People leaned from their dripping porches and watched the reddening sky. The snow, falling from the cold sky upon the town, turned to a hot rain before it touched the ground. The warm desert air changing the frost patterns on the windows, erasing the art work. The words passed among the people in the open, airing houses.

The snow dissolved and showed last summer's ancient green lawns. The housewives shed their bear disguises. The children worked off their wool clothes. The icicles dropped, shattering, to melt. The heat pulsed among the cottages and bushes and children. A flooding sea of hot air it seemed as if someone had left a bakery door open. One minute it was Ohio winter, with doors closed, windows locked, the panes blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great black bears in their furs along the icy streets.Īnd then a long wave of warmth crossed the small town. Here are the captivating chronicles of man and Mars?the modern classic by the peerless Ray Bradbury. The strange new world with its ancient, dying race and vast, red-gold deserts cast a spell on him, settled into his dreams, and changed him forever. Man conquered Mars?and in that instant, Mars conquered him. Seeking the promise of a new beginning, man brought with him his oldest fears and his deepest desires. Leaving behind a world on the brink of destruction, man came to the Red planet and found the Martians waiting, dreamlike. A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction.200 Significant SF Books by Women, 1984-2001.

The martian chronicles book cover