The Chessmen of Mars, with eBook

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1875, to a prosperous family. His father was a civil war veteran. Burroughs attended several private schools, concluding with the Michigan Military Academy at Orchar Lake. Here he later became an instructor and assistant commandant. During the First World War, he served in the Seventh Cavalry and Illinois Reserve Militia, and in 1900 he married Emma Centennia Hulbert, with whom he had two sons and one daughter. Burroughs tried his luck at several different occupations, including railroad policeman, advertising agency partner, and office manager, none of which were successful, and the family lived near poverty. The turning point came when Burroughs started to write for pulp fiction magazines at the age of thirty-five. In 1912, Burroughs's first true success came with the publication of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars in All-Story Magazine, which introduced his popular, invincible hero of Mars, John Carter. The Martian series eventually reached eleven books. Later that same year, Burroughs wrote his best-known book, Tarzan of the Apes. This was the start of his longest and most successful series, which eventually reached twenty-four books. Other popular stories from Burroughs's pen include the Carson of Venus books, the Pellucidar tales, and The Land That Time Forgot, a total of some sixty-eight titles. In 1913, Burroughs founded his own publishing house, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., which still publishes his works today. Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises and Burroughs-Tarzan Pictures were founded in 1934. Burroughs also found time to dabble in politics and was elected mayor of California Beach in 1933. During World War II, at the age of 66, he served as a war correspondent in the South Pacific and wrote columns for the Honolulu Advertiser. Burroughs died of a heart ailment on March 19, 1950.

John Bolen brings his extensive theater, film, and television experience to audiobooks. Recent television appearances include CIA: Masters of Deception on the Discovery Channel and Courage on the Fox Family Channel. His recent film work includes The Land, The Inn Outside the World, Dream Parlor, and the American Film Institute's Women Directors Workshop short This Is Bill. John has performed at many theaters in the Los Angeles area. He portrayed Sir David Metcalfe in Beyond Reasonable Doubt and Jim in Later Life. He was featured as Dr. Montague in The Haunting of Hill House, Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr. Meeker in Inherit the Wind, Henri and the shore patrolman in South Pacific, and Lord Montague in Romeo and Juliet. He starred as Palmer Forrester in Murder Among Friends and Dr. Gerald Lyman in Bus Stop. John has also performed in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Tribunal, A Dickens of a Christmas, Once Upon a Mattress, Fiddler on the Roof, and Finian's Rainbow. He performs in an ongoing school touring production of Billy's Closet. He is also a playwright and a member of the New Voices Playwrights Theatre. John and his wife, Lynne, live in Irvine, California.