Author | Fredric Brown |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
Publication date | 1955 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 189 |
OCLC | 5722014 |
Martians, Go Home is a science fiction comic novel by American writer Fredric Brown, published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in September 1954 [1] and later by E. P. Dutton in 1955. The novel concerns a writer who witnesses an alien invasion of Earth by boorish little green men from Mars.
The story begins on 26 March 1964. Luke Deveraux, the protagonist, is a 37-year-old sci-fi writer who is being divorced by his wife. Deveraux holes himself up in a desert cabin with the intention of writing a new novel (and forgetting the painful failure of his marriage). Drunk, he considers writing a story about Martians, when, all of a sudden, someone knocks on the door. Deveraux opens it to find a little green man, a Martian. The Martian turns out to be very discourteous; he insists on calling Luke 'Mack,' and has little in mind other than the desire to insult and humiliate Luke. The Martian, who is intangible, proves to be able to disappear at will and to see through opaque materials. Luke leaves his cabin by car, thinking to himself that the alien was but a drunken hallucination. He realises that he is wrong when he sees that a billion Martians have come to Earth.
Fredric Brown reprises the popular image of Martians as little green men, who are around 75 cm tall and have small torsos, long frayed limbs, and spherical bald heads. They have six fingers on each hand and wear boots and trousers. They consider the human race inferior and are both interested and amused by human behaviour. Unlike most other fictional Martian invaders, the Martians that Brown writes of do not intend to invade Earth by violence but instead spend their wakeful hours calling everyone 'Mack' or 'Toots' (or some regional variation thereof), reveal embarrassing secrets, heckling theatre productions, lampoon political speeches, and even provide cynical colour commentary to honeymooners' frustrated attempts at consummating their marriage. The nonstop acerbic criticism stops most human activity and renders many people insane, including Luke, whose stress-induced inability to see the little green maligners divides opinion on whether he should be considered mad or blessed.
Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel, saying that although Brown was occasionally "carried away," he nevertheless "succeeded in writing a very funny book." [2] In 1977, Richard A. Lupoff described it as "one of the most charming bits of SF-whimsy ever written [and] marvelous reading." [3]
The novel is considered a classic of science fiction by the following works of reference: [4]
In 1990, director David Odell adapted the novel into a movie of the same name with Randy Quaid playing the title character renamed to Mark Deveraux. [5]
Fredric Brown was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form—stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena", was adapted to a 1967 episode of the American television series Star Trek.
Double Star is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover the same year. It received the 1956 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Robert Silverberg is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF. He has attended every Hugo Award ceremony since the inaugural event in 1953.
Stanley Grauman Weinbaum was an American science fiction writer. His first story, "A Martian Odyssey", was published to great acclaim in July 1934; the alien Tweel was arguably the first character to satisfy John W. Campbell's challenge: "Write me a creature who thinks as well as a man, or better than a man, but not like a man." Weinbaum wrote more short stories and a few novels, but died from lung cancer less than a year and a half later.
Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Dallas Ross, Mark Mallory, Clark Collins, Dallas Rose, Guy McCord, Maxine Reynolds, Bob Belmont, and Todd Harding. His work focused on socioeconomic speculation, usually expressed in thought-provoking explorations of utopian societies from a radical, sometime satiric perspective. He was a popular author from the 1950s to the 1970s, especially with readers of science fiction and fantasy magazines.
A Princess of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Barsoom series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine from February–July, 1912. Full of swordplay and daring feats, the novel is considered a classic example of 20th-century pulp fiction. It is also a seminal instance of the planetary romance, a subgenre of science fantasy that became highly popular in the decades following its publication. Its early chapters also contain elements of the Western. The story is set on Mars, imagined as a dying planet with a harsh desert environment. This vision of Mars was based on the work of the astronomer Percival Lowell, whose ideas were widely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
"The Deep" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was written in July 1952 and first published in the December 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The story subsequently appeared in the Asimov collections The Martian Way and Other Stories (1955) and The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973). In In Memory Yet Green, Asimov wrote that his motive in writing the story was to deliberately test whether one could do anything in science fiction, so he invented a society in which mother love was considered obscene.
The Sands of Mars is a science fiction novel by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. While he was already popular as a short story writer and as a magazine contributor, The Sands of Mars was also a prelude to Clarke's becoming one of the world's foremost writers of science fiction novels. The story was published in 1951, before humans had achieved space flight. It is set principally on the planet Mars, which has been settled by humans and is used essentially as a research establishment. The story setting is that Mars has been surveyed but not fully explored on the ground. The Sands of Mars was Clarke's first published novel.
Richard Allen Lupoff was an American science-fiction and mystery author, who also wrote humor, satire, nonfiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He was an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and had an equally strong interest in H. P. Lovecraft. He also co-edited the non-fiction anthology All in Color For a Dime, which has been described as "the very first published volume dedicated to comic book criticism"; as well as its sequel, The Comic-Book Book.
Martians Go Home is a 1990 comedy film starring Randy Quaid. It was directed by David Odell and written by Charles S. Haas based on the 1954 novel of the same name by science-fiction author Fredric Brown.
Gateway is a 1977 science-fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. It is the opening novel in the Heechee saga, with four sequels that followed. Gateway won the 1978 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1978 Locus Award for Best Novel, the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1978 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. The novel was adapted into a computer game in 1992.
Rogue in Space is a science fiction novel by American writer Fredric Brown, first published in 1957. Brown expanded two earlier novelettes to form the novel.
James Judson Harmon, better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Grey, and occasionally he was labeled Mr. Nostalgia.
Warriors of Kudlak is the third serial of the first series of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It first aired in two weekly parts on the CBBC channel on 15 and 22 October 2007.
"Mars Is Heaven!" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, originally published in 1948 in Planet Stories. "Mars Is Heaven!" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929–1964. It also appears as the sixth chapter of The Martian Chronicles, revised as "The Third Expedition."
The bibliography of American writer Fredric Brown includes short stories, general fiction, mysteries and science fiction stories.
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The Falling Astronauts is a science fiction novel by American writer Barry N. Malzberg, first published in 1971 in a paperback edition by Ace Books.
The Man Who Loved Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first in his Edgar Rice Burroughs- and Leigh Brackett-inspired series The Mysteries of Mars. It was first published in paperback by Fawcett Gold Medal in March 1973. The first British edition was published in hardcover by White Lion in August of the same year. It was reissued by Wildside Press in December 1999. The novel has also been translated into German.
Time and Again is a 1951 science fiction novel by American writer Clifford D. Simak. An alternate paperback title was First He Died; it was also serialized as Time Quarry.