Scan barcode
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
The book has both a general introduction about Mars’ place in science fiction writing and individual introductions for each story, adding a little context to them. The collection contains ten stories and they are ordered in a chronological manner from earliest to latest. This structure highlights the change from optimism over life on Mars in the early days versus the realisation that Mars is inhospitable in the latter days.
As with all anthologies there are some stories that are less enjoyable than others, but overall, I liked this slice of science fiction history. I do think the later stories are generally the better, it’s harder to believe the fantastical or romantic images of Mars with a modern knowledge and there is a side-helping of European colonialism that’s sometimes hard to stomach. I did enjoy H.G. Wells’ The Crystal Egg which is the first story. You can kind of understand why people might have thought War of the Worlds was real, because his writing comes across as very journalistic.
A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum attempts to imagine a whole range of Martian fauna, including speculating what non-carbon lifeforms might be like. It touches on the idea of alien language not being straightforward to translate or interpret (although watch Arrival for a really good take on this subject). Though it is mind-boggling how they couldn’t quite grasp this concept with African languages, thinking them primitive, yet are more open minded with alien language.
As time progresses and the world started to learn more about Mars, the tone gets darker and the stories look at the dangers of Mars and the exploitation of people. E.C. Tubb’s Without Bugles deals with occupational disease and hints at how America was starting to question the cost of space exploration without much to show in return. Walter M. Millers’s Crucifixus Etiam speculates at the kind of people who would be sent to work in a thin atmosphere, taking those from high altitude communities and putting them to work with great risk to their health. A lot of the stories assume Mars would be mined for its natural resources.
There is also a story from Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles which is probably the best known and the book ends with something from J.G. Ballard. As you might expect, there really aren't many women featured, however there is one story by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Review copy provided by publisher.
As with all anthologies there are some stories that are less enjoyable than others, but overall, I liked this slice of science fiction history. I do think the later stories are generally the better, it’s harder to believe the fantastical or romantic images of Mars with a modern knowledge and there is a side-helping of European colonialism that’s sometimes hard to stomach. I did enjoy H.G. Wells’ The Crystal Egg which is the first story. You can kind of understand why people might have thought War of the Worlds was real, because his writing comes across as very journalistic.
A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum attempts to imagine a whole range of Martian fauna, including speculating what non-carbon lifeforms might be like. It touches on the idea of alien language not being straightforward to translate or interpret (although watch Arrival for a really good take on this subject). Though it is mind-boggling how they couldn’t quite grasp this concept with African languages, thinking them primitive, yet are more open minded with alien language.
As time progresses and the world started to learn more about Mars, the tone gets darker and the stories look at the dangers of Mars and the exploitation of people. E.C. Tubb’s Without Bugles deals with occupational disease and hints at how America was starting to question the cost of space exploration without much to show in return. Walter M. Millers’s Crucifixus Etiam speculates at the kind of people who would be sent to work in a thin atmosphere, taking those from high altitude communities and putting them to work with great risk to their health. A lot of the stories assume Mars would be mined for its natural resources.
There is also a story from Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles which is probably the best known and the book ends with something from J.G. Ballard. As you might expect, there really aren't many women featured, however there is one story by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Review copy provided by publisher.
spacebornfew's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lyleblosser's review against another edition
3.0
Some good and some very good tales of Mars. It was interesting to see the progression from older stories to newer ones, as the reality concerning conditions on Mars began to be uncovered.
finlaaaay's review against another edition
4.0
I can't remember many details, but this was a nice look at how people conceptualized Mars before we knew that it was a barren desert.
thebrownbookloft's review against another edition
4.0
I discovered this little gem while browsing the new book shelves at the main branch of the Denver Public Library. Born in the 50’s, my childhood reading included fantastic fiction about amazing discoveries and about colonizing nearby planets. I used to devour the Danny Dunn books by Jay Williams, as well as the Miss Pickerell books by Ellen MacGregor and the Mr. Bass books by Eleanor Cameron. As a teen I grew up on Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.
But then I left the classics behind, moving on to more modern sci-fi and fantasy. This volume gave me the opportunity to learn about some of the very earliest sci-fi writers and their stories about Mars. Lost Mars: Stories From the Golden Age of the Red Planet covers short stories about Mars from the late 1800’s to the early 1960’s. Some of the authors were familiar to me, but most were not. I found the stories to be deep, reflective and intelligent for the time in which they were written. Note the phrase “for the time in which they were written”. Yes several are misogynistic, written in good old dead white guy style, but while that would rankle in a story written today, these tales laid a solid foundation for generations of writers to come– writers who continue to expand our horizons with their far-reaching imaginations.
Recommended for sci-fi enthusiasts.
But then I left the classics behind, moving on to more modern sci-fi and fantasy. This volume gave me the opportunity to learn about some of the very earliest sci-fi writers and their stories about Mars. Lost Mars: Stories From the Golden Age of the Red Planet covers short stories about Mars from the late 1800’s to the early 1960’s. Some of the authors were familiar to me, but most were not. I found the stories to be deep, reflective and intelligent for the time in which they were written. Note the phrase “for the time in which they were written”. Yes several are misogynistic, written in good old dead white guy style, but while that would rankle in a story written today, these tales laid a solid foundation for generations of writers to come– writers who continue to expand our horizons with their far-reaching imaginations.
Recommended for sci-fi enthusiasts.
glastolover's review
3.0
10 short stories, read 7 (actually 80% of the book) but then stopped. Just wasn't working for me, found it hard to get into almost all of them. A couple were ok or even approaching good, but overall, not really sure why, but couldn't get into them.
nadia_g's review against another edition
4.0
Following on from its Classics Crime series, The British Library is expanding its genre interest by releasing two anthologies of classic science-fiction stories: Lost Mars and Moonrise.
Lost Mars is a collection of 10 sci-fi short-stories, classics of the genre, set on Mars or interested in the red planet. Knowledgeable sci-fi fans and new readers of sci-fi will find a volume filled with literary gems that span from 1887 (with W.S. Lach-Szyrma who maps out Mars in ' Letters from Mars') to 1963 (with J.G. Ballard and human looters of Martian tombs in The Time Tombs).
Lost Mars is a captivating collection that compiles stories by writers who marked their time and genre, some now lesser known like P Schuyler Miller (The Forgotten Man, 1933) or George C. Wallis (The Great Sacrifice, 1903), and others still remembered today as masters like H.G. Wells (The Crystal Egg, 1897) or Ray Bradbury (Yulla, 1950).
Lost Mars opens with H.G. Wells "regarded as the Father of Science Fiction" and his story The Crystal Egg, a short story described by Ashley as "magic shop" fiction in which an antiquarian discovers that his prized crystal egg is a window into Mars. The collection closes with The Time Tombs by J.G. Ballard who follows human tomb-raiders who specialize in Martian tombs that survived for millennia.
This anthology is introduced by the bibliographer Mike Ashley, author of the multi-volume History of the Science Fiction Magazine. Before each story, Ashley succinctly introduces the writer, the context and time in which these stories were written and published. The striking cover art is by Chesley Bonestell, 1953.
My favourite writer and most prized discovery was Stanley G. Weinbaum and his 'A Martian Odyssey', a story in which a human explorer lost on Mars discovers an alien explorer and helps him out. The alien then decides to accompany this strange human until he finds his ship. Despite the language barrier and their physical capabilities, both become fast friends along their journey. I liked this story most because it focuses on ecology, and it is one of the rare stories in which an alien's higher intelligence is portrayed as non-threatening to a human being who realises that other life forms are positively amazing, and accepts it with grace.
A miner who must find a way to survive after being abandoned on the red planet by colleagues who have no intention of returning, Martians who look out for Earthlings to protect them, a Martian husband jealous of his wife's dreams of a man from Earth, are a few of the brilliant stories in "The Golden Age of the Red Planet".
Is there water or enough oxygen on Mars to sustain human life? Who are or were this planet's inhabitants? What does this planet look like? When technology could not yet answer these questions, these fiction writers explored them. By portraying humans and Martians as invaders, explorers, survivors or distant observers the writers of this anthology looked at what our relationship to the red planet could be, and ultimately questioned our relationship to our universe.
Lost Mars is a collection of 10 sci-fi short-stories, classics of the genre, set on Mars or interested in the red planet. Knowledgeable sci-fi fans and new readers of sci-fi will find a volume filled with literary gems that span from 1887 (with W.S. Lach-Szyrma who maps out Mars in ' Letters from Mars') to 1963 (with J.G. Ballard and human looters of Martian tombs in The Time Tombs).
Lost Mars is a captivating collection that compiles stories by writers who marked their time and genre, some now lesser known like P Schuyler Miller (The Forgotten Man, 1933) or George C. Wallis (The Great Sacrifice, 1903), and others still remembered today as masters like H.G. Wells (The Crystal Egg, 1897) or Ray Bradbury (Yulla, 1950).
Lost Mars opens with H.G. Wells "regarded as the Father of Science Fiction" and his story The Crystal Egg, a short story described by Ashley as "magic shop" fiction in which an antiquarian discovers that his prized crystal egg is a window into Mars. The collection closes with The Time Tombs by J.G. Ballard who follows human tomb-raiders who specialize in Martian tombs that survived for millennia.
This anthology is introduced by the bibliographer Mike Ashley, author of the multi-volume History of the Science Fiction Magazine. Before each story, Ashley succinctly introduces the writer, the context and time in which these stories were written and published. The striking cover art is by Chesley Bonestell, 1953.
My favourite writer and most prized discovery was Stanley G. Weinbaum and his 'A Martian Odyssey', a story in which a human explorer lost on Mars discovers an alien explorer and helps him out. The alien then decides to accompany this strange human until he finds his ship. Despite the language barrier and their physical capabilities, both become fast friends along their journey. I liked this story most because it focuses on ecology, and it is one of the rare stories in which an alien's higher intelligence is portrayed as non-threatening to a human being who realises that other life forms are positively amazing, and accepts it with grace.
A miner who must find a way to survive after being abandoned on the red planet by colleagues who have no intention of returning, Martians who look out for Earthlings to protect them, a Martian husband jealous of his wife's dreams of a man from Earth, are a few of the brilliant stories in "The Golden Age of the Red Planet".
Is there water or enough oxygen on Mars to sustain human life? Who are or were this planet's inhabitants? What does this planet look like? When technology could not yet answer these questions, these fiction writers explored them. By portraying humans and Martians as invaders, explorers, survivors or distant observers the writers of this anthology looked at what our relationship to the red planet could be, and ultimately questioned our relationship to our universe.
otherwyrld's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent collection of short stories that examines the romantic ideal of a Mars that never really existed. Pretty much all of the stories are solid, with a couple of excellent tales. Many are tragic and reflect on the loss of a Martian civilization or of the pioneer humans who sacrifice so much to live on the Red Planet.
I was hoping for a companion book on Venus to complement this one and the Moon stories, but alas couldn't find one. Perhaps there are too few really good Venusian tales to fill a book, and I would rather have that than a collection of mediocre stories.
I was hoping for a companion book on Venus to complement this one and the Moon stories, but alas couldn't find one. Perhaps there are too few really good Venusian tales to fill a book, and I would rather have that than a collection of mediocre stories.