Fourth Planet from the Sun

by Gordon van Gelder, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon

Long before our robots got there, writers were dreaming about going to Mars. From Edgar Rice Burroughs to Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction authors have been speculating about Mars for decades. Fourth Planet from the Sun is a collection of twelve of the very best stories about the Red Planet featuring classics from some of the masters of the genre—including Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, John Varley, and Theodore Sturgeon.

There's Ray Bradbury's 1952 story, "The Wilderness," a mood-piece tracing the last day on Earth of two women who are about to follow their men to the Martian frontier. In "Mars Is Ours" by Alfred Coppel, a war on the cold and lonely Martian sands exacts a terrible price from the people who fight it. Arthur C. Clarke imagines "Crime on Mars," in an irony-laden mystery that reviews crime and punishment Martian-style. Leigh Brackett takes us to Mars where an unwilling visitor is forced to witness the secret rites of the "Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon." Jerry Oltion's "The Great Martian Pyramid Hoax" looks at the Face on Mars with tongue firmly placed in cheek. Moving into the twenty-first century, there is Alex Irvine's "Pictures from an Expedition," which shows the corrosive effects of fame and celebrity on the scientists who need public support for their scientific exploration.

As Mars continually cycles into the news bringing us new scientific understanding of our neighboring planet—just in the last ten years, we've seen breathtaking images from the 2004 Rover expeditions and new data is returning from Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory that landed in August of 2012—it is fascinating to read how authors' conceptions of Mars have also changed so dramatically over time.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

307 pages, Kindle Edition

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.