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Reading the Fourth Planet from the Sun is like visiting old beloved friends. Some I read as long as fifty or more years ago, and they still are as good as I remember. If you've never sampled Bradbury, for example, you're in for a treat. enjoy.
Wonderful collection of stories showing the evolution of Mars tales,
I love this book! For one thing it contains my favorite short story of all time - Zelazny's Rose for Ecclesiastes. But beyond that, all the stories are great. Classic authors and new names, stories from the lightly humorous to the near-tragic, from the fantastical to the darkly real, a delightful selection of tales on the theme of Mars.
This was a really fun read. It shows the progression of Mars related sci-fi from the early days of speculating that it was the home to a dying civilization, to current stories set in the true environment. You also see the development of our interpretation of what Mars will mean for our civilization from romantic day dreaming to seeing it as a place that will define how humans grow into a more mature species. I think the most interesting thing about this book is to see the spectrum of imagination...
A wonderful anthology of stories published in F&SF over the years, set on Mars or somehow about Mars. They are presented essentially in chronological order which highlights some interesting commonalities and themes among several adjacent stories. I particularly liked Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon (Leigh Brackett), A Rose for Ecclesiastes (Roger Zelazney), In the Hall of the Martian Kings (John Varley) and The First Mars Mission (Robert F. Young). The first three definitely are planetary roman...
I finished reading Fourth Planet from the Sun last night. It’s a fun collection of a dozen stories taken from the first 50+ years of the magazine. The collection starts with “The Wilderness” (1951) by Ray Bradbury and ends with “Pictures from an Expedition” (2003) by Alex Irvine. I didn’t think there was a bad story in the bunch.The Bradbury story isn’t one of my favorites, but almost any Bradbury story is a treat. The two stories after that, “Mars is Ours” (1954) by Alfred Coppel and “Crime on
Gulp! There was only one good story out of a dozen or so. I love Gelder's work in sci fi but this is a so so anthology. Makes scifi look bland. Sorry for the honesty.
I liked: "Crime on Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, and "Pictures from an Expedition" by Alexander C. Irvine. The rest were nothing special, OK but forgettable.
This is a truly excellent collection of short science fiction stories. Stand-outs include "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, and "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," by Roger Zelazny. There's not a dud in the whole book.
