The creator of the immortal characters Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs is one of the world's most popular authors. His timeless tales of heroes and heroines transport readers from the jungles of Africa and the dead sea bottoms of Barsoom to the miles-high forests of Amtor and the savage inner world of Pellucidar, and even to alien civilizations beyond the farthest star. Mr. Burroughs' books are estimated to have sold hundreds of millions of copies, and they have spawned 60 films and 250 television episodes. Michael Moorcock has received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and SFWA's Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, as well as the Nebula and British Fantasy Awards. Perhaps best known for Elric of Melniboné (part of the Eternal Champion cycle, which spans multiple series and multiple realities), Moorcock is also the author of Mother London, Byzantium Endures, and Gloriana, as well as the Sanctuary of the White Friars trilogy. Joe Jusko is among today's most acclaimed fantasy, pin-up, and comic artists. His work has been featured on book and comic posters, and on the much-praised 1992 Marvel Masterpieces trading cards. Jusko is a recipient of myriad industry honors, including a Certificate of Merit from the Society of Illustrators and a 2001 Chesley Award nomination. Fittingly, he was born on September 1, sharing his birthday with Edgar Rice Burroughs. Jusko's longtime love of Burroughs' work continues to inspire him in illustrating the Authorized Library and bringing the author's creative vision to life.
""[Edgar Rice] Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world."" Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles ""[Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom saga] aroused generations of eight-year-olds, myself among them, to consider the exploration of the planets as a real possibility, to wonder if we ourselves might one day voyage to Mars."" Carl Sagan, author of Cosmos ""[I]t was not the purely fictional aspect of the [Mars] cycle which gave it its power, but its mythic nature, its playing upon primal urges and submerged forces within the human psyche which gave the books their appeal and which give them their continued validity."" Richard A. Lupoff, author of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure