Lost Mars : stories from the golden age of the red planet

“I was suddenly struck with the sight of a trail of rich red vegetation of several miles in the midst of the eternal snows. I approached with curiosity this oasis in the frozen desert.” An antique-shop owner gets a glimpse of the Red Planet through an intriguing artifact. A Martian’s wife contemplates the possibility of life on Earth. A resident of Venus describes his travels across the two alien planets. From an arid desert to an advanced society far superior to that of Earth, portrayals of Mars have differed radically in their attempts to uncover the truth about our neighboring planet. Since the 1880s, after an astronomer first described “channels” on the surface of Mars, writers have been fascinated with the planet, endlessly speculating on what life on Mars might look like and what might happen should we make contact with the planet's inhabitants. This wonderful collection offers ten wildly imaginative short stories from the golden age of science fiction by such classic sci-fi writers as H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, and J. G. Ballard, as well as hard-to-find stories by unjustly forgotten writers from the genre. Assembled and introduced by acclaimed anthologist Mike Ashley, these stories vividly evoke a time when notions of life on other planets—from vegetation and water to space invaders and utopian societies—were new and startling. As we continue to imagine landing people on Mars, these stories are well worth revisiting as gripping and vivid dispatches from futurists past. A "thoroughly enjoyable" collection of stories imagining the Red Planet during the golden age of science fiction, from an award-winning anthologist ( Kirkus Reviews ). An antique-shop owner gets a glimpse of the Red Planet through an intriguing artifact. A Martian's wife contemplates the possibility of life on Earth. A resident of Venus describes his travels across the two alien planets. From an arid desert to an advanced society far superior to Earth's, portrayals of Mars have differed radically in their attempts to uncover the truth about our neighboring planet. Since the 1880s, after an astronomer described "channels" on its surface, writers have speculated endlessly on what life on Mars might look like and what might happen should we make contact with its inhabitants. This collection offers ten wildly imaginative stories by famed authors like H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, and J.G. Ballard as well as hard-to-find selections by unjustly forgotten writers of the genre. Introduced by acclaimed anthologist Mike Ashley, they vividly evoke a time when notions of life on other planets—from vegetation and water to space invaders and utopian societies—were new and startling. As we continue to imagine landing people on Mars, these stories represent gripping and vivid dispatches from futurists past. "[A] superlative set of stories. . . . Vibrant and powerful." — Locus "These stories are of the highest quality and illustrate how our evolving understanding of the Red Planet changed the way we wrote about it and how Mars came to occupy a prominent position in our hopes, dreams, and fears as the modern age dawned and grew." — Booklist Contents 6 Introduction 8 The Crystal Egg (H. G. Wells) 28 Letters from Mars (W. S. Lach-Szyrma) 52 The Great Sacrifice (George C. Wallis) 74 The Forgotten Man of Space (P. Schuyler Miller) 102 A Martian Odyssey (Stanley G. Weinbaum) 128 Ylla (Ray Bradbury) 164 Measureless to Man (Marion Zimmer Bradley) 182 Without Bugles (E. C. Tubb) 230 Crucifixus Etiam (Walter M. Miller, Jr.) 254 The Time-Tombs (J. G. Ballard) 282 "This volume collects ten stories about Mars from the golden age of science fiction when scientists speculated that there might once have been life on Mars. Ten authors, writing between 1880 and 1965 give us ten very different views of what life on Mars might look like, or might have once been, and might teach us about our own options as colonizers of other planets or as caretakers of our own Earth"--Publisher info. Ten short stories from the golden age of science fiction. They feature classic SF writers alongside some unjustly forgotten writers from the genre.