 First edition | |
| Author | Daniel Pinkwater |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, Young adult novel |
| Published | 1979 (E. P. Dutton) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 248 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 0-525-25360-2 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 4497419 |
| LC Class | PZ7.P6335 Al 1979 |
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars is a novel by Daniel Pinkwater, published in 1979.
At the beginning of the story, protagonist Leonard Neeble attends a new school, Bat Masterson Junior High, where he is bullied by his classmates and neglected by the staff. At length, he is befriended by the title character, Alan Mendelsohn, and is thereafter happier and more capable. When Alan starts a school-wide quarrel over his claim to Martian ancestry, both are suspended from school for one week; during which, they meet Samuel Klugarsh, the owner of an occult bookstore, who sells them a kit meant to enable telepathy and psychokinesis. Having acquired these abilities, Leonard and Alan become bored with the few uses thereof; whereupon Klugarsh lets Leonard and Alan trade their mind-control kits for a course in "Hyperstellar Archaeology": the study of lost civilizations such as Atlantis and Lemuria, along with a copy of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary. Alan and Leonard are skeptical of the course's wild claims and predictions until they unexpectedly find an article in the text mentioning them both by name; when they follow its directions for interpreting Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary, they become more capable of mind control experiments. Later, they and Klugarsh encounter the Dictionary's author, Clarence Yojimbo, who explains the real secret purpose of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary: when decoded by the proper key, it enables travel into parallel realities. According to the book's instructions, they enter the parallel Earth known as 'Waka-Waka', where the locals have established a ritualistic culture based on the drinking of fleegix, a beverage similar to hot chocolate; but have fallen under the control of the extraterrestrials 'Manny, Moe, and Jack', who control the supply of ingredients and whose rule is enforced by the deadly and invisible 'Wozzle'. Upon learning that the Wozzle only attacks in bright daylight or total darkness, Alan deduces that the Wozzle is actually the three criminals themselves, made invisible by their own psychokinesis. On this premise, he exposes them to the locals; whereupon he and Leonard use Klugarsh's telepathic technique to trick the trio into surrender. Here, they are commanded to withdraw from Waka-Waka to their own world of Nafsulia, by Rolzup, the Martian High Commissioner (himself invited by Alan). Alan and Leonard thereafter return to Earth; and soon afterward, Alan and his family emigrate to Mars. Leonard, after recovering from the shock of losing his best friend, assumes Alan's rôle of school trickster, studies independently, surprises the teachers during classes, and participates in an 'alternative' gym class based on hatha yoga. At the end of the book, he receives a letter from Alan, inviting him to Mars for a visit.
Alan Mendelsohn is no longer in print as a separate work, but can be found in Pinkwater's omnibus 5 Novels (1997). [1]
Mars Attacks is a science fiction-themed trading card series released in 1962 by Topps. The cards feature artwork by science fiction artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The cards form a story arc, which tell of the invasion of Earth by cruel, hideous Martians, under the command of a corrupt Martian government who conceal the fact from the Martian populace that Mars is doomed to explode and therefore proposes a colonization of Earth to turn it into their new homeworld. The cards depict futuristic battle scenes and bizarre methods of Martian attack, torture and slaughter of humans, as well as various Earth nations being attacked. The story concludes with an expeditionary force of humans volunteering to embark on a counterattack on Mars, in which the Earth force attacks the Martians in their manner. This necessitates the Martians that are still on Mars to defend their homeworld. The Earth attack forces, after destroying the Martian cities and killing the Martians, depart just before Mars is destroyed in the predicted cataclysm, thus ensuring the peace and safety of Earth as the Martian race is seemingly doomed to extinction.
Fictional representations of Mars have been popular for over a century. Interest in Mars has been stimulated by the planet's dramatic red color, by early scientific speculations that its surface conditions might be capable of supporting life, and by the possibility that Mars could be colonized by humans in the future. Almost as popular as stories about Mars are stories about Martians engaging in activity away from their home planet.
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The Martian Manhunter is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and designed by artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225. Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League of America and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were "canals" on the planet Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude on Mars, observed by astronomers using early low-resolution telescopes without photography. They were first described by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli during the opposition of 1877, and confirmed by later observers. Schiaparelli called these canali, which was translated into English as "canals". The Irish astronomer Charles E. Burton made some of the earliest drawings of straight-line features on Mars, although his drawings did not match Schiaparelli's. Around the turn of the century there was even speculation that they were engineering works, irrigation canals constructed by a civilization of intelligent aliens indigenous to Mars. By the early 20th century, improved astronomical observations revealed the "canals" to be an optical illusion, and modern high-resolution mapping of the Martian surface by spacecraft shows no such features.
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Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an American author of children's books and young adult fiction. His books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. He has also written an adult novel, The Afterlife Diet, and essay collections derived from his talks on National Public Radio.
The Gods of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and the second of Burroughs' Barsoom series. It features the characters of John Carter and Carter's wife Dejah Thoris. It was first published in The All-Story as a five-part serial in the issues for January–May 1913. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in September, 1918 and in many editions subsequently.
Dejah Thoris is a fictional character and princess of the Martian city-state/empire of Helium in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Martian novels. She is the daughter of Mors Kajak, Jed (chieftain) of Lesser Helium, and the granddaughter of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. She is the love interest and later the wife of John Carter, an Earthman mystically transported to Mars, and subsequently the mother of their son Carthoris and daughter Tara. She plays the role of the conventional damsel in distress who must be rescued from various perils, but is also portrayed as a competent and capable adventurer in her own right, fully capable of defending herself and surviving on her own in the wastelands of Mars.
Miss Martian is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
Technology in science fiction examines the possibilities and implications of new technological concepts. Authors have taken, or created, new innovations and technologies, and elaborated on what they might be and how they might be used. This exchange goes in both directions – sometimes the technology appears first in science fiction, then becomes reality and other times the real technology comes first, and science fiction authors speculate about how it might be used, and how it might affect the human condition. Likewise, the accuracy of the technology portrayed spans a wide range – sometimes it is existing technology, sometimes it is a physically realistic portrayal of a far-out technology, and sometimes it is simply a plot device that looks scientific, but has no basis in science. Examples drawn from space travel in science fiction include:
Swords of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the eighth of his Barsoom series. It was first published in the magazine Blue Book as a six-part serial in the issues for November 1934 to April 1935. The first book edition was published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in February 1936.
Slaves of Spiegel is a 1982 epistolary novel by Daniel Pinkwater.
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in 1912, and published as a novel as A Princess of Mars in 1917. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters. The first five novels are in the public domain in U.S., and the entire series is free around the world on Project Gutenberg Australia, but the books are still under copyright in most of the rest of the world.
A Wizard of Mars is the ninth novel in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. After being pushed back several times due to internal turmoil at Harcourt Trade Publishers, it was scheduled to be released April 14, 2010, but the distributor shipped it in late March.
The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by Pearson's Magazine in the UK and by Cosmopolitan magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London. Written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon.
Aldnoah.Zero, stylized as ΛLDNOΛH.ZERO, is a television and print series created by Olympus Knights and A-1 Pictures. It presents the fictional story of the Vers Empire's 37 clans of Orbital Knights' attempted reconquest of Earth—enabled by the empowering titular Aldnoah energy/drive technology—following return to Earth as a more technologically advanced people after a human diaspora to the planet Mars.
