The City of the Beast or Warriors of Mars

Given the negative connotations associated with ‘pulp' fiction, I had unfortunately low expectations coming into this book. It turned out to be a great read. This book epitomizes the idea of ‘escapist literature'. The story was fast paced, remarkably intelligent (especially considering the main character is skilled in sword fighting and ends up on ancient Mars due to a failed physics experiment). The level of description is enough to rival a TV show, with interesting (though admittedly 2 dimensional) characters. Highly recommended if you want to see where SF and Fantasy came from, and why they're both still popular today.