I’m actually pretty excited about the new John Carter movie.

From a business point of view, it seems like an absolutely insane decision to spend a rumored $200 million on it. Is there that much pent up demand for early twentieth century planetary romances?

I’ve been reading a decent bit of Edgar Rice Burroughs lately. Not the Tarzan stories. But his hollow earth stories and his Mars novels – I’m all about those.

So, I read this first book (upon which, presumably, the movie is based) A Princess of Mars and am halfway through its sequel, Gods of Mars.

As noted, they are considered, genre-wise, as planetary romances. Essentially, they are science fiction novels that are a little loosey goosey with the science and big on finding excuses for strapping men and hideous monsters to fight with swords for the honor of scantily clad women. So really, it’s just begging to have a movie based on it.