Edgar Rice Burroughs

“ Such dreams! Always of Mars, and
during my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red
Planet when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution
of the seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earthman
for ages.
Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it clung to me all during
my training camp days, and at night, on the deck of the transport, I
would lie on my back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle--
my god--and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be drawn across
the great void to the haven of my desire. ”

“ I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually losing enough
to put me out of my misery in a short time if I were not soon found;
and as I lay there on my back, tortured with pain, I prayed that they
would not come in time, for I shrank more from the thought of going
maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of death.
Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright red eye of Mars and
there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. ”

“ I found myself dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of
Tars Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities of my own
experience rather than the figments of your imagination.
It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation there was little
time for dreaming, yet there were brief moments before sleep claimed me
at night and these were my dreams. ”