| Ulysses Paxton | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Amazing Stories Annual (1927), showing Ras Thavas, Valla Dia and Ulysses Paxton | |
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Real Name |
Ulysses Paxton |
|
First Appearance |
Amazing Stories Annual vol. 1 (July 15, 1927) |
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Original Publisher |
Amazing Stories |
|
Created by |
Edgar Rice Burroughs |
Origin[]
Captain Ulysses Paxton, United States Army Infantry, is a fan of Burroughs' Barsoom series, and after having a shell blow off his legs during trench warfare in World War I, he finds himself drawn across the gulfs of space to Mars (where his body is whole again) like John Carter before him. He sends Burroughs a first person manuscript of his adventures on the dying planet, which Burroughs publishes.
On Mars, Paxton is taken in by elderly mad scientist Ras Thavas, the "Master Mind" of the novel's title, who educates him in the ways of Barsoom and bestows on him the Martian name Vad Varo. Ras has perfected techniques of transplanting brains, which he uses to provide rich elderly Martians with youthful new bodies for a profit. Distrustful of his fellow Martians, he trains Paxton as his assistant to perform the same operation on him. But Paxton has fallen in love with Valla Dia, one of Ras' young victims, whose body has been swapped for that of the hag Xaxa, Jeddara (empress) of the city-state of Phundahl. He refuses to operate on Ras until his mentor promises to restore her to her rightful body. A quest for that body ensues, in which Paxton is aided by others of Ras' experimental victims, and in the end (and after meeting fellow Earthman John Carter) he attains the hand of his Valla Dia, who in a happy plot twist turns out to be a princess.
Ulysses Paxton is also the story-teller of A Fighting Man of Mars but this story is not about him; rather, it is the tale of Tan Hadron of Hastor, a lowly, poor padwar (a low-ranking officer) who is in love with the beautiful, haughty Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, a minor but rich noble. The story is purportedly relayed back to earth via the Gridley Wave, a sort of super radio frequency previously introduced in Tanar of Pellucidar, the third of Burrough's Pellucidar novels, which thus provides a link between the two series.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of Ulysses Paxton before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Novels[]
- The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
- A Fighting Man of Mars (1930)
Notes[]
- The Master Mind of Mars was first published in the magazine Amazing Stories Annual vol. 1, on July 15, 1927. The first book edition was published by A. C. McClurg in March, 1928.
- The copyright for A Fighting Man of Mars was not renewed by December 31, 1955, in the United States and therefore is in the public domain.
- The copyright for Synthetic Men of Mars (1940) has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia.