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 Dust-jacket of Pirates of Venus | |
| Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | J. Allen St. John |
| Language | English |
| Series | Amtor |
| Genre | Science fantasy |
| Publisher | Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. |
Publication date | 1932 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 314 |
| Followed by | Lost on Venus |
Pirates of Venus is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first book in the Venus series (also called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"), the last major series in Burroughs's career (the other major series were Tarzan, Barsoom, and Pellucidar). It was first serialized in six parts in Argosy in 1932 and published in book form two years later by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The events occur on a fictionalized version of the planet Venus, known as "Amtor" to its inhabitants.
The novel contains elements of political satire aimed at communism. The novel's villains, the Thorists, start a revolution in the nation of Vepaja for their own good only, cheating the uneducated masses and killing or driving away those doctors and other highly educated that form the foundation of the society. Throughout the book the Thorists remain distant and unreal, and those few that the hero Carson Napier meets are often stupid or incompetent. The Kalkars, villains of Burroughs' other novel The Moon Maid, were also modeled on the Russian Communists.