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

by Gordon van Gelder

In the minds of readers and writers of science fiction and fantasy since H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds, Mars has been the hottest of topics. The fourth planet from the sun is the confirmed obsession of millions of Earthlings, and it is not a fixation that will go away. Perhaps noting the tens of millions of hits on the NASA websites during the recent exploration of Mars, President Bush has declared a manned visit to the red planet the next great goal of the space program. The widespread passionate preoccupation with Mars, combined with the masterful storytelling of the legendary writers in this volume, will seize the imaginations of readers of any generation From the soul-searching poetry of Ray Bradbury's prose to the weirdly paranoid and baroque visions of Philip K. Dick, World Fantasy Award-winning editor Gordon Van Gelder offers some of the greatest science fiction writing on the red planet in Fourth Planet from the Sun..

Contents
xi • Introduction (Fourth Planet from the Sun) • essay by Gordon Van Gelder
1 • The Wilderness • [The Martian Chronicles] • (1952) • shortstory by Ray Bradbury
13 • Mars Is Ours • (1954) • shortstory by Alfred Coppel
27 • Crime on Mars • (1960) • shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke (variant of Trouble With Time)
35 • Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon • (1964) • shortstory by Leigh Brackett
57 • A Rose for Ecclesiastes • (1963) • novelette by Roger Zelazny
101 • We Can Remember It for You Wholesale • (1966) • novelette by Philip K. Dick
127 • Hellas Is Florida • [Bradley Reynolds] • (1977) • novelette by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford
149 • In the Hall of the Martian Kings • (1966) • novella by John Varley
199 • The First Mars Mission • (1979) • shortstory by Robert F. Young
213 • The Last Mars Trip • (1992) • shortstory by Michael Cassutt
233 • The Great Martian Pyramid Hoax • (1995) • shortstory by Jerry Oltion
251 • Pictures from an Expedition • (2003) • novella by Alexander C. Irvine [as by Alex Irvine ]

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1984

About the author

Gordon Van Gelder (born 1966) is an American science fiction editor. From 1997 until 2014, Van Gelder was editor and later publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, for which he has twice won the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form. He was also a managing editor of The New York Review of Science Fiction from 1988 to 1993, for which he was nominated for the Hugo Award a number of times. As of January 2015, Van Gelder has stepped down as editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction in favour of Charles Coleman Finlay, but remains publisher of the magazine.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 that all the different writers show about the same planet. The stories range from humorous to tragic, and epic (for a short story) to a brief but very intimate glimpse of one person's yearning. If you are fascinated by all things Martian, this is a must read.

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of stories showing the evolution of Mars tales,

[Dan Mead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of cool short stories that were easy to read about Mars! Obviously unrealistic but fun. quick read

[MB Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 Mars” (1960) by Arthur C. Clarke, are probably my least favorites in the collection. “Mars is Ours” is a war story which is not my favorite sub-genre of science fiction. Even so it held my interest and I’m glad I read it. “Crime on Mars” is the shortest story in the collection and was enjoyable, but it wasn’t really long enough to engage my interest.

The next two stories, “Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon” (1964) by Leigh Brackett and “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” (1963) by Roger Zelazny, make a nice pair.

Brackett’s story is very reminiscent of her work from the 50s, something you might expect to read in an old “Planet Stories” magazine. “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” is a somewhat similar story, but with a more modern feel; the adventure of Brackett’s story has been replaced with a more scientific approach. Zelazny’s story was nominated for a Hugo in 1964, and is one of my favorites in the collection.

Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966) is fun and has a nice quirky ending. I almost feel like watching “Total Recall” (1990) again just to see how much of Dick’s story they actually used.

The remaining 6 stories are all about the exploration of Mars from a contemporary viewpoint; the Mars in these stories is definitely not the Mars portrayed by Brackett or Zelazny; it is more the Mars shown us by Mariner and Viking.

“In the Hall of the Martian Kings” (1991) by John Varley and “Pictures from an Expedition” were my other favorites in the collection (although “The Great Martian Pyramid Hoax” (1995) by Jerry Oltion was also quite entertaining).

[Renee Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 romances and delightful reads. There is a Bradbury short but not the story that I think is one of the greatest of all time short stories regardless of setting - The Third Expedition from The Martian Chronicles (originally published as Mars is Heaven! in Planet Stories, which is of course not F&SF). Still, having read all these stories about Mars, including several wonderful planetary romances I'm now in a mood to read some Bradbury Mars stories.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Williwaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Deedee · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy every story in the book. Generally in collections there are several really likable stories, some mediocre and then the rest. But every story in this book caught my attention and held it for the duration. Most of the stories left me wondering -- "What happened next?" A few left me laughing at the ingenuity (or lack thereof) of a character or two. The sci-fi writers from the 50s and 60s sure left a huge legacy for us to follow.

Just an FYI: My copy is a hardback.