The Chessmen of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs fame stems from the creation of Tarzan and the Barsoom science fiction series. He was born on September 1, 1875 in Chicago, Illinois, and entered military service in 1895. Two years later, he was diagnosed with a heart problem and was discharged. He drifted from job to job and in 1911, he found work selling pencil sharpeners. Because he had plenty of free time during this period, he started reading pulp fiction magazines. He thought that if people were getting paid for writing such rot, then he could write stories which were just as rotten. After seven years of being paid low wages he began writing his own fiction. The first Tarzan and John Carter stories were published in 1912.