Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in 1875 in Chicago, Illinois. Although Burroughs wrote in many genres he is best known for creating the jungle hero Tarzan. Burroughs began writing for pulp fiction magazines and in 1912 he published Tarzan of the Apes. Gods of Mars is second in the science fiction Barsoom series. The story begins when John Carter refuses to return to Earth. He arrives back on Barsoom (Mars) after being away from his wife and child for ten years. Unfortunately, John Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian heaven. Together with his friend Tars Tarkas they discover that the Valley Dor is not heaven but a Hell rules by another alien race.