Mike Ashley

An antique shop owner gets a glimpse of the Red Planet through an intriguing artefact. 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 attempt to uncover the truth about our neighbouring planet. Since the 1880s, writers of science fiction have delighted in speculating on what life on Mars might look like and what might happen should we make contact with the planet’s inhabitants.

These ten short stories from the golden age of science fiction feature classic SF writers alongside some unjustly forgotten writers from the genre. They reveal much about how we understand our place in the universe.

The golden age of the red planet

Lost Mars

Amira BEN

"If you worked harder you wouldn't have these silly dreams."

“I rather enjoyed it," she replied, lying back. "I never suspected myself of such an imagination. Black hair, blue eyes, and white skin! What a strange man, and yet--quite handsome.”

Am I reading an early 20th century version of Alien romance now ? 😭😭

Funny thing is the female is a Martian and she’s dreaming about a human so of course an alien from her perspective 

 “A tall man, six feet one inch tall.”

 “How absurd; a giant, a misshapen giant.” 

"Somehow"-she tried the words-"he looked all right. In spite of being tall. And he had -oh, I know you'll think it silly-he had 

 "Blue eyes! Gods!" cried Mr. K. "What'll you dreamn next? I suppose he had black hair!" 

 "I picked the most unlikely colour," he replied coldly.

 "Well, black it was!" she cried. "And he had a very white skin; oh, he was most unusual! He was dressed in a strange uniform and he came down out of the sky and spoke pleasantly to me." She smiled. 

Little did they know we will find ice on Mars a century later 😂

But haven’t found Martians that look like rabbits just yet 💀

They ran back and down into the rock and at the bottom there were slender rivers running in the dark, and long lakes arched over with shadows. In one of them stood dripping columns of sweet coolness-of ice-of life!

“It was true, after all; quite true. Mars had died so that the earth could live. Those unknown intelligences who had supreme sacrifice to avert the full fury of the great assault. It is a thought that even yet passes human comprehension, yet it is true that a world has sacrificed itself for a world, a race of intelligent beings has blotted itself out of existence in order that another and less-intellectual race might live.”

does it mean the more intelligent, the less empathetic you are ? 😅

“That seems too terrible, unless we suppose the Martians to have reached such a pitch of intelligence as to feel no repugnance at the idea of a world-suicide.”

3rd short story: Liking this one so far. 

I guess if Newton’s and Kepler’s Laws didn’t exist the author couldn’t have imagine this kind of story 🙃

“Then it was the Martians who destroyed Phobos by some terrible projectile or exercise of force?” I cried. 

“Yes. Evidently to attract our attention or to make an experiment.”

So we went on passing cities and forests, both on sea and land, on this huge masterpiece of the marvellous skill and power of the Martians-an achievement as far superior to any man has yet achieved in this age of steam and iron, as the works of human skill in the nineteenth century are superior to the works of man in the Stone Age.

On their surfaces were floating islands of the Martians, crowded with houses and factories and towers (like moving cities). On their shores were also vast edifices, where we could see the great machines of the Martians work- ing and moving. Like a huge spider's web they spread over the crimson expanse of land.

Hard to believe this was written late 19th century 😮

It was provided with powerful magnets and anti-gravitating machinery, and was of the strongest materials.

Somehow my weird current mood managed to enjoy a small anthology of old short SciFi stories from late 19th, early 20th. 

I won’t say they were insanely remarkable and memorable but they were fascinating in exploring the “history” of the genre. It was interesting to see how the imaginary of extraterrestrial world goes way back in time. How past authors would tell a story with their imagination going wild but somehow manage to predict the direction our present world is taking in terms of perception of the universe around us and progress (technologically). 

In this case the editor, compile short stories set in mars or around mars. This little red planet fascinated a lot of folks from back in the 18th century, even if it looked like SciFi-esque tales, they were great basis for future scientific researches and exploration. 

I want to say that throughout the centuries “scientific tales” were written, those authors were still ahead of their time and kind of predicted how technologies would evolve and could evolve in the future. 

in that aspect it was interesting to read

Somehow my weird current mood managed to enjoy a small anthology of old short SciFi stories from late 19th, early 20th. 

I won’t say they were insanely remarkable and memorable but they were fascinating in exploring the “history” of the genre. It was interesting to see how the imaginary of extraterrestrial world goes way back in time. How past authors would tell a story with their imagination going wild but somehow manage to predict the direction our present world is taking in terms of perception of the universe around us and progress (technologically). 

In this case the editor, compile short stories set in mars or around mars. This little red planet fascinated a lot of folks from back in the 18th century, even if it looked like SciFi-esque tales, they were great basis for future scientific researches and exploration. 

I want to say that throughout the centuries “scientific tales” were written, those authors were still ahead of their time and kind of predicted how technologies would evolve and could evolve in the future. 

in that aspect it was interesting to read

Lost Mars The golden age of the red planet

Reviews

Highlights