The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

182 pages • Done May 4, 2015

Published by Bantam/Spectra • June 1st 1984 (May 1950)

Science Fiction • Classics

Mars.  The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection.

The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dwindle to the size of a fist. They felt they had never been born. Those few that survived found no welcome on Mars. The shape-changing Martians thought they were native lunatics and duly locked them up.

But more rockets arrived from Earth, and more, piercing the hallucinations projected by the Martians. People brought their old prejudices with them – and their desires and fantasies, tainted dreams. These were soon inhabited by the strange native beings, with their caged flowers and birds of flame.

This was a weird read, maybe since I'm not a huge fan of science fiction. The stories were spasmodic written like the Twilight Zone. It was that weird.

Ray Bradbury did see something worthwhile here, since this may be pure fiction, but in this day and age, people ARE going to Mars, 65 years after this book was first published.