Edgar Rice Burroughs understood something essential: sometimes you just need to swing through the jungle with Tarzan or fight four-armed warriors on Mars with John Carter. No pretension, no irony—just pure, unapologetic adventure where heroes are heroic, exotic worlds are actually exotic, and the next page promises something even more thrilling than the last.
Burroughs practically invented planetary romance and made lost world adventures into an art form. He wrote with breathless momentum, taking you from Earth to Barsoom to Pellucidar without ever letting up on the action. His prose wasn't fancy, but it got you where you needed to go—into worlds of impossible wonder where anything could happen and usually did.
If you've burned through the Barsoom series and need your next fix of sword-swinging, planet-hopping, monster-fighting adventure, here are fifteen authors who deliver that same rush. These are writers who understand that sometimes literature's highest calling is to make you forget you're sitting in a chair.
Start here: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (first collection of Conan stories)
If Burroughs is the king of planetary romance, Howard is the king of sword and sorcery. He created Conan the Barbarian and wrote with such violent energy that his stories practically explode off the page. Where John Carter fought with aristocratic grace, Conan fights like a force of nature—brutal, direct, unstoppable.
Howard's Hyborian Age is a prehistoric world of his own invention, filled with decadent kingdoms, dark sorcery, and civilizations rising and falling. Conan moves through this world as adventurer, thief, mercenary, and eventually king, but he's always the outsider—the barbarian who sees through civilized pretensions with savage clarity.
What makes Howard essential for Burroughs fans is the same commitment to pure adventure. No literary aspirations getting in the way, just breakneck storytelling that trusts action over analysis. Howard wrote these stories for pulp magazines in the 1930s, same era as Burroughs, and they share that golden age energy—exotic settings, beautiful women in distress, heroic men who solve problems by fighting really well.
The appeal: Everything you love about Burroughs but with more blood and thunder. If John Carter feels too civilized, Conan is your barbarian.
Start here: The Sword of Rhiannon or The Secret of Sinharat
Leigh Brackett wrote planetary romance that directly channels Burroughs' spirit—ancient Martian civilizations, lost cities, tough heroes, and sweep that makes you feel like you're reading epic mythology. She's sometimes called "the Queen of Space Opera," and if you love the Barsoom books, her Mars stories will feel like coming home.
The Sword of Rhiannon sends an archaeologist back in time to ancient Mars when the seas still existed and mighty civilizations ruled. It's got everything: time travel, a doomed romance, a quest for a powerful artifact, and a hero caught between saving the woman he loves and preventing catastrophic war. Pure Burroughs energy.
Brackett wrote for the same pulp magazines as Burroughs and understood the formula: exotic settings described with just enough detail to fire imagination, action that keeps building, and stakes that feel genuinely epic. She also wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back, which tells you something about her ability to craft adventure.
The appeal: The closest thing to more John Carter books not written by Burroughs himself. She gets the planetary romance formula perfectly.
Start here: King Solomon's Mines or She
Haggard basically invented the lost world adventure novel that Burroughs would perfect. Writing in the 1880s, he created the template: European adventurers journey into unmapped Africa and discover hidden civilizations, ancient treasures, and impossible wonders.
King Solomon's Mines follows Allan Quatermain into the African interior searching for lost treasure and a missing brother. What he finds is a hidden kingdom with its own complex politics, a civil war, and enough adventure to fill three novels. She is even wilder—an immortal queen ruling a lost civilization, waiting 2,000 years for her reincarnated lover to return.
Haggard's prose is more Victorian than Burroughs' straightforward style, but the bones are identical: men of action thrust into exotic settings where they encounter the impossible and survive through courage and resourcefulness. Burroughs read Haggard and thought, "I can do this too"—and then did.
The appeal: The original lost world adventures. If you love Tarzan discovering hidden cities in Africa, Haggard wrote the template.
Start here: Planet of Peril (Venus series)
Kline wrote planetary romances so similar to Burroughs that rumor claimed they were rivals (probably not true, but it makes a good story). If Burroughs took you to Mars, Kline takes you to Venus—jungle-covered, teeming with strange creatures, dotted with exotic kingdoms perpetually at war.
Planet of Peril follows Robert Grandon, whose consciousness is swapped with a Venusian prince, forcing him to navigate an alien world in an alien body. It's got duels, captures, escapes, beautiful princesses, evil villains, and a hero who has to prove himself through sheer determination. The formula is pure Burroughs, executed with enthusiasm and craft.
Kline also wrote a Mars series and jungle adventure novels that echo Tarzan. He wasn't trying to subvert Burroughs or comment on him—he was delivering more of what worked, which is exactly what you want when you've finished the Barsoom books and need something that scratches the same itch.
The appeal: If you could commission someone to write "more books exactly like John Carter," Kline is what you'd get. Shameless, enjoyable, adventure-first planetary romance.
Start here: Jandar of Callisto
Lin Carter was a superfan of classic pulp adventure who decided to keep the tradition alive in the 1960s-70s. His Callisto series is explicitly modeled on Burroughs' planetary romances: earthman transported to Jupiter's moon, discovers breathable atmosphere (don't worry about the science), finds warring kingdoms, falls for a princess, has adventures.
Carter's not trying to innovate—he's trying to deliver the same pleasure you got from the Barsoom books. That might sound like a criticism, but it's actually perfect when you know what you're getting. These books move fast, have cliffhanger chapter endings, and never take themselves too seriously.
Carter was also a scholar of fantasy literature who edited collections and wrote appreciations of classic pulp writers. He loved this stuff sincerely and wanted to share that love. His Callisto books are basically fan fiction written by someone who deeply understood what made the originals work.
The appeal: Unabashed homage to Burroughs' planetary romance. Carter delivers the formula with affection and competence—comfort food for adventure fans.
Start here: The Moon Pool or The Ship of Ishtar
Merritt wrote lost world adventures with more mysticism and stranger atmospheres than Burroughs, but the same core appeal: ordinary men transported to extraordinary places where ancient civilizations persist hidden from the modern world.
The Moon Pool discovers a lost civilization beneath the Pacific Ocean, powered by strange sciences and ruled by beings that might be aliens or might be gods. The Ship of Ishtar pulls a man into an ancient Babylonian galley that exists outside normal time, where he must fight for a goddess's favor.
Where Burroughs kept things relatively straightforward—Mars has low gravity, people fight with swords, pretty simple—Merritt leaned into weird science and supernatural mystery. His prose is more ornate, his settings more dreamlike. But the adventure backbone is identical: brave hero, exotic setting, impossible wonders, beautiful woman to rescue or fight alongside.
The appeal: Lost world adventures with more mystery and atmosphere. If you want Burroughs' sense of wonder but stranger and more mystical, Merritt delivers.
Start here: Swords and Deviltry (first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser collection)
Leiber wrote sword and sorcery with more wit and sophistication than most pulp contemporaries, but his Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories deliver pure adventure. These two rogues—Fafhrd the tall northern barbarian and the Gray Mouser, a small nimble thief—roam the city of Lankhmar and beyond, getting into trouble and barely escaping.
Where Burroughs' heroes are noble and brave, Fafhrd and Mouser are scoundrels—likeable ones, but definitely in it for treasure and women first, heroism second. Yet the stories have the same essential quality: momentum, exotic settings, creative dangers, and the sense that adventure is always just around the corner.
Leiber wrote these stories across decades, from the 1930s to 1980s, refining the form while keeping what worked. They're more character-driven than typical Burroughs, with actual humor and friendship at their core. But they share the fundamental commitment to telling cracking good adventure yarns.
The appeal: Sword and sorcery with personality. If you want Burroughs' adventure but with more wit and roguish charm, Leiber's your man.
Start here: Northwest of Earth (collected Northwest Smith stories)
C.L. Moore wrote space westerns before anyone called them that. Her hero Northwest Smith is a space-faring outlaw operating on the fringes of civilized space, getting into trouble on Mars, Venus, and stranger places. Think Han Solo decades before Star Wars.
Moore's stories have Burroughs' exotic settings and action but with darker, more sensual atmospheres. Her aliens are genuinely alien and often disturbing. Her hero is morally compromised but ultimately decent. "Shambleau," her first published story, features Smith rescuing what he thinks is a woman on Mars—only to discover something far stranger and more dangerous.
She wrote for the same pulp magazines as Burroughs in the 1930s-40s and proved women could write adventure just as well as men. Her prose is more atmospheric and psychological than Burroughs' straightforward style, but the core adventure DNA is identical.
The appeal: Space adventure with more atmosphere and stranger encounters. Moore delivers action but makes it weirder and more unsettling in the best way.
Start here: King of the Khyber Rifles
Mundy wrote adventure novels set in British India, Tibet, and the Middle East—places that felt as exotic to 1920s readers as Barsoom. His heroes are typically British officers or adventurers navigating complex political intrigues, ancient mysteries, and physical danger.
King of the Khyber Rifles follows a half-Indian British officer during WWI trying to prevent an uprising on the Northwest Frontier. It's got secret missions, dangerous passes through hostile territory, beautiful women with their own agendas, and action that never stops building.
Mundy was more interested in mysticism and philosophy than Burroughs, but he understood pacing and exotic appeal. His best books move with the same relentless forward momentum, and his settings—while technically Earth—feel as wonderfully foreign as any alien planet.
The appeal: Earth-based adventure that feels as exotic as Barsoom. If you want Burroughs' sense of discovering strange civilizations but with historical settings, Mundy delivers.
Start here: The World of Tiers (series) or Hadon of Ancient Opar
Farmer was a massive Burroughs fan who wrote both homages and deconstructions of pulp adventure. His World of Tiers series features pocket universes created by advanced beings, each world designed as a different adventure playground. It's like Burroughs on steroids—every volume is a different exotic setting with its own rules.
Hadon of Ancient Opar is even more direct: Farmer takes Opar, the lost city from Tarzan books, and writes its prehistory. It's set in a prehistoric Africa of Farmer's imagining, with its own languages, cultures, and adventures. It's Farmer saying, "I love this stuff so much I'm going to expand on it."
What makes Farmer great for Burroughs fans is that he respects the source material while adding his own creativity. He's not mocking pulp adventure—he's celebrating it while pushing it in new directions.
The appeal: Pulp adventure updated and expanded by someone who truly loved it. Farmer gives you both the familiar thrills and new twists.
Start here: The Skylark of Space or Galactic Patrol (Lensman series)
Doc Smith wrote space opera on a cosmic scale. Where Burroughs might have a hero fighting for a city or kingdom, Smith's heroes fight for entire galaxies. His Skylark and Lensman series feature scientists-turned-adventurers battling evil across interstellar space with super-weapons, faster-than-light travel, and stakes that just keep escalating.
The science is complete nonsense, but that's not the point—Smith writes adventure that uses science fiction as excuse for increasingly spectacular conflicts. His heroes are square-jawed and noble, his villains are properly evil, and every book ends with an even bigger threat on the horizon.
Smith lacks Burroughs' exotic atmosphere and romantic elements, but he delivers the same pure adventure high. If you love John Carter because of the breathless pacing and heroic action, Smith will absolutely deliver, just with spaceships instead of swords.
The appeal: Burroughs' adventure scaled up to cosmic proportions. If bigger is better and you want space opera that never stops escalating, Smith is your guy.
Start here: The Dying Earth or Big Planet
Jack Vance wrote exotic adventure with more emphasis on strange cultures and elaborate world-building than typical pulp. His "Dying Earth" series is set billions of years in the future when Earth's sun is dying, magic has returned, and adventurers seek artifacts from previous civilizations.
Big Planet is pure adventure—a huge world with low gravity where a small group must cross continents filled with bizarre civilizations, each with its own unique culture and dangers. It's episodic like Burroughs' best work, with each chapter bringing new wonders and new threats.
Vance's prose is more ornate and his interests more anthropological than Burroughs, but the adventure backbone is solid. His heroes travel through impossibly varied landscapes encountering the strange and wonderful—exactly what you come to Burroughs for.
The appeal: Exotic adventure with richer world-building. If you want Burroughs' sense of wonder but with more elaborate cultures and more stylish prose, Vance delivers.
Start here: Elric of Melniboné (Elric saga)
Moorcock's work is more complex and darker than Burroughs, but his early sword and sorcery delivers breakneck adventure. Elric is an anti-Conan—a weak, drug-dependent albino emperor whose power comes from a soul-drinking sword. But the adventures themselves have that same pulp energy: exotic kingdoms, beautiful women, evil sorcerers, desperate quests.
Moorcock wrote these quickly for British magazines, channeling the pulp tradition while adding his own philosophical concerns. But underneath the angst and moral complexity, they're still adventure stories that move with satisfying momentum.
His "Eternal Champion" concept links all his heroes across different series and realities—warriors fighting endless incarnations of cosmic conflict. It's more ambitious than Burroughs, but it shares the same love of heroic adventure.
The appeal: Pulp adventure with more psychological depth. If you want Burroughs' excitement but with darker themes and more complexity, Moorcock bridges that gap.
Start here: The High Crusade or Three Hearts and Three Lions
Anderson wrote science fiction and fantasy that maintained Burroughs' sense of adventure while adding more scientific literacy and historical knowledge. The High Crusade is pure fun: medieval English knights capture an alien spaceship and accidentally conquer an interstellar empire using medieval tactics.
Three Hearts and Three Lions sends a modern man into a fantasy version of medieval Europe where he becomes a knight battling the forces of Chaos. It's got the same fish-out-of-water setup as John Carter—ordinary guy thrust into extraordinary circumstances who must become a hero.
Anderson respects the pulp tradition while being smarter about science and history than most pulp writers. His adventures have intellectual heft without losing the essential fun factor.
The appeal: Burroughs-style adventure written by someone who actually knows science and history. You get the thrills plus substance.
Start here: The Beast Master or Star Man's Son
Norton wrote adventure science fiction and fantasy with exotic alien worlds, lost civilizations, and young heroes finding their place through courage and resourcefulness. Her protagonists are often outsiders—Native Americans in space, mutants in post-apocalyptic settings—giving her work more social consciousness than typical pulp.
The Beast Master follows a Navajo ex-soldier and his team of telepathically controlled animals settling a newly colonized planet. It combines Western frontier adventure with science fiction in ways that echo Burroughs' planetary romances.
Norton wrote cleaner prose and more thoughtful characterization than pulp standard, but she never forgot that adventure comes first. Her books move quickly, take you to fascinating places, and deliver genuine excitement.
The appeal: Adventure science fiction with more diverse heroes and thoughtful themes. Norton gives you Burroughs' exotic worlds and adventure while expanding who gets to be the hero.
Start here: Lord of Light or Nine Princes in Amber (Amber series)
Zelazny wrote science fiction and fantasy that's more literary than Burroughs but delivers similar adventure satisfactions. Lord of Light is science fiction dressed as Hindu mythology—immortal humans with god-like powers battling for control of a planet. It's got exotic settings, larger-than-life conflicts, and a hero who fights impossible odds.
The Amber series follows princes of the one true world fighting for succession through infinite parallel realities. Each book is essentially one long chase/escape/battle sequence with brief pauses for plot development. Pure momentum.
Zelazny's prose is more sophisticated than pulp standard—he can actually write—but he understood that style should serve story. His books deliver intellectual interest and beautiful sentences alongside genuine adventure excitement.
The appeal: Burroughs-level adventure written with genuine literary skill. You get exotic worlds, heroic action, and prose that's actually worth reading for its own sake.
The beauty of the pulp adventure tradition is its abundance. These writers—and dozens more—spent decades churning out stories for readers who just wanted to be transported somewhere amazing for a few hours. No pretension, no apologies, just excitement.
Here's how to navigate based on what you're craving:
Want more planetary romance exactly like Burroughs?
Start with Leigh Brackett and Otis Adelbert Kline, then try Lin Carter
Want lost world adventures on Earth?
H. Rider Haggard is essential, then try Abraham Merritt and Talbot Mundy
Want sword and sorcery instead of science fiction?
Robert E. Howard is mandatory, then Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock
Want space opera on a bigger scale?
E. E. Doc Smith and Jack Williamson for pure pulp; Poul Anderson for smarter versions
Want adventure with better writing?
Roger Zelazny and Jack Vance deliver genuine literary quality without sacrificing excitement
Want to explore the women who wrote pulp adventure?
C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett are essential; Andre Norton wrote prolifically
Want modern homages to classic pulp?
Philip José Farmer celebrated and expanded Burroughs' legacy explicitly
A practical note: many of these authors wrote prolifically. Don't feel obligated to read everything—dip in, try a book or series, see what clicks. The pulp tradition was about variety and volume. These writers produced unevenly because they were writing fast for monthly magazines. Find what works for you and enjoy it without guilt.
Also remember: these books weren't written to be great literature. They were written to be fun. Judge them on their own terms—do they entertain? Do they transport you? Do they deliver excitement? If yes, they've succeeded completely.
Now quit reading about adventure and go have some. Pick a book, any book from this list, and let yourself be transported to Mars, Venus, Hyborian Age, or wherever these authors want to take you. That's what Burroughs would want—not analysis, just adventure.
The exotic worlds are waiting. Time to explore.
