Fourth Planet from the Sun: Tales of Mars from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

A wonderfully entertaining collection of short stories dealing with humanity's efforts to explore and/or colonize Mars. One or two of the stories aren't quite top-notch, but most are original and either very funny or powerfully thoughtful. The first story, by Bradbury, about two women preparing to join 5000 others to travel to Mars to join (or find) their husbands, is a lovely meditation on the frontier experiences of women. It's so beautifully written I had to read it twice. Other stories will have readers laughing out loud by the end. A varied grouping which will tickle Mars enthusiasts no end.

An anthology of stories from the pages of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with a Mars theme - the intro indicates the original purpose was to show the evolution of how Mars is viewed in storytelling, from the days of Edgar Rice Burroughs planetary romance style to current views shaped by the Mars probes and landers. The collection succeeds in giving the reader a wide selection of stories from 1952-2003. Three, maybe four or five of these stories I have read long ago. Several are very very good to outstanding.

Some of these stories I can see how they were probably a lot more relevant at the time they were published, but there are no duds here, just quality stories. I didn't really care for Michael Cassutt's story, primarily show more because of the writing style. But I wouldn't call it a dud. Overall I enjoyed the collection more than I thought I would.

I think the outstanding story for me was Roger Zelazny's "A Rose For Ecclesiastes" which successfully bridged that fiction gap between the old dying civilization of Mars story to a more modern view of the Red Planet. However I also very much enjoyed Leigh Brackett's "Purple Priestess of the Purple Moon" which bridged that gap very well too. "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick has been adapted into the "Total Recall" movies. As much as I enjoyed the first film version, the written story is a bit different and a little more thought provoking. I liked it a lot. Most of these stories in one way or another try to bridge the gap between the Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Mars of today with the landers and probes. It was quite enjoyable.

As the editor notes, people didn't write Mars stories in the 80's - it was severely out of fashion. There is a gap here from 1979 to 1992. In the 90's stories about Mars reemerged with the novels of Kim Stanley Robinson and others.

The collected stories are:

• Introduction • essay by Gordon Van Gelder
• The Wilderness • The Martian Chronicles • (1952) • short story by Ray Bradbury
• Mars Is Ours • (1954) • short story by Alfred Coppel
• Crime on Mars • (1960) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
• Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon • (1964) • short story by Leigh Brackett
• A Rose for Ecclesiastes • (1963) • novelette by Roger Zelazny
• We Can Remember It for You Wholesale • (1966) • novelette by Philip K. Dick
• Hellas Is Florida • (1977) • novelette by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford
• In the Hall of the Martian Kings • (1976) • novella by John Varley
• The First Mars Mission • (1979) • short story by Robert F. Young
• The Last Mars Trip • (1992) • short story by Michael Cassutt
• The Great Martian Pyramid Hoax • (1995) • short story by Jerry Oltion
• Pictures from an Expedition • (2003) • novella by Alex Irvine show less

A nice collection of stories. Some of them are VERY dated while others have stood the times better even if science have made their premises false.

Not a must-read, but entertaining and interesting.

There are a lot of good stories, a few are a bit esoterical. I really enjoyed this book.