A Guide to Speculative Fiction at Gustavus Library: 1926-1950 : The Pulp Era and the Golden Age

"Collects more than 50 essays by participants in the genesis of American science fiction fandom and fanzine culture, with explanatory text to show background and give context"-- Provided by publisher.

"This is the first of three volumes that chart the history of the science fiction magazine from the earliest days to the present. This first volume looks at the exuberant years of the pulp magazines. It traces the growth and development of the science fiction magazines from when Hugo Gernsback launched the very first, Amazing Stories, in 1926 through to the birth of the atomic age and the death of the pulps in the early 1950s. These were the days of the youth of science fiction, when it was brash, raw and exciting: the days of the first great space operas by Edward Elmer Smith and Edmond Hamilton, through the cosmic thought variants by Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson and others to the early 1940s when John W. Campbell at Astounding did his best to nurture the infant genre into adulthood. Under him such major names as Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt and Theodore Sturgeon emerged who, along with other such new talents as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, helped create modern science fiction." - from the publisher

Librarian's note: Exceptionally detailed narrative history of the Pulp Era from before 1926 to the rise of Hugo Gernsback's science fiction magazines to the rise of Astounding and the Golden Age.

"When physicist Robert Goddard, whose career was inspired by H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds, published 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,' the response was electric. Newspaper headlines across the country announced, 'Modern Jules Verne Invents Rocket to Reach Moon,' while people from around the world, including two World War I pilots, volunteered as pioneers in space exploration. Though premature (Goddard's rocket, alas, was only imagined), the episode demonstrated not only science's general popularity but also its intersection with interwar popular and commercial culture. In that intersection, the stories that inspired Goddard and others became a recognizable genre: science fiction. Astounding Wonder explores science fiction's emergence in the era's "pulps," colorful magazines that shouted from the newsstands, attracting an extraordinarily loyal and active audience.Pulps invited readers not only to read science fiction but also to participate in it, joining writers and editors in celebrating a collective wonder for and investment in the potential of science. But in conjuring fantastic machines, travel across time and space, unexplored worlds, and alien foes, science fiction offered more than rousing adventure and romance. It also assuaged contemporary concerns about nation, gender, race, authority, ability, and progress--about the place of ordinary individuals within modern science and society - in the process freeing readers to debate scientific theories and implications separate from such concerns.Readers similarly sought to establish their worth and place outside the pulps. Organizing clubs and conventions and producing their own magazines, some expanded science fiction's community and created a fan subculture separate from the professional pulp industry. Others formed societies to launch and experiment with rockets. From debating relativity and the use of slang in the future to printing purple fanzines and calculating the speed of spaceships, fans' enthusiastic industry revealed the tensions between popular science and modern science. Even as it inspired readers' imagination and activities, science fiction's participatory ethos sparked debates about amateurs and professionals that divided the worlds of science fiction in the 1930s and after."

Librarian's note: This book is a denser but very valuable read in how it closely examines a range of important contexts for understanding the rise of pulp science fiction, from the 1920s obsession with rocketry to the material conditions of the pulp magazine industry to the racial attitudes that made many early aliens into thinly veiled racist and xenophobic caricatures.

Librarian's note: Chapter 1, “Faithful to Thee, Terra, in Our Fashion,” contains an excellent account of the rise of sf fandom in conjunction with the beginnings of the science fiction pulp magazine.

"Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world. This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called 'the most powerful force in science fiction ever.' Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author—he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing—and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune. Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame—and infamy—as the founder of the Church of Scientology. Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged. For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell’s influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: “I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs.” It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself." - from the publisher

"Darwinian Feminism in Early Science Fiction provides the first detailed scholarly examination of women's SF in the early magazine period before the Second World War. Tracing the tradition of women's SF back to the 1600s, the author demonstrates how women such as Margaret Cavendish and Mary Shelley drew critical attention to the colonial mindset of scientific masculinity, which was attached to scientific institutions that excluded women. In the late nineteenth century, Charles Darwin's theory of sexual selection provided an impetus for a number of first-wave feminists to imagine Amazonian worlds where women control their own bodies, relationships and destinies. Patrick B. Sharp traces how these feminist visions of scientific femininity, Amazonian power and evolutionary progress proved influential on many women publishing in the SF magazines of the late 1920s and early 1930s, and presents a compelling picture of the emergence to prominence of feminist SF in the early twentieth century before vanishing until the 1960s." - from the publisher

"Partners in Wonder presents, for the first time, a complete bibliography of every story published by women in science fiction magazines from 1926 to 1965 and brief biographies on 133 of these women writers. It is thus the most comprehensive source of information on early science fiction writers available and will be of great importance to scholars of women's studies, popular culture, and English literature, as well as science fiction." - from the publisher

"US editor who, in collaboration with J Francis McComas, compiled the 35-story, thousand-page Adventures in Time and Space: An Anthology of Modern Science-Fiction Stories (anth 1946; cut 1952; differently cut 1953; cut vt Selections from Adventures in Time and Space 1954; recut vt More Adventures in Time and Space: Selections from Adventures in Time and Space 1955; text restored, vt Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space 1957), which remains a definitive anthology of magazine sf up to 1945 and is credited with considerable influence in helping to give Genre SF literary respectability, as well as making widely available tales that had only appeared in magazines." - Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, "Raymond J. Healey"

"US editor who began his career as manager of Doubleday Book Stores 1930-1934, and who intermittently held various editing positions, in and out of commercial publishing, for the rest of his life; he was, however, primarily a freelance. The first of his many sf Anthologies was The Best of Science Fiction (anth 1946; vt The Golden Age of Science Fiction 1980), a huge compendium which vied in size and potential influence with Raymond J Healy's and J Francis McComas's Adventures in Time and Space (1946), although the latter book was contracted earlier and had first pick of the material. [...] Conklin's anthologies were never definitive but were always considered and capable; as an enabler, through these anthologies and as a series editor, Conklin was of considerable importance in legitimizing American Genre SF for the book markets it only began to penetrate after World War Two. For more recent readers, his 41 anthologies now seem to be the best and most sustained presentation imaginable of the virtues of the Golden Age of SF." - Encylopedia of Science Fiction, "Groff Conklin"

"Strange Ports of Call is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by American writer August Derleth. It was first published by Pellegrini & Cudahy in 1948. The stories had originally appeared in the magazines Blue Book, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Science and Invention, Astounding Stories, Coronet, The New Review, The Black Cat, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Wonder Stories, Comet, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly and Planet Stories. [...] Theodore Sturgeon, reviewing the volume for Astounding Science Fiction, described it as "the most unusual science-fiction anthology to have been published to date." He noted that editor Derleth had designed the book 'to present stories in the field which are good literary writing, and which have good writing's prime requisite, real characters.'" - from Wikipedia

"Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s is an anthology of 25 science fiction stories from 1930s pulp magazines, edited by American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It also includes 'Big Game', a short story written by Asimov in 1941 and never sold. The anthology was first published in April 1974, and won the 1975 Locus Award for Best reprint anthology. The anthology was inspired by a dream Asimov had on the morning of 3 April 1973. In his dream, Asimov had prepared an anthology of his favorite science fiction stories from the 1930s and was delighted to get a chance to read them again. After waking, he told his fianceé Janet Jeppson about the dream, and she suggested that he actually do such an anthology. Doubleday agreed to publish the anthology, and Asimov's friend Sam Moskowitz provided him with copies of the relevant science fiction magazines. Asimov completed work on the anthology on 10 May. The stories were selected by Asimov, and the main selection criterion was the degree to which they influenced him when he was growing up in the 1930s. The prefatory material and individual introductions to the stories fill in the details about the early life of the child prodigy, which effectively makes the volume an autobiographical prequel to his earlier collection The Early Asimov." - from Wikipedia

"The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1940s is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, the second in a series of six samplers of the field from the 1930s through the 1980s. It was first published in trade paperback by Robinson in 1989, and reissued in 2007. The first American edition was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Carroll & Graf, also in 1989; a second trade paperback edition appeared in 2007. In 1991 Galahad Books issued two hardcover editions under the variant titles Great Tales of the Golden Age of Science Fiction and Science Fiction: Classic Stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction; under the latter title it reissued the book in August 2000, April 2004 and March 2010. The book collects ten novellas and novelettes by various science fiction authors that were originally published in the 1940s, together with an introduction by Asimov." - from Wikipedia

"A collection of classic and previously unpublished stories from an influential female voice in science fiction Science fiction has historically been seen as a masculine domain, but from the very beginning women have made their mark. To the ranks of Mary Shelley and C.L. Moore, we should add Clare Winger Harris, whose pulp stories in the early twentieth century influenced the boom of modern writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood. In this new collection, author and scholar Brad Ricca assembles ten of Harris's greatest short stories, including 'The Fifth Dimension,' 'The Fate of the Poseidonia,' 'The Menace of Mars,' and 'The Vibrometer.' Clare Winger Harris (1891-1968) was an early science fiction writer whose short stories were published during the 1920s. She is credited as the first woman to publish stories under her own name in science fiction magazines. Her stories often dealt with characters on the 'borders of humanity' such as cyborgs. A native of Illinois, she died in Pasadena, California at age seventy-seven."

"It started on Earth... Scientist Richard Seaton had discovered the secret of complete release of ultimate energy-the key to space flight. The powerful, unscrupulous DuQuesne, backed by a great industrial combine, tried murder and theft to gain the secret. DuQuesne struck - and it ended in space... Seaton, DuQuesne, and three others-two of them women-were marooned, countless light-years from Earth, with only one chance in a million of getting back!" - from the publisher

Librarian's note: The serialization of this book in Amazing Stories in 1928 is frequently credited with launching the craze for space opera stories (briefly known as "super-science" stories.) E.E. Smith went on to produce increasingly over the top and dazzling space operas, culminating in his Gray Lensman sequence.

"The landmark comic satire that asks, 'What would happen if all black people in America turned white?' It's New Year's Day 1933 in New York City, and Max Disher, a young black man, has just found out that a certain Dr. Junius Crookman has discovered a mysterious process that allows people to bleach their skin white--a new way to 'solve the American race problem.' Max leaps at the opportunity, and after a brief stay at the Crookman Sanitarium, he becomes Matthew Fisher, a white man who's able to attain everything he's ever wanted: money, power, good liquor, and the white woman who rejected him when he was black. Lampooning myths of white supremacy and racial purity and caricaturing prominent African American leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois, Madam C. J. Walker, and Marcus Garvey, Black No More is a masterwork of speculative fiction and a hilarious satire of America's obsession with race." - from the publisher

"On the far planet Wing IV, a brilliant scientist creates the humanoids--sleek black androids programmed to serve humanity. But are they perfect servants--or perfect masters? Slowly the humanoids spread throughout the galaxy, threatening to stifle all human endeavor. Only a hidden group of rebels can stem the humanoid tide...if it's not already too late. First published in Astounding Science Fiction during the magazine's heyday, The Humanoids--science fiction grand master Jack Williamson's finest novel--has endured for fifty years as a classic on the theme of natural versus artificial life. Also included in this edition is the prelude novelette, 'With Folded Hands,' which was chosen for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame."

Librarian's note: While The Humanoids is often touted as his masterpiece, Jack Williamson had a remarkably long and adaptable career as a science fiction writer, and is one of the rare early authors published in Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories to continue to be successful through the Pulp Era, into the Golden Age, and beyond. A good starting place for reading his large oeuvre may be his 1934 space opera action hit, The Legion of Space.

"From the SF Gateway, the most comprehensive digital library of classic SFF titles ever assembled, comes an ideal sample introduction to the fantastic work of C. L. Moore. One of the first women to rise to prominence in the male-dominated world of pulp science fiction, Moore was a mainstay of SF in the middle of the last century, both as a solo writer and in collaboration with her husband, Henry Kuttner. This omnibus shows her mastery of both Sword and Sorcery and planetary romance, reprinting JIREL OF JOIRY, NORTHWEST OF EARTH, and story collection JUDGEMENT NIGHT." - from the publisher

"The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum is a collection of science fiction stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum, published in 1974 as an original paperback by Ballantine Books as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The volume included an introduction by Isaac Asimov and an afterword by Robert Bloch. Ballantine reissued the collection twice in the later 1970s; Garland Publishing published a library hardcover edition in 1983, and Sphere Books released a UK market edition in 1977, under the title A Martian Odyssey and Other Stories. The original edition placed third in the 1975 Locus Poll for best genre collection." - from Wikipedia

"Star Maker is the science fiction classic about a human who is transported out of his body and finds himself able to explore space and other planets. The story describes a history of life in the universe and tackles themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is the progressive unity between different civilizations. Some of the elements and themes prefigure later fiction concerning genetic engineering and alien life forms. Arthur C. Clarke considered Star Maker to be one of the finest works of science fiction ever written." - from the publisher

"Rarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as 'Lest Darkness Fall' has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the ‘favorite’ books of many of the masters of the field, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish time-travel as solid sub-genre of science fiction. An indication of the influence and longevity of the book is the number of best-selling writers who have written stories in direct response to, or influenced by, Lest Darkness Fall. This new volume also includes three such stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S. M. Stirling written over a period of forty-three years—a testament to the timelessness of the book. Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court," the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome. Once in ancient Rome, Padway (now Martinus Paduei Quastor) embarks on an ambitious project of single-handedly changing history. L. Sprague de Camp was a student of history (and the author of a number of popular works on the subject). "In Lest Darkness Fall" he combines his extensive knowledge of the workings of ancient Rome with his extraordinary imagination to create one of the best books of time travel ever written." - from the publisher

"In a brilliant, chilling series of nine related short stories, the author chronicles robot development from its crude mid-twentieth century beginnings to a state of such perfection that a hundred years later robots are running man's world for his own good. Dr. Asimov has endowed his mechanical creations with disarmingly human personalities -- from Robbie, the beloved, mute nursemaid of an eight-year-old girl, to Stephen Byerley who was elected first World Co-ordinator." - from the publisher

Librarian's note: In the middle of the twentieth century, Isaac Asimov became not only the most famous science fiction author in the world but also as a popular writer on science he became one of the most prolific authors in history, having written over 500 books. Note that the stories in this volume were only the beginning of Asimov's stories with robots: his robot detective novels Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun were likely the biggest influences on the film I, Robot.

"The world of Null-A: "Who was Gosseyn? Gosseyn himself didn't know his own identity - only that he could be killed, yet live again... But someone knew who Gosseyn was - and was using him as a pawn in a deadly game that spanned the Galaxy!" By the year 2650, the people of Earth have moved away from Aristotelian logic, training themselves through years of study and discipline to become Null-A. Everyone knows the people who manage to work their way through the levels of the yearly Game will get a better job, a better life. They may even go off-planet to the utopia-like Venus if they are lucky and pass all the tests. Gilbert Gosseyn is one of these who gather to take the test to see what life he will lead. Until he finds out that the life he's been living is not his own. Soon he finds himself not only on a quest to discover who he really is, but to foil the plans of an alien race bent on intergalactic conquest.The voyage of the Space Beagle: A giant spaceship occupied by scientists and soldiers is exploring the galaxies. It will be attacked by different alien monsters and civilizations during its trip. Each time, the members of the expedition will have to forget for a while their dissensions in order to find a way to get rid of the enemy.Slan: Jommy Cross is a slan, a genetically bred superhuman whose race was created to aid humanity but is now despised by "normal" humans. Slans are usually shot on sight, but that doesn't stop Jommy's mother from bringing him to see the world capital of Centropolis, the seat of power for Earth's dictator, Kier Gray. But on their latest trip to Centropolis, the two slans are discovered, and Jommy's mother is killed. Jommy, only 9 years old, unwittingly becomes caught up in a plot to undermine Gray, who may be more sympathetic to slans than the public suspects." - from the publisher

Librarian's note: Science fiction scholar Mike Ashley (among others) has described 1939 story "The Dark Destroyer" (which makes up the first chapter of A.E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle) as marking the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Another influential novel in this omnibus is Slan, the story of mutant outcasts fighting the prejudice of society, which has been taken as a metaphor for science fiction fandom's role as a meeting place of the neurodiverse and other marginal groups, or as it was expressed at the time: "Fans are Slans."

"Here in one monumental volume are all 21 of the stories, novellas and novels making up Heinlein's famous Future History—the rich, imaginative architecture of Man's destiny that many consider his greatest and most prophetic work." - from the publisher

Librarian's note: Heinlein has been called the most important science fiction writer of the mid-20th century. Before producing such famous books as Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers, Heinlein had already revolutionized science fiction with stories and novels unprecedented in their realism and mature style, many of which are collected in this volume.

"Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 18, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as 'the Queen of Space Opera.' She was also a screenwriter, known for The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Long Goodbye (1973). She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. In 1956, her book The Long Tomorrow made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and, along with C. L. Moore, one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she won a Retro Hugo for her novel The Nemesis From Terra, originally published as 'Shadow Over Mars' (Startling Stories, Fall 1944)." - from Wikipedia

"On a far future Earth, mankind's achievements are immense: artificially intelligent robots, genetically uplifted animals, interplanetary travel, genetic modification of the human form itself. But nothing comes without a cost. Humanity is tired, its vigour all but gone. Society is breaking down into smaller communities, dispersing into the countryside and abandoning the great cities of the world. As the human race dwindles and declines, which of its great creations will inherit the Earth? And which will claim the stars ...?" - from the publisher

"Deep in an unexplored jungle, Brian Raft sought the secret of the legendary valley of the flame. Somewhere there was a radioactive fire that could perform miracles of super-science. Somewhere there was a place where cat-people prowled, where time was altered, and incredible mysteries held their secrets of power and fortune for the daring discoverer." - from the publisher

"A tense prophetic novel of one woman's world--after the bomb!" - Jacket

"Shadow on the Hearth tells the story of 'a Westchester woman and her two children after the explosion of a series of atomic bombs on New York'. Merril described it as 'a very political novel, ... written for political reasons'. Lisa Yaszek writes that Shadow on the Hearth 'is one of the only postwar holocaust narratives that manages to work its way out from under the paralyzing shadow of the mushroom cloud and to imagine the possibility of women -- and men -- working together to build a more peaceful and rational future'. Judith Merril: A Critical Study notes that 'contemporary critics respect Merril's novel for its originality in domesticating nuclear attack -- hence the story's power and darkness'. David Seed reports the novel is 'universally praised . . . for its understated method, avoidance of melodrama and unusually oblique description of nuclear attack'. M. Keith Booker declares that Shadow on the Hearth is 'a relatively daring novel' and 'a useful corrective to the heroic vision of post apocalypse life'." - from Wikipedia

"A billion years into the future, Earth's oceans have evaporated, and humanity has all but vanished. The inhabitants of the City of Diaspar believe theirs is the last city, but there is no way to find out for sure. The city is completely closed off by a high wall, and nobody has left in millions of years. The last child born in the city in millions of years, Alvin is insatiably curious about the outside world. He embarks on a quest that leads him to discover the truth about the city and humanity's history-as well as its future. The City and the Stars is a rewrite of Clarke's first novel, Against the Fall of Night. While the author assumed that the old version would be replaced by the new version and eventually go out of print, he was surprised to find that the older version was popular enough to stay in wide circulation. Today, both stories are equally popular. Any fan of Clarke's would find this book a fascinating read, not just for the intriguing story and Clarke's singular futuristic vision, but also for the purpose of comparing his approach to the same story at different points in his writing career. While The City and the Stars shares the general plot of Against the Fall of Night, many details are different-making an interesting study of Clarke's progression as a writer." - from the publisher

"The stories included in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisdom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home in Vance’s lyrically described fantastic landscapes like Embelyon where, “The sky [was] a mesh of vast ripples and cross-ripples and these refracted a thousand shafts of colored light, rays which in mid-air wove wondrous laces, rainbow nets, in all the jewel hues....” The dying Earth itself is otherworldly: “A dark blue sky, an ancient sun.... Nothing of Earth was raw or harsh—the ground, the trees, the rock ledge protruding from the meadow; all these had been worked upon, smoothed, aged, mellowed. The light from the sun, though dim, was rich and invested every object of the land...with a sense of lore and ancient recollection.” Welcome." - from the publisher

“The Dying Earth and its sequels comprise one of the most powerful fantasy/science-fiction concepts in the history of the genre. They are packed with adventure but also with ideas, and the vision of uncounted human civilizations stacked one atop another like layers in a phyllo pastry thrills even as it induces a sense of awe [at]...the fragility and transience of all things, the nobility of humanity’s struggle against the certainty of an entropic resolution.” —Dean Koontz, author of the Odd Thomas novels -- “He gives you glimpses of entire worlds with just perfectly turned language. If he’d been born south of the border, he’d be up for a Nobel Prize.” —Dan Simmons author of The Hyperion Cantos

"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 publisher