The Martian Chronicles

TitleThe Martian Chronicles
Year for Search1950
AuthorsBradbury, Ray[mond Douglas](1920-2012)
Tertiary AuthorsBradbury, Ray
Pagination222 pp.
Date Published1950
PublisherDoubleday & Co.
Place PublishedGarden City, NY
KeywordsMale author, US author
Annotation

Martians have a vaguely described eutopian society before the arrival of people from earth but are killed by the chicken pox, for which they have no immunity. The various stories recount the settlement of Mars by people from Earth who bring all Earth’s problems with them. But then there is war on Earth and settlers return. See Bradbury’s article “Where Are the Golden-Eyed Martians?” West (Los Angeles Times) (March 1972): 14-15 for his comments on the exploration of Mars. A related story that was not included in the book is “The Naming of Names.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 34.3 (August 1949): 137-44; rpt. in Great Science Fiction Stories (Flushing, NY), no. 3 (1966): 31-. A later Martian story is “The Love Affair.” In his The Love Affair A Short Story and Two Poems. Illus. Joe Mugnaini (Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 1982), 1-16; rpt. as “The Love Affair: A Martian Chronicles Story.” In The Planets. Ed. Byron Preiss (New York: Bantam Books, 1985), 104-12; rpt. without the subtitle in his The Toynbee Convector. Stories (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 147-58; and in Mars Probe. Ed. Peter Crowther (New York: DAW Books, 2002), 13-22. A satire on The Martian Chronicles is John [Thomas] Sladek (1937-2000), “The Real Martian Chronicles.” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York) 118.5 & 6 (689) (May-June 2010): 86-91.

Additional Publishers

There are later editions with many variants. Among the most important are the U.K. edition, which was published as The Silver Locusts. London: Rupert Hart Davis, 1951. The Martian Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1958 has illustrations by Karel Thole and William F. Nolan’s “Biographical Sketch and Bibliography of Ray Bradbury’s Books and Stories” with notes on where the stories were later collected. “The Martian Chronicles.” Ray Bradbury: Novels and Story Cycles. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller (New York: The Library of America, 2021), 1-230 is based on the 1973 Doubleday edition and includes a chronology of Bradbury’s life (843-861), a note on the text (863-866), textual notes (873-876), and Bradbury’s “A Few Notes on The Martian Chronicles” (809-810), rpt. from Rhodomagnetic Digest (May 1950):21. Other significant editions include the following: The Martian Chronicles. Avon, CT: Limited Editions Club, 1974, with the book designed by Ernst Reichl. an introduction by Martin Gardner, and illustrations by Joseph Mugnaini. The Collector’s ed. with an introduction by Damon Knight and an illus. by Joseph Mugnaini. Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1989. The Martian Chronicles. The Fortieth Anniversary Edition. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. 1990.

The stories that were brought together to form the first edition are: “The Million Year Picnic.” Planet Stories (New York) 3.3 (Summer 1946): 95-100; “The Off Season.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 33.2 (March 1948): 99-104; “Mars Is Heaven!” Planet Stories (New York) 3.12 (Fall 1948): 56-66; collected as “The Third Expedition” in The Martian Chronicles; rpt. as “Welcome Brothers!” Authentic Science Fiction (London), no. 29 (January 1953): 31-52; “----And the Moon Be Still as Bright.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 32.2 (June 1948): 78-91; “The Earth Men.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 32.3 (August 1948): 69-77; “The Long Years.” Maclean’s Magazine (Toronto, ON, Canada) 61.18 (September 15, 1948): 18-19, 38, 40, 42; rpt. as “Dwellers in Silence.” Planet Stories (New York) 4.2 (Spring 1949): 51-58; and in American Science Fiction (Sydney, NSW, Australia), no. 20 (December 1953): 22-29; “The Silent Towns.” Charm (New York) (March 1949): 111, 170-79; “There will come soft rains.” Colliers (New York) 125.18 (May 6, 1950): 34; rpt. in The End of the World and Other Catastrophes. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2019), 321-28, with an editor’s note on 319; “Impossible.” Super Science Stories (Chicago, IL) 6.1 (November 1949): 72-79, 127-29 [Listed in Table of Contents of the version to be sold in Britain and Canada but not included]; rpt. as “September 2005: The Martian” in The Big Book of Science Fiction: The Ultimate Collection. Ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Vintage Books, 2016), 165-72; with an editors’ note on 164; “The Spring Night.” The Arkham Sampler (Sauk City, WI) (Winter 1949): 32-34, collected in The Martian Chronicles as “The Summer Night;” “I’ll Not Ask for Wine.” Maclean’s Magazine (Toronto, ON, Canada) 63.1 (January 1, 1950): 20-21, 30-32; rpt. as “Ylla.” Avon Fantasy Reader (New York), no. 14 (1950): 20-29 and collected in The Martian Chronicles under that title; rpt. in Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2018), 165-86 with an editor’s note on 163. The U. S. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018 has the subtitle: Stories from the Golden Age of the Red Planet; “Carnival of Madness.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 36.1 (April 1950): 95-104, collected in The Martian Chronicles as “Usher II” [“Usher II was dropped from The Silver Locusts]; “Way in the Middle of the Air.” Other Worlds Science Stories (Evanston, IL) 2.1 (July 1950): 142-53 (Bradbury made a play of this story, which was performed at the Desilu Gower Studios, Hollywood in August 1962); “In This Sign.” Imagination Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Evanston, IL) 2.2 (April 1951): 56-71 and collected as “The Fire Balloons” in The Silver Locusts (117-37). “The Wilderness,” which was first published in Today (April 6, 1952) and rev. in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York) 3.7 (November 1952): 118-26, was first collected in The Martian Chronicles (London: The Science Fiction Book Club, 1953), 130-39), which otherwise follows The Silver Locusts. The New York: Avon, 1997 ed. replaces “Way in the Middle of the Air” with “The Wilderness.” Fortieth Anniversary Edition. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Info Notes

A play adapted by the author was first performed July 29, 1977, in Los Angeles, CA and published as The Martian Chronicles. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing Co., 1986. For a graphic novel version Dennis Calero, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. The Authorized Adaptation. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Hill and Wang, 2011 with an “Introduction” by Bradbury (v-vi). A television play was written by Richard [Burton] Matheson entitled, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Teleplay. 3 vols. Np: Np, 1978. Shooting script. A Charles Fries/Stonehenge Production for the NBC Television Network (HRC).

Holding Institutions

HRC, L, Merril, PSt, PU

Author Note

(1920-2012)

Full Text

1950 Bradbury, Ray[mond Douglas] (1920-2012). The Martian Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co.. 222 pp. There are later editions with many variants. Among the most important are the U.K. edition, which was published as The Silver Locusts. London: Rupert Hart Davis, 1951. The Martian Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1958 has illustrations by Karel Thole and William F. Nolan’s “Biographical Sketch and Bibliography of Ray Bradbury’s Books and Stories” with notes on where the stories were later collected. “The Martian Chronicles.” Ray Bradbury: Novels and Story Cycles. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller (New York: The Library of America, 2021), 1-230 is based on the 1973 Doubleday edition and includes a chronology of Bradbury’s life (843-861), a note on the text (863-866), textual notes (873-876), and Bradbury’s “A Few Notes on The Martian Chronicles” (809-810), rpt. from Rhodomagnetic Digest (May 1950): 21. Other significant editions include the following: The Martian Chronicles. Avon, CT: Limited Editions Club, 1974, with the book designed by Ernst Reichl. an introduction by Martin Gardner, and illustrations by Joseph Mugnaini. The Collector’s ed. with an introduction by Damon Knight and an illus. by Joseph Mugnaini. Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1989. The Martian Chronicles. The Fortieth Anniversary Edition. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. 1990. The stories that were brought together to form the first edition are: “The Million Year Picnic.” Planet Stories (New York) 3.3 (Summer 1946): 95-100; “The Off Season.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 33.2 (March 1948): 99-104; “Mars Is Heaven!” Planet Stories (New York) 3.12 (Fall 1948): 56-66; collected as “The Third Expedition” in The Martian Chronicles; rpt. as “Welcome Brothers!” Authentic Science Fiction (London), no. 29 (January 1953): 31-52; “----And the Moon Be Still as Bright.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 32.2 (June 1948): 78-91; “The Earth Men.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 32.3 (August 1948): 69-77; “The Long Years.” Maclean’s Magazine (Toronto, ON, Canada) 61.18 (September 15, 1948): 18-19, 38, 40, 42; rpt. as “Dwellers in Silence.” Planet Stories (New York) 4.2 (Spring 1949): 51-58; and in American Science Fiction (Sydney, NSW, Australia), no. 20 (December 1953): 22-29; “The Silent Towns.” Charm (New York) (March 1949): 111, 170-79; “There will come soft rains.” Colliers (New York) 125.18 (May 6, 1950): 34; rpt. in The End of the World and Other Catastrophes. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2019), 321-28, with an editor’s note on 319; “Impossible.” Super Science Stories (Chicago, IL) 6.1 (November 1949): 72-79, 127-29 [Listed in Table of Contents of the version to be sold in Britain and Canada but not included]; rpt. as “September 2005: The Martian” in The Big Book of Science Fiction: The Ultimate Collection. Ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Vintage Books, 2016), 165-72; with an editors’ note on 164; “The Spring Night.” The Arkham Sampler (Sauk City, WI) (Winter 1949): 32-34, collected in The Martian Chronicles as “The Summer Night;” “I’ll Not Ask for Wine.” Maclean’s Magazine (Toronto, ON, Canada) 63.1 (January 1, 1950): 20-21, 30-32; rpt. as “Ylla.” Avon Fantasy Reader (New York), no. 14 (1950): 20-29 and collected in The Martian Chronicles under that title; rpt. in Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2018), 165-86 with an editor’s note on 163. The U. S. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018 has the subtitle: Stories from the Golden Age of the Red Planet; “Carnival of Madness.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 36.1 (April 1950): 95-104, collected in The Martian Chronicles as “Usher II” [“Usher II was dropped from The Silver Locusts]; “Way in the Middle of the Air.” Other Worlds Science Stories (Evanston, IL) 2.1 (July 1950): 142-53 (Bradbury made a play of this story, which was performed at the Desilu Gower Studios, Hollywood in August 1962); “In This Sign.” Imagination Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Evanston, IL) 2.2 (April 1951): 56-71 and collected as “The Fire Balloons” in The Silver Locusts (117-37). “The Wilderness,” which was first published in Today (April 6, 1952) and rev. in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York) 3.7 (November 1952): 118-26, was first collected in The Martian Chronicles (London: The Science Fiction Book Club, 1953), 130-39), which otherwise follows The Silver Locusts. The New York: Avon, 1997 ed. replaces “Way in the Middle of the Air” with “The Wilderness.” Fortieth Anniversary Edition. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Martians have a vaguely described eutopian society before the arrival of people from earth but are killed by the chicken pox, for which they have no immunity. The various stories recount the settlement of Mars by people from Earth who bring all Earth’s problems with them. But then there is war on Earth and settlers return. See Bradbury’s article “Where Are the Golden-Eyed Martians?” West (Los Angeles Times) (March 1972): 14-15 for his comments on the exploration of Mars. A related story that was not included in the book is “The Naming of Names.” Thrilling Wonder Stories (New York) 34.3 (August 1949): 137-44; rpt. in Great Science Fiction Stories (Flushing, NY), no. 3 (1966): 31-. A later Martian story is “The Love Affair.” In his The Love Affair A Short Story and Two Poems. Illus. Joe Mugnaini (Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 1982), 1-16; rpt. as “The Love Affair: A Martian Chronicles Story.” In The Planets. Ed. Byron Preiss (New York: Bantam Books, 1985), 104-12; rpt. without the subtitle in his The Toynbee Convector. Stories (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 147-58; and in Mars Probe. Ed. Peter Crowther (New York: DAW Books, 2002), 13-22. A satire on The Martian Chronicles is John [Thomas] Sladek (1937-2000), “The Real Martian Chronicles.” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York) 118.5 & 6 (689) (May-June 2010): 86-91. A play adapted by the author was first performed July 29, 1977, in Los Angeles, CA and published as The Martian Chronicles. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing Co., 1986. For a graphic novel version Dennis Calero, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. The Authorized Adaptation. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Hill and Wang, 2011 with an “Introduction” by Bradbury (v-vi). A television play was written by Richard [Burton] Matheson entitled, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Teleplay. 3 vols. Np: Np, 1978. Shooting script. A Charles Fries/Stonehenge Production for the NBC Television Network (HRC).