included in the 1968 book Chess Variations by John Gollon. Gollon made a Jetan set, curious about the game principally as a novelty and played with it; he was surprised by how much he enjoyed the game, and even described it as a 'respectable game'.
The concept inspired imitation by authors of later planetary romance
Planetary romance
Planetary romance is a type of science fiction or science fantasy story in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds...
s influenced by Burroughs, each of whom felt compelled to invent their own extraterrestrial version of chess to be fought with human beings. Instances of such homage include:
- Lin CarterLin CarterLinwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
's Darza, from Renegade of CallistoRenegade of CallistoRenegade of Callisto is a science fiction novel written by Lin Carter, the eighth and last in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in August 1978, and reprinted once, in November of the same year. A tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Chessmen of Mars, the book...
, 8th volume in his Callisto seriesCallisto seriesThe Callisto series is a sequence of eight science fiction novels by Lin Carter, of the sword and planet subgenre, first published by Dell Books from 1972-1978... - Kenneth BulmerKenneth BulmerHenry Kenneth Bulmer was a British author, primarily of science fiction.-Life:Born in London, he married Pamela Buckmaster on 7 March 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and were divorced in 1981...
's Jikaida, from A Life for Kregen, 19th volume in his Dray Prescot seriesDray Prescot seriesThe Dray Prescot series is a sequence of fifty-three science fiction novels and a number of associated short stories of the subgenre generally classified as sword and planet, written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers.... - John NormanJohn NormanJohn Frederick Lange, Jr. , better known under his pen name John Norman, is a professor of philosophy and an author. He is best known for his Gor novel series.-Biography:...
's Kaissa, from his GorGorGor , the Counter-Earth, is the alternate-world setting for a series of 30 novels by John Norman that combine philosophy, erotica and science fiction...
series, mentioned many times, though never fully described - S. M. StirlingS. M. StirlingStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.-Personal:Stirling was born on...
's Atanj, from In the Courts of the Crimson KingsIn the Courts of the Crimson KingsIn the Courts of the Crimson Kings is a 2008 alternate history, science fiction novel by American writer S. M. Stirling.-Plot introduction:...
, his own Burroughs-influenced novel of an alternate Mars, also not fully described
J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard...
provides a rare instance of its use in fantasy, in a scene in which her three protagonists Harry, Hermionie, and Ron must play as pieces in a life-like game of Wizard's Chess.
Copyright
The copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
for this story has expired in the United States and, thus, now resides in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
.