''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction

fix-up A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...

novel, published in 1950, by American writer

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

that chronicles the exploration and settlement of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, the home of

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth that is eventually devastated by nuclear war.

Synopsis

The book projects American society immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

into a technologically advanced future where the amplification of humanity's potentials to create and destroy have both miraculous and devastating consequences. Events in the chronicle include the apocalyptic destruction of both Martian and human civilizations, both instigated by humans, though there are no stories with settings at the catastrophes. The outcomes of many stories raise concerns about the values and direction of America of the time by addressing

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

, science, technology, and war time prosperity that could result in a global nuclear war (e.g., " There Will Come Soft Rains" and " The Million-Year Picnic"); depopulation that might be considered

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

(e.g., " The Third Expedition", " —And the Moon Be Still as Bright" and " The Musicians"); racial oppression and exploitation (e.g., "

Way in the Middle of the Air Way may refer to: Paths * a road, route, path or pathway, including long-distance paths. * a straight rail or track on a machine tool, (such as that on the bed of a lathe) on which part of the machine slides * Ways, large slipway in shipbuildin ...

");

ahistoricism Ahistoricism refers to a lack of concern for history, historical development, or tradition. Charges of ahistoricism are frequently critical, implying that the subject is historically inaccurate or ignorant (for example, an ''ahistorical'' attitud ...

philistinism In the fields of philosophy and of aesthetics, the term philistinism describes the attitudes, habits, and characteristics of a person who deprecates art and beauty, spirituality and intellect.''Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the ...

, and hostility towards religion (e.g., " —And the Moon Be Still as Bright"); and censorship and conformity (e.g., " Usher II"), among others. On Bradbury's award of a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 2007, the book was recognized as one of his "masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime."

Structure and plot summary

Fix-up structure

''The Martian Chronicles'' is a

novel consisting of previously-published short stories along with new short bridge narratives in the form of

interstitial An interstitial space or interstice is a space between structures or objects. In particular, interstitial may refer to: Biology * Interstitial cell tumor * Interstitial cell, any cell that lies between other cells * Interstitial collagenase ...

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

intercalary chapter An intercalary chapter (also called an inner chapter, inserted chapter, or interchapter) is a chapter in a novel or novella that is relevant to the theme, but does not involve the main characters or further the plot. Intercalary chapters often tak ...

s, or expository narratives. The previously-published stories were revised for consistency of the overall story line and refinement. ''The Martian Chronicles'' may at first appear to be a planned short story cycle; however, Bradbury did not specifically write ''The Martian Chronicles'' as a singular work – rather, its creation as a novel was suggested to Bradbury by a publisher's editor years after most of the stories had already appeared in many different publications (see Publication history and original publication notes under Contents). In responding to the suggestion, the 29-year-old Bradbury was shocked by the idea that he had already written a novel and remembers saying: "Oh, my God... I read '' Winesburg, Ohio'' by

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

when I was 24 and I said to myself, 'Oh God, wouldn't it be wonderful if someday I could write a book as good as this but put it on the planet Mars.'". (See the Influences section on literary influences affecting the works's structure.)

Chronicle structure

''The Martian Chronicles'' is written as a chronicle, each story presented as a chapter within an overall chronological ordering of the plot. Overall, the chronicle can be viewed as three extended episodes or parts, punctuated by two apocalyptic events. Events in the original edition of the book ranged from 1999 to 2026. As 1999 approached in real life, the dates in the book were advanced by thirty-one years in the 1997 edition. The summary that follows includes the dates of both editions. * The first part covering two and a half years from January 1999/2030 to June 2001/2032 consists of seven chapters about four exploratory missions from the United States during which humans and Martians discover each other. The efforts of Martians to repel the human explorers ends in catastrophe when

chicken pox Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...

brought to Mars by humans kills almost all Martians. Two of the chapters are original works for the fix-up. * The second part covers four and a half years from August 2001/2032 to December 2005/2036 and consists of sixteen chapters in the first edition and seventeen in the 1997 edition. It is about the human colonizers of Mars, including human contact with the few surviving Martians, the preoccupation of the emigrants with making Mars like America on Earth, and the return of all settlers but seven to Earth as war on Earth threatens. All of the settlers are from the United States, and the settlements are administered by the United States' government. A global war on Earth ensues, and contact between Mars and Earth ends. Eleven of the chapters are original works for the first edition and thirteen for the 1997 edition. * The third part, covering six months from April 2026/2057 to October 2026/2057, is three chapters about the remaining Martian settlers and the occurrence and aftermath of global nuclear war on Earth that eliminates human civilization there, and the few humans who manage to flee Earth and settle on Mars. None of the chapters are original works for the fix-up.

Publication history

The creation of ''The Martian Chronicles'' by weaving together previous works was suggested to the author by New York City representatives of

Doubleday & Company Doubleday is an American publishing company. It was founded as the Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897 and was the largest in the United States by 1947. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and distributed th ...

in 1949 after

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...

recommended Bradbury travel to the city to be "'discovered'". The work was subsequently published in hardbound form by Doubleday in the United States in 1950. Publication of the book was concurrent with the publication of Bradbury's short story, " There Will Come Soft Rains" that appeared in '' Collier's'' magazine. The short story appears as a chapter in the novel, though with some differences. The novel has been reprinted numerous times by many different publishers since 1950. The Spanish language version of ''The Martian Chronicles'', '' Crónicas Marcianas'', was published in Argentina concurrently with the U.S. first edition, and included of all the chapters contained in the U.S. edition. The edition included a foreword by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

. The book was published in the United Kingdom under the title ''The Silver Locusts'' (1951), with slightly different contents. In some editions the story "The Fire Balloons" was added, and the story "Usher II" was removed to make room for it. The book was published in 1963 as part of the

Time Reading Program The Time Reading Program (TRP) was a book sales club run by Time–Life, the publisher of ''Time magazine'', from 1962 through 1966. ''Time'' was known for its magazines, and nonfiction book series' published under the Time-Life imprint, while the T ...

with an introduction by

Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...

. In 1979, Bantam Books published a trade paperback edition with illustrations by Ian Miller. As 1999 approached, the fictional future written into the first edition was in jeopardy, so the work was revised and a 1997 edition was published to advance all of the dates by 31 years (with the plot running from 2030 to 2057 instead of 1999 to 2026). The 1997 edition added " November 2033: The Fire Balloons" and " May 2034: The Wilderness", and omitted "

", a story considered less topical in 1997 than 1950. The 1997 edition of ''Crónicas Marcianas'' included the same revisions as the U.S. 1997 edition. In 2009, the Subterranean Press and

PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther.The Other Martian Tales'' section of this article.)

Bradbury called the table of contents for ''The Martian Chronicles'' "Chronology" with each item formatted with the date of the story followed by a colon followed by the story title. The title of each chapter in the first edition was the corresponding line in "Chronology". In the 1997 edition, chapter titles omitted the colons by printing the date and the story title on separate lines. The chapter titles that follow are formatted consistent with the "Chronology". The years are those appearing in the first edition followed by the year appearing in 1997 edition. Publication information concerning short stories published prior to their appearance in ''The Martian Chronicles'' is available in

Ray Bradbury short fiction bibliography This is a chronological list of short fiction by American writer Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked ...

January 1999/2030: Rocket Summer

Publication history

First appeared in '' The Martian Chronicles''. Not to be confused with the short story of the same name published in 1947.

Plot

"Rocket Summer" is a short vignette that describes the rocket launch of the first human expedition to Mars on a cold winter day in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

February 1999/2030: Ylla

Publication history

First published as "I'll Not Ask for Wine" in ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'', January 1, 1950.

Plot

Ylla, an unhappily married Martian, who, like all Martians, has telepathy, receives an impression of the human space traveler Nathaniel York. Ylla sings the 17th century song " Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" (with lyrics from the poem "

To Celia "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" is a popular old song, the lyrics of which are the poem " To Celia" by the English playwright Ben Jonson, first published in 1616. Lyrics After this song had been popular for almost two centuries, scholars beg ...

" by

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

), in English she doesn't understand. She has a romantic dream involving him, in which he takes her back to Earth. Her jealous husband, Yll, kills York and her memories fade.

August 1999/2030: The Summer Night

Publication history

First published as "The Spring Night" in ''

The Arkham Sampler ''The Arkham Sampler'' was an American fantasy and horror fiction magazine first published in Winter 1948. The headquarters was in Sauk City, Wisconsin. The magazine, edited by August Derleth, was the first of two magazines published by Arkham H ...

'', winter 1949.

Plot

An idyllic Martian summer night is disrupted when Martian adults and children spontaneously start to sing the words from English poems and children's rhymes they don't understand, including

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's " She Walks in Beauty" and " Old Mother Hubbard". The music, poems and rhymes emanate from astronauts aboard the Second Expedition's spaceship heading towards Mars. The Martians are terrified and sense that a terrible event will occur the next morning.

August 1999/2030: The Earth Men

Publication history

First published in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', August 1948.

Plot

The Second Expedition encounters members of a Martian community not far from their landing site. The Earth explorers, mistaken for delusional Martians, find themselves locked up in an

insane asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

March 2000/2031: The Taxpayer

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

A man named Pritchard believes he is entitled to be in the crew of the Third Expedition because he is a taxpayer. He doesn't want to be left on Earth because "there's going to be an atomic war."

April 2000/2031: The Third Expedition

Publication history

First published as "

Mars is Heaven! "Mars Is Heaven!" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, originally published in 1948 in ''Planet Stories''. "Mars Is Heaven!" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of t ...

" in ''

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readershi ...

'', fall 1948. The original short story was set in 1960. The story in '' The Martian Chronicles '' contains paragraph about medical treatments that slow the aging process, so that the characters can be traveling to Mars in 2000 but still remember the 1920s.

Plot

The Third Expedition find themselves lulled into a collective hallucination by the Martians and then killed by them. The ending leaves it ambiguous whether this was the plan of the Martians all along, or, given the telepathic origins of the hallucination and the way it was molded to their expectations and desires, Captain John Black accidentally willed it into being by coming to believe the hallucination was a trap for those perceived as invaders.

June 2001/2032: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright

Publication history

First published in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', June 1948.

Plot

Jeff Spender, a crew member with the Fourth Expedition, becomes repelled by the others' ugly American attitude as they explore a dead Martian city and begins to kill the others for their disrespect of the ruins.

August 2001/2032: The Settlers

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

"The Settlers" is a vignette that describes the "Lonely Ones", the first settlers of Mars, single men from the United States who are few in number.

December 2001/2032: The Green Morning

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...

concerning Benjamin Driscoll, who

Johnny Appleseed John Chapman (September 26, 1774March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern cou ...

-like, is an

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

who is threatened to be returned to Earth because he has difficulty breathing due to the thin Martian atmosphere. Driscoll believes Mars can be made more hospitable by planting trees to add more

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

to the atmosphere. Referencing this story, Driscoll Forest is a place named in " The Naming of Names".

February 2002/2033: The Locusts

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

A vignette describing the arrival of ninety thousand American

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Mars.

August 2002/2033: Night Meeting

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

"Night Meeting" is the story of Tomás Gomez, a young Latino construction worker on Mars, who drives his truck across an empty expanse between towns to attend a party, and his encounters along the way with an elderly gas station owner and a Martian who appears to him as a phantom. They each regard each other as a dream. The fearless Tomás Gomez reflects a common Mexican attitude toward death, which Bradbury understood. Prior to the publication of ''The Martian Chronicles'' in 1950, two of his short stories relating to the

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

were published in 1947 — "El Día de Muerte" set on the Day of the Dead in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and "The Next in Line" that was published in his book '' Dark Carnival'' about a visit to catacombs in a Mexican village which terrifies the American protagonist. Both stories were likely inspired by his learning about Mexican death rites during his own frightful experience on a 1945 trip to Mexico that included a visit in Guanajuato where he viewed

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...

October 2002/2033: The Shore

Plot

This vignette characterizes two successive groups of settlers as American emigrants who arrive in "waves" that "spread upon" the Martian "shore" – the first are the frontiersmen described in "The Settlers", and the second are men from the "cabbage

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

s and subways" of urban America.

November 2002/2033: The Fire Balloons

Publication history

The story first appeared as "…In This Sign" in '' Imagination'', April 1951 after publication of the first (1950) edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' and so, was included in the U.S. edition of ''

The Illustrated Man ''The Illustrated Man'' is a 1951 collection of 18 science fiction short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. A recurring theme throughout the stories is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people. It was ...

'' and in ''The Silver Locusts''. The story was included in the 1997 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'', though it appeared in earlier special editions – the 1974 edition from The Heritage Press, the September 1979 illustrated trade edition from Bantam Books, the "40th Anniversary Edition" from Doubleday Dell Publishing Group and in the 2001

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...

edition.

Plot

"The Fire Balloons" is a story about an Episcopal missionary expedition to cleanse Mars of

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

, consisting of priests from large American cities led by the Most Reverend Father Joseph Daniel Peregrine and his assistant Father Stone. Peregrine has a passionate interest in discovering the kinds of sins that may be committed by aliens reflected in his book, ''The Problem of Sin on Other Worlds''. Peregrine and Stone argue constantly about whether the mission should focus on cleansing humans or Martians. With the question unanswered, the priests travel to Mars aboard the spaceship ''

Crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

''. The launch of the rocket triggers Peregrine's memories as a young boy of the Fourth of July with his grandfather. After landing on Mars, Peregrine and Stone meet with the mayor of First City, who advises them to focus their mission on humans. The mayor tells the priests that the Martians look like blue "luminous globes of light" and they saved the life of an injured prospector working in a remote location by transporting him to a highway. The mayor's description of the Martians triggers Peregine's endearing memories of himself launching fire balloons with his grandfather on Independence Day. Peregrine decides to search for and meet Martians, and he and Stone venture into the hills where the prospector encountered them. The two priests are met by a thousand fire balloons. Stone is terrified and wants to return to First City while Peregrine is overwhelmed by their beauty, imagines his grandfather is there with him to admire them, and wants to converse with them, though the fire balloons disappear. The two priests immediately encounter a rock slide, which Stone believes they escaped by chance and Peregrine believes they were saved by Martians. The two argue their disagreement, and during the night while Stone is sleeping, Peregrine tests his faith in his hunch by throwing himself off a high cliff. As he falls, Peregrine is surrounded by blue light and is set safely on the ground. Peregrine tells Stone of the experience but Stone believes Peregrine was dreaming, so Peregrine takes a gun which he fires at himself and the bullets drop at his feet, convincing his assistant. Peregrine uses his authority to have the mission build a church in the hills for the Martians. The church is for outdoor services and is constructed after six days of work. A blue glass sphere is brought as a representation of Jesus for the Martians. On the seventh day, a Sunday, Peregrine holds a service in which he plays an organ and uses his thoughts to summon the Martians. The fire balloons, who call themselves the Old Ones, appear as glorious apparitions to the priests and communicate the story of their creation, their immortality, their normally solitary existences, and their pure virtuousness. They thank the priests for building the church and tell them they are unneeded and ask them to relocate to the towns to cleanse the people there. The fire balloons depart, which fills Peregrine with such overwhelming sadness that he wants to be lifted up like his grandfather did when he was a small child. The priests are convinced and withdraw to First Town along with the blue glass sphere that has started to glow from within. Peregrine and Stone believe the sphere is Jesus. Bradbury said he consulted a Catholic priest in Beverly Hills while he developed the plot for "Fire Balloons". In an interview, Bradbury recalled part of a day-long conversation: "'Listen, Father, how would you act if you landed on Mars and found intelligent creatures in the form of balls of fire? Would you think you ought to save them or would you think they were saved already?' 'Wow! That's a hell of a fine question!' the father exclaimed. And he told me what he would do. In short, what I make Father Peregrine do." Interpretation of "The Fire Balloons" has been called "ambiguous" because its meaning can be dramatically different due to the context set by the stories that accompany it. Its first appearance in the U.S. in 1951 was as a stand-alone story as "... In This Sign" and in ''The Illustrated Man'' that was concurrent with its first appearance in ''The Silver Locusts'' in the U.K. which included all of ''The Martian Chronicles'' stories with Martian characters. Within ''The Silver Locusts'' and the 1997 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' the strategy used by Martians in "The Fire Balloons" is implicit – they use their telepathic powers to peacefully keep settlers away from their mountains. As in "

Ylla Camilla "Ylla" Koffler ( hu, Koffler Kamilla; 16 August 1911 – 30 March 1955) was a Hungarian photographer who specialized in animal photography. At the time of her death she "was generally considered the most proficient animal photographer in ...

" the Martians understand Father Peregrine's fond memories of his grandfather and the Fourth of July celebrations they shared together involving fire balloons before and after the ''Crucifix'' lands on Mars. As in " The Earth Men", an elaborate, imaginary world is constructed, though in "The Fire Balloons" it is for the priests to convince them to cleanse humans of sin in First City. The appearance of Martians as fire balloons ends with the chapter.

February 2003/2034: Interim

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''. Not to be confused with the short horror story or "Time Intervening," which is also under that title.

Plot

A vignette describing how the Tenth City are built by colonists

April 2003/2034: The Musicians

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

Young boys defy their parents and habitually play in and among the otherwise unpopulated ruins of indigenous Martian towns where they perished in their homes. The Firemen methodically incinerate the remnants of Martian civilization and the bones of the Martians. The boys play amongst the relics and make Martian bones into musical instruments.

May 2003/2034: The Wilderness

Publication history

First appeared in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', November 1952. The story appears in the 1974 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' by The Heritage Press, the 1979 Bantam Books illustrated trade edition, and the 1997 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

, a woman, Janice Smith, expects a telephone call at midnight from her fiancée Will on Mars. He has already purchased a home on Mars identical to her home on Earth. His response after the long delay due to the distance to Mars is incomplete due to natural interference so, she only hears him say "love". Smith contemplates being a pioneer as the women before her, and then falls asleep for the last time on Earth.

June 2003: Way in the Middle of the Air

Publication history

First appeared in the first edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' and not included in the 1997 edition. The work later appeared in the July 1950 issue of '' Other Worlds Science Stories'' after five major magazines rejected the manuscript drafted in 1948. Bradbury explained that the drafting of "Way in the Middle of the Air" was a common way he used writing to address his emotional state affecting him at a moment. He recalled in a 1962 interview that he was so upset about the circumstances of African-Americans in the United States that "I put them in rocket ships and send them off to Mars, in a short story, to rid myself of that tension". Publication of "Way in the Middle of the Air" in 1950 was groundbreaking for a science fiction story even though the work is considered limited by providing only the viewpoint of white Americans. According to Isiah Lavender III, "Bradbury is one of the very few authors in cience fictionwho dared to consider the effects and consequences of race in America at a time when racism was sanctioned by the culture." Even with the story's limitations, Robert Crossley suggested that it might be considered "the single most incisive episode of black and white relations in science fiction by a white author."

Plot

"Way in the Middle of the Air" is the story about Samuel Teece, a white racist and

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

hardware store owner in an unnamed town in the

Jim Crow era The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the So ...

American South of 2003, and his efforts to dissuade the African-Americans in the town area from emigrating to Mars. Teece and a group of white men sit on the porch of his hardware store when they see a flood of black families and others marching into town with their belongings. One of the men tells Teece that the entire community has decided to leave for Mars. Teece is incensed and declares that the governor and militia should be contacted because the migrants should have notified everyone in advance before departing. As the migrants pass the store, Teece's wife, accompanied by the wives of other men on the porch, asks her husband to come home to prevent their house servant, Lucinda, from leaving. Mrs. Teece says she couldn't convince Lucinda from leaving after offering an increase in pay and two nights a week off, and said she didn't understand her decision because she thought Lucinda loved her. Teece restrains himself from beating his wife, and orders her to go back home. She obeys, and after she's gone he takes his gun out and threatens to kill any migrant who laughs. The march continues quietly through town toward the rocket launch site. Teece sees black man, Belter, and threatens to horsewhip him because Belter owes him fifty dollars. Belter tells Teece that he forgot about the debt, and Teece tells Belter that he shouldn't leave because his rocket will explode but Belter responds that he doesn't care. Teece calls Belter "Mister Way in the Middle of the Air" taken from the lyrics of the negro spiritual "

Ezekiel Saw the Wheel "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" is an African American spiritual arranged by William L. Dawson. It has been recorded by such artists as Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson, John Lee Hooker, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Tillers, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, The ...

" about a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

of the prophet Ezekiel that occurred in the sky. After Belter begs Teece to let him depart for Mars, an old man among the migrants passes his hat around and quickly collects fifty dollars in donations from other migrants and gives it to Belter, who gives it to Teece and leaves. Teece is enraged and waves his gun at the migrants and threatens to shoot their rockets down one by one. The men on Teece's porch ponder the reason for the mass migration mentioning advances in civil rights like elimination of the poll tax, some states enacting anti-lynching laws, "all kinds of equal rights", and that the wages of black men are nearly on par with white men. After almost all of the migrants have passed through town, Silly, Teece's seventeen year old black employee, comes to the porch to return Teece's bicycle Silly uses for deliveries. Teece shoves Silly off the machine and orders Silly to go inside the hardware store and start working. Silly doesn't move and Teece pulls out a contract he says Silly signed with an "X" that requires the boy to "give four weeks notice and continue working until his position is filled". Silly says he didn't sign a contract and Teece responds by saying he will treat the boy well. Silly asks one of the white men on the porch if one of them will take his place and Grandpa Quartermain volunteers so Silly can leave. Teece claims Silly as his and says he'll lock the boy in the back room until the evening. Silly starts to cry and then three other men on the porch tell Teece to let Silly go. Teece feels for the gun in his pocket and then relents. Silly cleans out his shed at the store on orders from Teece and departs the store in an old car. As Silly leaves, he asks Teece what he is going to do at night when all the black people are gone. After the car drives away, Teece figures out that Silly was asking about lynchings Teece participated in, and gets his open-top car to chase down Silly and kill him. Quartermain volunteers to drive, and in their pursuit a tire goes flat after running over cast off belongings that migrants abandoned onto the road. Teece returns to his store where men are watching rockets shooting up into the sky. Teece refuses to watch and proudly comments that Silly addressed him as "Mister" to the very end.

2004–2005/2035–2036: The Naming of Names

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''. (Not to be confused with the short story "The Naming of Names", first published in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', August 1949, later published as " Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed".)

Plot

"The Naming of Names" is a short vignette about the names of places on Mars being given American names that memorialize the crews of the four exploratory expeditions, or "mechanical" or "metal" names, which replace the Martian names that were for geographic features and things in nature. The vignette also describes tourists who visit Mars and shop, and describes the next wave of emigrants as "sophisticates" and people who "instruct" and "rule" and "push" other people about.

April 2005/2036: Usher II

Publication history

First published as ''Carnival of Madness'' in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', April 1950. In 2010, Los Angeles artist Allois, in collaboration with Bradbury, released illustrated copies of "Usher" and "Usher II". The story also appeared in the 2008 Harper Collins/ Voyager edition of ''

''.

Plot

"Usher II" is a horror story and homage to

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

about the wealthy William Stendahl and the house he built to murder his enemies. The story begins with Stendahl's meeting with Mr. Bigelow, his architect, to perform a final check-out for the completion of his newly built house. Stendahl reads Bigelow architectural specifications taken directly from the description of the House of Usher from the text of Poe's "

The Fall of the House of Usher "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''Burton's Gentleman's Magazine'', then included in the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840. The short story ...

". Stendahl is satisfied and refers to the house as, The House of Usher. The owner is angered that Bigelow doesn't know anything of or about Poe and sends him away. Bigelow's ignorance is innocent because for decades, anything "produced in any way suggesting ... any creature of the imagination" has been outlawed, including books, many of which were confiscated and burned in the Great Fire thirty 5 years earlier, including Stendahl's own fifty thousand book library. Stendahl is visited by Mr. Garrett, an investigator of Moral Climates, who immediately tells Stendahl that he will have his place dismantled and burned later that day. Stendahl tells Garrett that he spent a huge sum of money for the house and invites the investigator inside for additional information for his investigative report. During the tour, Garrett experiences an automated horror fantasy world, and finds the place "deplorable" as well as a work of genius. Garrett is met by a robot ape that Stendahl demonstrates is a robot and then orders it to kill Garrett. Stendahl has his assistant Pikes, who he regards as the greatest horror film actor ever when such films were made, construct a robot replica of Garrett to return to Moral Climates to delay any action affecting the house for forty-eight hours. Stendahl and Pikes send invitations out to their enemies for a party later that evening. About thirty guests arrive at Stendahl's party. Upon greeting them, he tells them to enjoy themselves because the house will be soon be destroyed, though Pikes interrupts and shows Stendahl the remnants of Garrett, which are the parts of a robot. They first panic and then Stendahl figures the real Garrett will come to visit since they sent a robot back, and very soon Garrett appears and informs Stendahl that the Dismantlers will arrive in an hour. Stendahl tells Garrett to enjoy the party and offers him some wine that is politely refused. Garrett and Miss Pope then observe Miss Blunt being strangled by an ape and her corpse being stuffed up a chimney. Another laughing Miss Blunt comforts Miss Pope by telling her that what she saw killed was a robot replica of herself. Stendahl serves Garrett wine which he drinks. Garrett watches additional killings performed in a similar manner that he remembers from Poe's " The Premature Burial", "

The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual ''The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843''. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of ...

", and one other from "

The Murders in the Rue Morgue "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". C. Auguste Du ...

". Stendahl serves Garrett more wine which is consumed and asks the investigator if he would like to see what is planned for him. Garrett agrees and is treated as the character Fortunato from Poe's "

The Cask of Amontillado "The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado" ) is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of ''Godey's Lady's Book''. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at ca ...

". After Stendahl and Pikes have disposed of all their guests, they leave in a helicopter and, from above, watch the house break apart like the one in Poe's story.

August 2005/2036: The Old Ones

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

"The Old Ones" is a short vignette that describes the last wave of emigrants to Mars – elderly Americans. The title does not refer to the Martians in "The Fire Balloons".

September 2005/2036: The Martian

Publication history

First published in ''

Super Science Stories ''Super Science Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine published by Popular Publications from 1940 to 1943, and again from 1949 to 1951. Popular launched it under their Fictioneers imprint, which they used for magazines, payin ...

'', November 1949.

Plot

"The Martian" is the story about an elderly married couple, LaFarge and Anna, who encounter a Martian who wants to live with them as their fourteen-year-old son, Tom, even though Tom died of pneumonia many years before. On a rainy night, Lafarge mentions his grief for Tom to Anna, who asks him to "forget him and everything on Earth". They go to bed but before they can sleep they respond to a knock at their front door and find a boy who looks like Tom there. Anna is afraid but LaFarge thinks of the boy as Tom. Anna tells the boy to leave and asks her husband to lock the door, but LaFarge tells the boy that he can enter the house if he wants to and shuts the door unlocked. The next morning, LaFarge finds the boy bathing in the canal adjacent to his house while his wife treats the boy as her son with no discernible sign of concern or doubt. LaFarge asks the boy to give his true identity and guesses he is a Martian. The boy asks to be accepted and not to be doubted, and then runs away. Anna becomes distressed as she sees the boy running away, and LaFarge asks his wife if she remembers anything about Tom's death. Anna responds that she doesn't know what he's talking about. The boy returns late in the afternoon and makes an agreement with LaFarge on not asking any more questions. The boy says he was almost "trapped" by a man living in a tin shack by the canal after he ran away. After the boy leaves LaFarge to prepare for suppertime, Saul in a canal boat tells LaFarge that Nomland, the man living in the tin shack known to have murdered a man named Gillings on Earth, said Nomland saw Gillings that afternoon and tried to lock himself in the jail, and when he couldn't, went home and shot himself dead only twenty minutes earlier. LaFarge asks the boy what he did during the afternoon, and the boy responds, "Nothing" and LaFarge stops the questioning. LaFarge, Anna, and the boy leave the house on a canal boat over fearful objections of the boy. The boy falls asleep in the boat and talks in his sleep about "changing" and "the trap" which the couple don't understand. Soon after they arrive in the town and start to meet numerous people, the boy runs off. Anna is distressed and Tom reassures her that the boy will return before they leave. The couple buys theater tickets and return to the canal boat late at night when the entertainment ends, but the boy is not there. LaFarge goes into town to find the boy and meets Mike who tells him that Joe Spaulding and his wife found their daughter, Lavinia, on Main Street while buying their theater tickets. LaFarge goes to the Spaulding's house and finds Lavinia, though he calls her Tom, and asks Lavinia to come back to him and Anna. LaFarge makes a fatherly commitment and Lavinia leaves with LaFarge, though the departure is detected and her father shoots at them and misses. As they flee, LaFarge sends the boy off in a different direction to rendezvous at the canal boat where Anna awaits. As the boy runs through town his appearance changes to a figure that is recognizable to each person who sees him. The boy makes it to the boat where LaFarge and Anna await, but Joe Spaulding has a gun and stops their departure. The boy steps off the boat and Spaulding takes his wrist while all the people around him claim the boy is theirs. As the crowd argues, the boy sickens and screams as his appearance changes rapidly and uncontrollably from one recognizable figure to a person in the crowd to another, and then dies. It starts to rain again. LaFarge and Anna return home and go to bed. At midnight, LaFarge hears something at the door, opens it to a rainy night and watches the empty yard for five minutes before locking the door shut.

November 2005/2036: The Luggage Store

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

"The Luggage Store" is a short dialogue between Father Peregrine and the elderly owner of a

luggage Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...

store. The proprietor tells Peregrine that he heard on the radio that there will be a war on Earth, looks at Earth in the night sky, and tells the priest he finds the news incredible. Peregrine changes the proprietor's mind by telling him that news of war is unbelievable because Earth is so far away. The shop owner tells the priest of the hundred thousand new emigrants expected in the coming months and Peregrine comments that the travelers will be needed on Earth and that they'll probably be turning back. The proprietor tells the priest that he'd better prepare his luggage for a quick sale after which the priest asks if the owner thinks all the emigrants on Mars will return to Earth. The owner believes so because the emigrants haven't been on Mars for long, except for himself because he is so old. Peregrine tells the shopkeeper that he's wrong about staying on Mars. The owner is convinced again by the priest, and Peregrine buys a new valise to replace his old one.

November 2005/2036: The Off Season

Publication history

First published in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', December 1948.

Plot

"The Off Season" is the story of former Fourth Expedition crewman Sam Parkhill, who is a character in " —And The Moon Be Still As Bright", and his wife Elma, and their encounters with Martians as they prepare to open the first

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

stand on Mars, which is decorated with glass Sam broke off old Martian buildings. The Parkhills hope to become wealthy because one hundred thousand new emigrants are expected to arrive to establish Earth Settlement 101 nearby, though Elma points out that the new inhabitants will be Mexican and Chinese nationals. The couple is unaware that Earth is on the brink of global war because their radio is broken. During the evening, the Parkhills are approached by a Martian they spoke to earlier that day. The Martian learns the Parkhills don't know about the situation on Earth and as the Martian says he wants to show Sam a bronze tube that appears in the Martian's hand. Sam shoots the Martian dead with a gun believing the tube is a weapon. However, Elma discovers the tube contains a document written with Martian hieroglyphics neither of them understand. As Sam tells Elma that the Earth Settlement will protect him from Martians, Elma sees twelve Martian sand ships approaching and Sam believes the Martians want to kill him. Sam takes Elma onto a Martian sand ship he purchased at an auction and learned to operate, and takes off to a town for protection. As Sam's sand ship sails, a young woman appears on the ship's tiller bench. The woman, a vision, tells Sam to return to the hot dog stand. Sam refuses and tells the women to get off his ship. The vision argues that the ship isn't his and claims it as part of the Martian world. Sam shoots the vision and it vanishes after breaking into crystals and vaporizing. Elma is disappointed in Sam and asks him to stop the ship, but Sam refuses. In frustration and to display his might, Sam destroys the crystal ruins of a Martian city by shooting them as the sand ship passes by, though Elma is unimpressed and then falls unconscious. As Sam readies to shoot up another Martian city, three sand ships catch up with him. Sam shoots at them and one ship disintegrates and vaporizes along with its crew. As the two other ships approach Sam's, he gives up by stopping his ship. A Martian calls him, and Sam explains himself and surrenders by throwing down his gun. The Martian tells him to retrieve his gun and return to the hot dog stand where they want to explain something without harming him. Elma wakes up on the journey back. Back at the hot dog stand, the Martian Leader tells the Parkhills to ready it for operation and to have a celebration. The Leader produces the scrolls which he explains are grants to Sam that sum to half of the entire planet. Sam asks the Leader for an explanation for the gift but the Martians announce their departure and tell him to "prepare" and repeat that the land is his. Sam believes the Martians were telling him the rockets with the new emigrants are arriving, so Sam and Elma start preparing hot dogs. As they prepare food, Sam thinks of the hungry emigrants to feed and botches recitation of

Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet " The New Colossus", which was inspire ...

' poem "

The New Colossus "The New Colossus" is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''). In 1903, the poem was cast ...

" which is on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty in Sam's hometown, New York City. Elma looks at Earth in the night sky and sees an explosion on the planet that gains Sam's attention. Elma tells Sam she believes no customers will be coming to the hot dog stand for a million years. In " —And the Moon Be Still as Bright", the bodies of dead Martians are corpses. Sam Parkhill's shooting of the Martians dead at his hot dog stand and on his sand ship are illusions projected by one or more Martians somewhere else.

November 2005/2036: The Watchers

Publication history

First appeared in ''The Martian Chronicles''. Not to be confused with the 1945 short story of the same name.

Plot

"The Watchers" is a short vignette about the concerns of the Martian colonists, who are all Americans, about reports of war on Earth. At nine o'clock in the night sky, they view an explosion that changes the color of Earth, though, three hours later the color returns to normal. At two o'clock in the morning, colonists receive a message that war had begun, that a stockpile of nuclear weapons "prematurely" detonated destroying the Australian continent, and that Los Angeles and London had been bombed. The message said "come home" repeatedly without explanation. The proprietor of a luggage store, who is a character in "The Luggage Store", sells out of stock early in the morning, as colonists prepare to return to Earth.

December 2005/2036: The Silent Towns

Publication history

First published in ''Charm'', March 1949.

Plot

"The Silent Towns" is a story about thirty year old Walter Gripp, a miner who lived in a remote mountain shack and walked to the town of Marlin Village every two weeks to find a wife. On his December visit Gripp finds the town abandoned and happily helps himself to money, food, clothing, movies, and other luxuries, but soon realizes he's lonely. As he walks to return to his shack, Gripp hears a phone ringing in an abandoned house but he can't reach it soon enough to communicate with the caller. He hears a telephone ringing in another house and misses the call and realizes he expects the caller to be a woman. In the abandoned home, he obtains a colony

telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that ...

and starts calling the listed numbers in alphabetal order but stops after contacting a woman's automated message service. Gripps tries his luck with telephone exchanges and government and public institutions, and then places where he thinks a woman would take herself. Gripp calls the biggest beauty parlor in New Texas City and reaches Genevieve Selsor but is cut off. He finds a car and drives a thousand miles to the Deluxe Beauty Salon, fantasizing about Selsor along the way. Gripp can't find Selsor there and believes she drove to Marlin Village to find him, so he returns and finds Selsor at a beauty parlor holding a box of cream chocolates. Gripps finds the twenty-seven-year old physically unattractive and suffers while they watch a

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

movie together after which she pours perfume into her hair. They return to the beauty parlor and Selsor declares herself as "last lady on Mars" and Gripp as the last man and presents him with a box containing a wedding dress. Gripp flees, driving across Mars to another tiny town to spend his life happily alone and ignoring any phone he hears ringing.

April 2026/2057: The Long Years

Publication history

First published in ''

'', September 15, 1948.

Plot

"The Long Years" is the story of the last days of the life of Hathaway, the physician/geologist crewman from the Fourth Expedition's story " —And the Moon Still Be As Bright". At night during a windstorm, Hathaway visits four graves on a hill away from his family's hut and asks the dead for forgiveness for what he's done because he was lonely. As he returns to the hut, he spots a rocket approaching. He tells the family of the "good news" of a rocket arrival in the morning. He goes to the nearby ruins of New New York City and sets it ablaze as a location for the rocket to land. Hathaway returns to the hut to serve wine to his family in celebration. He reminisces about missing all the rockets evacuating colonists from Mars when the Great War started because he and his whole family were doing archaeological work in the mountains. As his wife and three children drink their wine it all just runs down their chins. In the morning, the family prepares to greet whoever is in the rocket ship, including a great breakfast. As the rocket lands, Hathaway suffers an angina attack while running toward it. He recovers and continues on. Wilder, who was captain of the Fourth Expedition, emerges, sees Hathaway and greets him. Wilder explains that he's been on a twenty-year mission to the outer solar system; reports that he surveyed Mars before landing and found only one other person, Walter Gripp, who decided to stay on Mars, Wilder ponders with Hathaway the fate of Earth; and agrees to take Hathaway and his family on his return to Earth. Hathaway compliments Wilder on his promotion to lead the twenty-year mission so that Wilder would not slow the development of Mars. Wilder orders his crew out of the spaceship to join Hathaway's family. On their way to the family hut, Hathaway updates Wilder on the Fourth Expedition's crewmen. Hathway tells Wilder that he visits Jeff Spender's tomb annually to pay his respects, and about Sam Parkhill's hot dog stand which was abandoned a week after opening to return to Earth. Wilder observes Hathaway in physical distress and has his physician crewman check Hathaway. Hathaway tells Wilder that he has stayed alive just to await rescue and now that Wilder has arrived he can die. The doctor gives him a pill and then says what he just spoke was "nonsense". Hathway recovers and continues on to the family hut. At the hut, Hathaway introduces his family to the crew. Wilder is struck by how young Hathaway's wife appears, given that he met her decades earlier, and he compliments her on her youthfulness. Wilder asks John, Hathaway's son, his age, and John answers twenty-three. Crewman Williamson tells Wilder that John is supposed to be forty-two. Wilder sends Williamson off to investigate on the pretense of checking up on their rocket. Williamson returns to report that he found the graves of Hathaway's wife and children, and that the gravestones said that they died of an unknown disease during July 2007/2038. As breakfast ends, Hathaway stands and toasts the crew and his family, and as soon he is done he collapses and knows that he will soon be dead. Wilder wants to call the family in to see Hathaway, but Hathaway stops him. Hathaway says they won't understand and wouldn't want them to understand, and then dies. Wilder converses with Hathaway's wife and concludes that she and the children are all androids, created by Hathaway to keep him company after his wife and children died. The crew buries Hathaway in his family's graveyard. As Wilder prepares to depart, Williamson asks Wilder about what should be done about the android family and specially asks whether they should be deactivated. Wilder rejects taking them to Earth and says deactivation never crossed his mind. Wilder hands Williamson a gun and tells the crewman that if he can do anything it is better than anything he can do. Williamson goes into the hut and returns to Wilder reporting that he pointed the gun at an android daughter, who responded by smiling, and that he felt shooting them would be "murder". Wilder speculates the androids could operate for up to two more centuries. The rocket departs, and the android family continues on with its endless routines, that includes, for no reason at all, the android wife nightly looking up at Earth in the sky and tending a fire.

August 2026/2057: There Will Come Soft Rains

Publication history

First published in '' Collier's'', May 6, 1950, and revised for inclusion in ''The Martian Chronicles''.

Plot

An unoccupied, highly automated house of the McClellan family that stands and operates intact in a California city that is otherwise obliterated by a nuclear bomb, and its destruction by a fire caused by a windstorm. The story marks the end of the United States as a nation. The story also commemorates the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

atomic bombing of Hiroshima The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

on August 5, 1945 (US time) during

. The title of the story was taken from

Sara Teasdale Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1884January 29, 1933) was an American lyric poet. She was born Sarah Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger after her marriage in 1914. In 1918 she won a Pulitzer Prize for he ...

's anti-war poem " There Will Come Soft Rains" originally published in 1918 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

1918 Flu Pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

October 2026/2057: The Million-Year Picnic

Publication history

First published in ''

'', summer 1946.

Plot

"The Million-Year Picnic" is the story of William Thomas, a former governor of the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and Alice, his wife, and three sons, who traveled to Mars to escape war under the parents' pretense that the family is taking a fishing trip. Alice is not noticeably pregnant with a girl. The family enjoys a warm Martian summer day in and along water-filled canals traveling in a power boat prepared for an encampment. William is troubled by the war on Earth and does his best to keep the children entertained though he mutters his concerns as stray thoughts his children don't completely comprehend. William draws the boys' attention on fish, the ancient Martian cities they pass by, and on finding Martians – the latter, William assures the boys that they will find. While boating in a canal William and his wife listen to a broadcast on their atomic radio and are jolted by what they hear. William remotely detonates the family's rocket that causes a great sound, throttles the boat faster to drown out the noise and collides with a wharf and stops. No damage is done and William laughingly tells everyone he just exploded their rocket. The boys instantly think it is part of a game. William tells the boys he did it to keep their location secret, and the boys think it is still part of a game. William listens in on the atomic radio again and hears nothing for a couple of minutes. He tells the family, "It's over at last" and the children fall silent. William boats down the canal where they pass six Martian cities and asks the family to choose the best one. They all choose the last one and William declares that it will be their new home. The boys are saddened to tears about missing Minnesota but the father tells the boys that the Martian city is theirs and the boys become filled with a sense of adventure. The family walks through their new city and William tells the family that they will be joined by Bert Edward's family that includes four girls. He tells his son Timothy that he destroyed the rocket to prevent them from returning to Earth and to leave no trace for "evil men" from Earth to find them. The family settles around a campfire and William explains how he purchased the rocket when the Great War started and hid it in case he needed to escape Earth, as Edwards did too. The father burns in a campfire a variety of documents, including government bonds, he brought to Mars to burn "a way of life". While he burns his papers, he tells his sons that Earth has been destroyed, that interplanetary travel has ended, that people grew too dependent on technology and couldn't manage its war time use, and that the way of life on Earth "proved itself wrong" through its own self-destruction. He warns his sons that he will tell them the last point everyday until they really understand it. William finishes burning his papers, saving a map of Earth for last. William takes the family to the canal and tells the children that they will be taught what they need to learn and that they are going to see Martians. William stops at the canal and points to the family's reflection in the water.

Influences

Fascination with Mars, the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and comics

Bradbury's fascination with Mars started when he was a child, including depictions of Mars in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''

The Gods of Mars ''The Gods of Mars'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and the second of Burroughs' Barsoom series. It features the characters of John Carter and Carter's wife Dejah Thoris. It was first published in ''The All-S ...

'' and ''John Carter, Warrior of Mars''. Burroughs' influence on the author was immense, as Bradbury believed "Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world." Bradbury said that as a child, he memorized all of John Carter and

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

and repeated the stories to anyone who would listen. Harold Foster's 1931 series of

Sunday comics The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

had such an impact on his life that "''The Martian Chronicles'' would never have happened" otherwise.

Literary influences

Ray Bradbury referred to ''The Martian Chronicles'' as "a book of stories pretending to be a novel". He credited a diverse set of literary influences that had an effect on the structure and literary style of ''The Martian Chronicles'', among them

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet-diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative ...

, and John Steinbeck, as well as Edgar Rice Burroughs, particularly the Barsoom stories and

John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabita ...

books. Bradbury was particularly inspired by plot and character development in Sherwood Anderson's '' Winesburg, Ohio'' that helped him write "vivid and real" stories that improved his earlier writings that were "lifeless robots, mechanical and motionless". The author said the stories took their form as combinations of component "Martian pensées" which were "Shakespearian 'asides,' wandering thoughts, long night visions, predawn half-dreams" honed in a manner inspired by the perfection of Saint-John Perse. The combination of separate stories to create ''The Martian Chronicles'' as "a half-cousin to a novel" was a suggestion of Doubleday editor Walter Bradbury (no relation to the author), who paid Ray Bradbury $750 for the outline of the book. The author only then realized such a book would be comparable to his idea of ''Winesburg, Ohio''. For his approach to integrating previous work into a novel, Bradbury credited

's ''Winesburg, Ohio'' and John Steinbeck's ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...

'' as influences on the structure of the work. ''Winesburg, Ohio'' is a short story cycle, and ''The Grapes of Wrath'' separates narrative chapters with narrative expositions that serve as

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

s to subsequent narrative chapters. The idea of using short vignettes, intercalary chapters, and expository narratives to connect the full-length ''Chronicle'' stories, their role in the overall work, and the literary style used to write them, Bradbury said were "subconsciously borrowed" from those in ''The Grapes of Wrath'', which he first read at age nineteen, the year the novel was published.

Reception

Upon publication, ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...

'' noted that "''The Martian Chronicles'' ... was embraced by the science-fiction community as well as critics, a rare achievement for the genre. Christopher Isherwood hailed Bradbury as 'truly original' and a 'very great and unusual talent'." Isherwood argued that Bradbury's works were "tales of the grotesque and arabesque" and compared them to the works of

by writing, Bradbury "already deserves to be measured against the greatest master of his particular genre." Writer and critic

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

and critic J. Francis McComas praised ''Chronicles'' as "a poet's interpretation of future history beyond the limits of any fictional form". The writer L. Sprague de Camp, however, declared that Bradbury would improve "when he escapes from the influence of

Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fi ...

and Saroyan", placing him in "the tradition of anti-science-fiction writers hosee no good in the machine age". Still, de Camp acknowledged that " radbury'sstories have considerable emotional impact, and many will love them". A decade of after its publication,

Damon Knight Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of " To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind t ...

in his "Books" column for ''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', listed ''The Martian Chronicles'' on his top-ten science fiction books of the 1950s. By September 1979 more than three million copies of ''The Martian Chronicles'' had been sold.

Legacy

Continued popularity of ''The Martian Chronicles''

On November 28, 1964, the NASA spacecraft

Mariner 4 Mariner 4 (together with Mariner 3 known as Mariner-Mars 1964) was the fourth in a series of spacecraft intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode. It was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit the ...

flew by Mars and took the first close-up pictures of the Martian surface that were far different than those described by Ray Bradbury. In spite of direct visual and scientific information since then that indicate Mars is nothing like Bradbury's descriptions in ''The Martian Chronicles'', the novel remains a popular work of "classic short stories", "science fiction", and "classic fiction anthologies and collections" as indicated by the Amazon book store best seller lists. In an introduction to a 2015 edition of the work, Canadian astronaut and former

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

commander Chris Hadfield speculated on the continuing popularity of the work, attributing it to beautiful descriptions of the Martian landscape, its ability to "challenge and inspire" the reader to reflect on humanity's history of related follies and failures, and the popular idea that someday some people will come to accept Mars as being their permanent home. Bradbury attributed the attraction of readers to his book because the story is a myth or fable rather than science fiction. He said "... even the most deeply rooted physicists at Cal-Tech accept breathing the fraudulent oxygen atmosphere I have loosed on Mars. Science and machines can kill each other off or be replaced. Myth, seen in mirrors, incapable of being touched, stays on. If it is not immortal, it almost seems such."

Bradbury Landing on Mars

The August 6, 2012, Martian landing site of ''

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...

'',

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

's Mars Rover, was named

Bradbury Landing Bradbury Landing is the August 6, 2012, landing site within Gale crater on planet Mars of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ''Curiosity'' rover. On August 22, 2012, on what would have been his 92nd birthday, NASA named the site for author Ra ...

in honor of Ray Bradbury on August 22, 2012, on what would have been the author's ninety-second birthday. On naming the location, Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for ''Curiosity'', said "This was not a difficult choice for the science team. Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars." The author died on June 5, 2012.

Adaptations

Theater

A stage production of "

" was produced at the Desilu Studios Gower Studios, Hollywood, California in 1962. The debut of a theater adaptation of ''The Martian Chronicles'' was at the Cricket Theater (The Ritz) in Northeast Minneapolis in 1976.

Film

MGM bought the film rights in 1960 but no film was made. In 1988, the Soviet

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

studio

Armenfilm Armenfilm (russian: Арменфильм; hy, Արմենֆիլմ), also known as Hayfilm ( hy, Հայֆիլմ), is an Armenian film studio located in Yerevan. The studio was founded on 16 April 1923 as a production unit of the Soviet State Cinem ...

produced the feature film '' The 13th Apostle'', starring

Juozas Budraitis Juozas Budraitis (born 6 October 1940) is a Lithuanian actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1966. He starred in the Soviet film ''Wounded Game'', which was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Budraitis ...

Donatas Banionis Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Soviet and Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director. He has more than 80 credited roles in cinema and is best known for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's '' Sol ...

Armen Dzhigarkhanyan Armen Borisovich Dzhigarkhanyan (russian: Армен Борисович Джигарханян; hy, Արմեն Բորիսի Ջիգարխանյան, Armen Borisi Jigarkhanyan; ; 3 October 1935 – 14 November 2020) was a Soviet, Armenian, and Rus ...

, based on ''The Martian Chronicles''. The film was directed by Armenian actor and screenwriter, Suren Babayan. The Uzbek filmmaker Nozim To'laho'jayev made two films based on sections from the book: 1984's animated short ''There Will Come Soft Rains'' (Russian: Будет ласковый дождь) and 1987's full-length live action film ''Veld'' (Russian: Вельд), with one of the subplots based on ''The Martian''. In 2011 Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights with the intention of producing a film franchise, with John Davis producing through

Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develop and produc ...

Opera

''The Martian Chronicles'' was adapted as a full-length contemporary opera by composer Daniel Levy and librettist Elizabeth Margid. This is the only musical adaptation authorized by Bradbury himself, who turned down

Lerner and Loewe Lerner and Loewe refers to the partnership between lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe.Kenny, Ellen, and James M. Salem. “A Guide to Critical Reviews, Part II: The Musical from Rodgers-and-Hart to Lerner-and-Loe ...

in the 1960s when they asked his permission to make a musical based on the novel. The work received its initial readings from the Harriet Lake Festival of New Plays at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater in 2006, and was presented in workshop form in the inaugural season of the Fordham University Lincoln Center Alumni Company in 2008. The "Night Meeting" episode was presented at Cornelia Street Cafe's "Entertaining Science" series on June 9, 2013. The entire work was presented as a staged reading with a cast of Broadway actors at Ars Nova NYC on February 11, 2015. Three scenes were presented as a workshop production with immersive staging, directed by Carlos Armesto of Theatre C and conducted by Benjamin Smoulder at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

, Oxford OH on September 17–19, 2015.

Radio

''The Martian Chronicles'' was adapted for radio in the science fiction radio series '' Dimension X''. This truncated version contained elements of the stories "Rocket Summer", "Ylla", "–and the Moon Be Still as Bright", "The Settlers", "The Locusts", "The Shore", "The Off Season", "There Will Come Soft Rains", and "The Million-Year Picnic". "—and the Moon Be Still as Bright" and "There Will Come Soft Rains" were also adapted for separate episodes in the same series. The short stories "Mars Is Heaven" and "Dwellers in Silence" also appeared as episodes of ''Dimension X''. The latter is in a very different form from the one found in ''The Martian Chronicles''. A very abridged spoken word reading of "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "Usher II" was made in 1975 with

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

as narrator. A

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

adaption, produced by Andrew Mark Sewell as an hour-long programme and starring

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ''Kin ...

as Captain Wilder, was broadcast on June 21, 2014, as part of the ''Dangerous Visions'' series.

Television miniseries

In 1979

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

partnered with the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

to commission ''

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth th ...

'', a three-episode miniseries adaptation running just over four hours. It was written by

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fictio ...

and was directed by Michael Anderson.

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

starred as Wilder, Darren McGavin as Parkhill,

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...

as Genevieve Selsor,

Bernie Casey Bernard Terry Casey (June 8, 1939 – September 19, 2017) was an American actor, poet and professional American football player. Early life Casey was born in Wyco, West Virginia, the son of Flossie (Coleman) and Frank Leslie Casey. He graduated ...

as Jeff Spender,

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...

as Father Stone, and

Barry Morse Herbert Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008), known professionally as Barry Morse, was a British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio, best known for his roles in the ABC television series '' The Fugitive'' and the British sci-fi drama '' ...

as Hathaway, as well as

Fritz Weaver Fritz William Weaver (January 19, 1926 − November 26, 2016) was an American actor in television, stage, and motion pictures. He portrayed Dr. Josef Weiss in the 1978 epic television drama, ''Holocaust'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...

. Bradbury found the miniseries "just boring".

Television adaptations of individual stories

The cable television series ''

The Ray Bradbury Theater ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 19 ...

'' adapted some individual short stories from ''The Martian Chronicles'' including "Mars is Heaven", "The Earthmen", "And the Moon Be Still as Bright", "Usher II", "The Martian", "Silent Towns", and "The Long Years". Video releases of the series included a VHS tape entitled ''Ray Bradbury's Chronicles: The Martian Episodes '' with some editions with three episodes and others with five.

Comic books

Several of the short stories in ''The Martian Chronicles'' were adapted into

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

-style stories in the

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

magazines, including "There Will Come Soft Rains" in ''Weird Fantasy'' #17, "The Long Years" in ''Weird Science'' #17, "Mars Is Heaven" in ''Weird Science'' #18, "The Million-Year Picnic" in ''Weird Fantasy'' #21 and "The Silent Towns" in ''Weird Fantasy'' #22. In 2011,

Hill & Wang Hill & Wang is an American book publishing company focused on American history, world history, and politics. It is a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hill & Wang was founded as an independent publishing house in 1956 by Arthur Wang (1917/ ...

published ''Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles: The Authorized Adaptation'' as a graphic novel, with art by

Dennis Calero Dennis Calero is an American comic book artist and illustrator, known for his work on titles such as '' X-Men Noir'', ''Spider-Man Noir'', ''X Factor'', ''Legion of Superheroes'', and ''Kolchak''. Career Calero's work includes Acclaim Comics' lic ...

Video games

'' adventure game was published in 1996.

''The Other Martian Tales''

''The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition'' published in 2009 by Subterranean Press and PS Publishing contains the 1997 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' with an additional collection of stories under the title ''The Other Martian Tales'', which includes the following: *"The Lonely Ones" ('' Startling Stories'', July 1949, reprinted in '' Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales'') *" The Exiles" (''

'', Winter/Spring 1950, reprinted in ''

'') *" The One Who Waits" (''

'', summer 1949, reprinted in '' The Machineries of Joy'') *"The Disease" (previously unpublished) *"Dead of Summer" (previously unpublished) *"The Martian Ghosts" (previously unpublished) *"Jemima True" (previously unpublished) *"They All Had Grandfathers" (previously unpublished) *"The Strawberry Window" (''Star Science Fiction Stories #3'', ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1954, reprinted in '' A Medicine for Melancholy'') *"

" *"The Other Foot" (''New Story'', March 1951, reprinted in ''

'') *"The Wheel" (previously unpublished) *"The Love Affair" (''The Love Affair'', Lord John Press 1982, reprinted in '' The Toynbee Convector'') *"The Marriage" (previously unpublished) *"The Visitor" ('' Startling Stories'', November 1948, reprinted in ''

'') *"The Lost City of Mars" (''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', January 1967, reprinted in '' I Sing the Body Electric'') *"Holiday" (''

'', Autumn 1949) *"Payment in Full" ('' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', February 1950) *"The Messiah" (''Welcome Aboard'', spring 1971, reprinted in ''

Long After Midnight ''Long After Midnight'' is a short story collection by American writer Ray Bradbury. Several of the stories are original to this collection. Others originally appeared in the magazines ''Planet Stories'', ''Collier's Weekly'', ''Playboy'', ''Esq ...

'') *"Night Call, Collect" (''

'', April 1949 as "I, Mars", reprinted in '' I Sing the Body Electric'') *"The Blue Bottle" (''

'', Fall 1950, reprinted in ''

'') *" Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" ('' Thrilling Wonder Stories'', August 1949, reprinted in '' A Medicine for Melancholy'') ''The Other Martian Stories'' also includes the 1964 and 1997 ''The Martian Chronicles'' screenplays, and essays by

John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been nom ...

, Marc Scott Zicree, and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martian Chronicles, The 1950 American novels Novels by Ray Bradbury Novels set on Mars Space Western novels Environmental fiction books 1950 short story collections Science fiction short story collections Doubleday (publisher) books American novels adapted into films Debut science fiction novels 1950 debut novels Future history