Barsoom

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote eleven canonical Barsoom novels between 1912 and his death in 1950, plus two posthumous and semi-apocryphal compilations published in 1964. The series follows John Carter, an American Civil War veteran who mysteriously projects across space to Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabitants. Lower Martian gravity gives him enhanced strength on the dying planet. He earns the rank of Warlord of Mars, marries Princess Dejah Thoris of Helium, and over the course of the series fathers Carthoris, sees the birth of his daughter Tara and granddaughter Llana, and unites the warring races of Mars under his loose alliance. The novels essentially invented planetary romance as a genre. The publication order, which is also the recommended reading order, runs: A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, Thuvia Maid of Mars, The Chessmen of Mars, The Master Mind of Mars, A Fighting Man of Mars, Swords of Mars, Synthetic Men of Mars, Llana of Gathol, and the final posthumous John Carter of Mars containing the Giant of Mars and Skeleton Men of Jupiter novellas.