The Martian Chronicles - by Ray Bradbury (Paperback)

About the Book

Before the advent of space flight, Ray Bradbury had humankind cultivating planets. In "The Martian Chronicles", humanity discovers an ancient civilization on the verge of ruin. This classic work presents tales of human interaction with one another and with the Martians.

Book Synopsis

The Martian Chronicles, a seminal work in Ray Bradbury's career, whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time's passage, is available from Simon & Schuster for the first time.

In The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, America's preeminent storyteller, imagines a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor-- of crystal pillars and fossil seas--where a fine dust settles on the great empty cities of a vanished, devastated civilization. Earthmen conquer Mars and then are conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race. In this classic work of fiction, Bradbury exposes our ambitions, weaknesses, and ignorance in a strange and breathtaking world where man does not belong.

From the Back Cover

Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor - of crystal pillars and fossil seas - where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn - first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars...and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.

Review Quotes

"A giant...One of the country's most popular and prolific authors." --Los Angeles Times

"A modern classic" --The Washington Post

"A wonderful storyteller....Nearly everything he has written is sheer poetry." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"One of the greats of twentieth century American fantasy." --Newsday

"There is no simpler, yet deeper, stylist than Bradbury. Out of the plainest of words he creates images and moods that readers seem to carry with them forever." --San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Ray Bradbury is the author of more than three dozen books, including Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as hundreds of short stories. He has written for the theater, cinema, and TV, including the screenplay for John Huston's Moby Dick and the Emmy Award-winning teleplay The Halloween Tree, and adapted for television sixty-five of his stories for The Ray Bradbury Theater. The recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, and numerous other honors, Bradbury lives in Los Angeles.