# Mars in science-fiction - best example? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533 "2008-06-02T20:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/1 "2008-06-02T20:51:03Z")
If I think of Mars and Fiction I first think of John Carter of Mars For me the list would be: 1. John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs 2. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells 3. Stranger in a Stranger Land by Heinlein 4. The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson 5. Marvin the Martian 6. Out of the Silent Planet and the rest of the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis\* 7. The Red Planet by Heinlein again. 8. The Rolling Stones by Heinlein again. 9. The Martian Bug Farms of Futurama What works of fiction do you think of? - This thread inspired by **Malacandra**. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/2 "2008-06-02T20:54:11Z")
“Lt. Gulliver Jones,” by Edwin Lester Arnold (which might have actually inspired ERB) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/3 "2008-06-02T20:56:48Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] “Lt. Gulliver Jones,” by Edwin Lester Arnold (which might have actually inspired ERB) [/QUOTE] I’ve heard of it, but I have never read it. Was it any good? It is probably in public domain by now. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/4 "2008-06-02T20:57:22Z")
If you want something scientifically realistic yet still keeping some of that ol’ sensawunda, try _Mars_ and _Return to Mars,_ by Ben Bova. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/5 "2008-06-02T20:59:30Z")
A novella and a short story: A Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum. > **[A Martian Odyssey](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601191h.html)** > > A Martian Odyssey, > by Stanley G. Weinbaum, free ebook The Holes Around Mars by Jerome Bixby ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/6 "2008-06-02T21:00:03Z")
Total Recall - Dick (We Can Dream it For You Wholesale) The Martian Chronicles - Bradbury ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/7 "2008-06-02T21:01:12Z")
S.M. Stirling’s _In the Court of the Crimson Kings_ just came out – scientifically sophisticated (plus some heavy and shameless blackboxing), yet still your classic planetary Space Opera! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/8 "2008-06-02T21:07:55Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] If you want something scientifically realistic yet still keeping some of that ol’ sensawunda, try _Mars_ and _Return to Mars,_ by Ben Bova. [/QUOTE] Agreed. Greg Bear’s _Moving Mars_ is also pretty good, vaguely reminiscent of Heinlein’s _Moon is a Harsh Mistress._ Any time I think about what life on Mars would be like, this comes pretty readily to mind. I wouldn’t suggest Robinson’s _\ Mars_ trilogy for a list of “best” Mars works. They have some things to recommend them, and they definitely have their defenders, but they’re also seriously flawed. For completeness, I’m about halfway through Pohl’s _Man Plus_ right now. They haven’t gotten to Mars yet. So far, pretty decent read, if a bit dated (and not just in the technology). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/9 "2008-06-02T21:12:20Z")
The first novel in the _Tom Corbett, Space Cadet_ series was titled “Stand By For Mars” and published in 1952. I have or had a copy kicking around. There’s canals in it. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/10 "2008-06-02T21:18:01Z")
_I’m in Marsport Without Hilda_ – Asimov. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/11 "2008-06-02T21:30:42Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I’ve heard of it, but I have never read it. Was it any good? It is probably in public domain by now. [/QUOTE] No. It’s only a little over 100 pages, and here’s pretty much what happens: Little green man from Mars (well, actually, they look just like us) crash lands his flying carpet. Jones hops on the flying carpet which whisks him away to Mars. Meets a few people, travels down the River of Death, does some more traveling, then the magic carpet whisks him back to Earth. Marvel Comics did a treatment of this story back in the early 1970s. IMO, their version was much better than the book, fleshing out more of a story from an original in which very little actually happens–and a subtle acknowledgement to the man who rediscovered the book after half a century out of print: Richard Lupov. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/12 "2008-06-02T21:44:40Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] “Lt. Gulliver Jones,” by Edwin Lester Arnold (which might have actually inspired ERB) [/QUOTE] That’s _Gullivar_ Jones, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/13 "2008-06-02T21:49:24Z")
[QUOTE=jali] Total Recall - Dick (We Can Dream it For You Wholesale) [/QUOTE] **We Can _Remember_ it For You Wholesale.** ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/14 "2008-06-02T21:59:50Z")
“The Holes Around Mars” by Jerome Bixby. It concerns a crew of astronauts who are a little too fond of puns, and their exploration of an astronomical oddity about Mars, and its third moon. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/15 "2008-06-02T22:03:51Z")
Interesting; no mention of Bradbury’s _The Martian Chronicles_. Practically zero real science, but gobs of dreamlike, poetic sense-of-wonder stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/16 "2008-06-02T22:06:24Z")
psst, post 6 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/17 "2008-06-02T22:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] S.M. Stirling’s _In the Court of the Crimson Kings_ just came out – scientifically sophisticated (plus some heavy and shameless blackboxing), yet still your classic planetary Space Opera! [/QUOTE] I was pleasantly surprised by that book. The preview I read online made it sound way too dry and esoteric, but it turned out to be a rip-roaring adventure in the ERB tradition. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/18 "2008-06-02T22:24:22Z")
“In the Hall of the Martian Kings” by John Varley, a superb short story. “The Man Who Lost the Sea” by Theodore Sturgeon It’s not set on Mars, but Fredric Brown’s **Martians Go Home** is a great one. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/19 "2008-06-02T22:29:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I wouldn’t suggest Robinson’s _\ Mars_ trilogy for a list of “best” Mars works. They have some things to recommend them, and they definitely have their defenders, but they’re also seriously flawed. [/QUOTE] They might be flawed and a little slow, but they were pretty good stories and interesting. Flawed in what way? The science or the writing? ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533/20 "2008-06-02T22:37:58Z")
I’ll third Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. I really need to reread them. I know we hardly (not at all?) see Mars in it, but how about A Stranger in a Strange Land? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-in-science-fiction-best-example/451533.md?page=2)