Pirates of Venus

Name: Pirates of Venus
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Pirates of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, follows the adventures of Carson Napier, a young American who has mastered telepathic communication under the tutelage of an Indian mystic named Chand Kabi. Carson contacts the novel's narrator and establishes that they are psychologically compatible for long-distance mental communication, then reveals his plan to travel by rocket ship to Mars. He has spent considerable resources constructing a giant torpedo-shaped rocket on Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico, and after a farewell to his crew, he launches himself into space. The journey goes immediately wrong. Carson and his team neglected to account for the Moon's gravitational influence in their calculations, and the rocket is pulled off course. Rather than heading toward Mars, the torpedo swings around the Moon and hurtles toward the Sun. Facing certain death, Carson resigns himself to his fate until he realizes that Venus is crossing his path. The planet's gravity seizes the rocket, and Carson deploys parachutes to slow his descent through the dense double cloud layers that permanently shroud Venus. He lands in an immense forest of colossal trees, some hundreds of feet in diameter and thousands of feet tall. In the darkness he is nearly killed by a horrifying spider-like creature called a targo before the door of a tree-city opens and armed men rescue him. Carson has landed in Kooaad, a hidden arboreal city of the kingdom of Vepaja, ruled by Jong Mintep. The Vepajans are a handsome, long-lived people who centuries earlier lost their empire to a socialist revolution led by a criminal named Thor. The Thorists, as his followers are called, now dominate much of Venus, having killed or driven away the educated and cultured class whose medical knowledge alone could have sustained civilized society. The Vepajans survive in secret tree cities, sustained by a longevity serum that halts aging and prevents disease. Carson is kept under comfortable but firm house arrest while a physician named Danus assesses whether he is a Thorist spy. Danus eventually clears him, and Carson is given the longevity serum and placed in the household of a hunter named Duran, whose son Kamlot becomes Carson's companion. During this period Carson catches glimpses of a beautiful girl in an adjacent garden and learns, to his exasperation, that she is forbidden to him. Unable to restrain himself, he vaults the fence and speaks to her. She slaps him and flees. He declares his love; she declares her loathing. He later learns from Kamlot's companion Honan that the girl is Duare, the virgin daughter of Jong Mintep himself, whose person is sacred under Vepajan custom. While gathering tarel, a strong silken fiber produced by the targo spiders, Carson and Kamlot are attacked by one of the creatures. Kamlot is paralyzed by the spider's venom, and Carson carries him for hours before both collapse to the forest floor. Carson revives Kamlot through sustained effort. Before they can find their way back to the city, they are captured by klangan, winged humanoid creatures in the service of the Thorists, and taken aboard a Thorist ship called the Sovong. Duare has also been captured and placed on a companion vessel. Imprisoned on the Thorist ship Sofal, Carson quietly organizes a secret society among the prisoners called the Soldiers of Liberty and recruits sympathetic members of the crew. A spy named Anoos is discovered and killed in the night. Carson accelerates his timetable and launches a sudden revolt at a prearranged signal. The mutiny succeeds, though it results in a massacre of the officers that Carson had hoped to prevent. Taking command of the Sofal, Carson maneuvers it alongside the Sovong at dawn, boards her with a hundred men, and captures her with minimal bloodshed. Duare and the other Vepajan captives are transferred to the Sofal, and Carson strips the Sovong of weapons and provisions before releasing her. Troublemakers, including a would-be rival named Kodj, are transferred to the captured ship and set free. The Sofal, now crewed by the Soldiers of Liberty, sets course back toward Vepaja to return the prisoners to their home, with Carson in command and a future of piracy against Thorist shipping and exploration of the unknown seas of Venus ahead.

By Edgar Rice Burroughs · First published 1934 · Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Romance · 14 chapters · 70,024 words

First lines

"If a female figure in a white shroud enters your bedchamber at midnight on the thirteenth day of this month, answer this letter; otherwise, do not."

What this Textopian page supports

Pirates of Venus is listed on Textopian as a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, dated 1934 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Date: 1934 CE
Language: English
Genres: Science Fiction, Adventure, Romance, Exploration/Travel Narrative, Political Thriller
Length: 70,024 words
Structure: 14 chapters, 1,130 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Discussion starters

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Genres

Science Fiction — The work is fundamentally a science fiction narrative involving interplanetary travel, futuristic technology (rockets, energy weapons, advanced medical science), and exploration of an alien world with different physical laws and scientific principles.
Adventure — The narrative is driven by continuous action sequences including space travel, encounters with exotic creatures, naval combat, mutiny, rescue missions, and survival in hostile environments, all central to the plot's progression.
Romance — A significant subplot involves the protagonist's passionate love for Duare, a princess of Vepaja, with their relationship developing through forbidden meetings, separation, rescue, and culminating in mutual declarations of love.
Exploration/Travel Narrative — Much of the narrative focuses on Carson Napier's journey through and discovery of Venus, its geography, peoples, civilizations, and customs, structured as accounts of exploration and encounters with new lands.