1st Mars landing story-Read in eighties
Trying to remember a "first landing on Mars" story. Read in the eighties, short story, not a novel. Basically the story has an Apollo-style crew, I think, two guys in a lander and one in an orbiting craft. The two guys in the lander come out and what they see is an Edgar Rice Burroughs kind of landscape. The guy in the mothership is convinced, of course that they are hallucinating. Finally one of them takes off his helmet. His buddy on the surface sees him walking around with no ill effects, but the guy in the mothership reports that his suit telemetry says he's dead. Finally, the second guy takes his helmet off too. The end of the story has the two heading to the towers off in the distance while the other crewmember mourns them as dead.
story-identification mars
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
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asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
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add a comment |
Trying to remember a "first landing on Mars" story. Read in the eighties, short story, not a novel. Basically the story has an Apollo-style crew, I think, two guys in a lander and one in an orbiting craft. The two guys in the lander come out and what they see is an Edgar Rice Burroughs kind of landscape. The guy in the mothership is convinced, of course that they are hallucinating. Finally one of them takes off his helmet. His buddy on the surface sees him walking around with no ill effects, but the guy in the mothership reports that his suit telemetry says he's dead. Finally, the second guy takes his helmet off too. The end of the story has the two heading to the towers off in the distance while the other crewmember mourns them as dead.
story-identification mars
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Trying to remember a "first landing on Mars" story. Read in the eighties, short story, not a novel. Basically the story has an Apollo-style crew, I think, two guys in a lander and one in an orbiting craft. The two guys in the lander come out and what they see is an Edgar Rice Burroughs kind of landscape. The guy in the mothership is convinced, of course that they are hallucinating. Finally one of them takes off his helmet. His buddy on the surface sees him walking around with no ill effects, but the guy in the mothership reports that his suit telemetry says he's dead. Finally, the second guy takes his helmet off too. The end of the story has the two heading to the towers off in the distance while the other crewmember mourns them as dead.
story-identification mars
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
Trying to remember a "first landing on Mars" story. Read in the eighties, short story, not a novel. Basically the story has an Apollo-style crew, I think, two guys in a lander and one in an orbiting craft. The two guys in the lander come out and what they see is an Edgar Rice Burroughs kind of landscape. The guy in the mothership is convinced, of course that they are hallucinating. Finally one of them takes off his helmet. His buddy on the surface sees him walking around with no ill effects, but the guy in the mothership reports that his suit telemetry says he's dead. Finally, the second guy takes his helmet off too. The end of the story has the two heading to the towers off in the distance while the other crewmember mourns them as dead.
story-identification mars
story-identification mars
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
edited 5 hours ago
FuzzyBoots
91.8k12283438
91.8k12283438
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
asked 5 hours ago
Emsley WyattEmsley Wyatt
3,1051729
3,1051729
That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago
add a comment |
That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago
That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago
That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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"The Gods of Mars" by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick.
I can't imagine there is another story like this, but it differs in some insigificant ways from what's in the question. For example, there are 3 landed astronauts. You're right about the telemetry though.
When the third red light winked on, Commander Redenbaugh slumped
against the board and started to cry.
It ends describing what the men left behind see.
Last night, climbing the highest of the rolling hills to the north,
they had seen the lights of a distant city, glinting silver and yellow
and orange on the horizon, gleaming far away across the black midnight
expanse of the dead sea bottom like an ornate and intricate piece of
jewelry set against ink-black velvet.
Thomas was still not sure if he hoped there would be aristocratic red
men there, and giant four-armed green Tharks, and beautiful Martian
princesses....
Full text available here, h/t to Jenayah.
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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oldest
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votes
"The Gods of Mars" by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick.
I can't imagine there is another story like this, but it differs in some insigificant ways from what's in the question. For example, there are 3 landed astronauts. You're right about the telemetry though.
When the third red light winked on, Commander Redenbaugh slumped
against the board and started to cry.
It ends describing what the men left behind see.
Last night, climbing the highest of the rolling hills to the north,
they had seen the lights of a distant city, glinting silver and yellow
and orange on the horizon, gleaming far away across the black midnight
expanse of the dead sea bottom like an ornate and intricate piece of
jewelry set against ink-black velvet.
Thomas was still not sure if he hoped there would be aristocratic red
men there, and giant four-armed green Tharks, and beautiful Martian
princesses....
Full text available here, h/t to Jenayah.
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
add a comment |
"The Gods of Mars" by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick.
I can't imagine there is another story like this, but it differs in some insigificant ways from what's in the question. For example, there are 3 landed astronauts. You're right about the telemetry though.
When the third red light winked on, Commander Redenbaugh slumped
against the board and started to cry.
It ends describing what the men left behind see.
Last night, climbing the highest of the rolling hills to the north,
they had seen the lights of a distant city, glinting silver and yellow
and orange on the horizon, gleaming far away across the black midnight
expanse of the dead sea bottom like an ornate and intricate piece of
jewelry set against ink-black velvet.
Thomas was still not sure if he hoped there would be aristocratic red
men there, and giant four-armed green Tharks, and beautiful Martian
princesses....
Full text available here, h/t to Jenayah.
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
add a comment |
"The Gods of Mars" by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick.
I can't imagine there is another story like this, but it differs in some insigificant ways from what's in the question. For example, there are 3 landed astronauts. You're right about the telemetry though.
When the third red light winked on, Commander Redenbaugh slumped
against the board and started to cry.
It ends describing what the men left behind see.
Last night, climbing the highest of the rolling hills to the north,
they had seen the lights of a distant city, glinting silver and yellow
and orange on the horizon, gleaming far away across the black midnight
expanse of the dead sea bottom like an ornate and intricate piece of
jewelry set against ink-black velvet.
Thomas was still not sure if he hoped there would be aristocratic red
men there, and giant four-armed green Tharks, and beautiful Martian
princesses....
Full text available here, h/t to Jenayah.
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
"The Gods of Mars" by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick.
I can't imagine there is another story like this, but it differs in some insigificant ways from what's in the question. For example, there are 3 landed astronauts. You're right about the telemetry though.
When the third red light winked on, Commander Redenbaugh slumped
against the board and started to cry.
It ends describing what the men left behind see.
Last night, climbing the highest of the rolling hills to the north,
they had seen the lights of a distant city, glinting silver and yellow
and orange on the horizon, gleaming far away across the black midnight
expanse of the dead sea bottom like an ornate and intricate piece of
jewelry set against ink-black velvet.
Thomas was still not sure if he hoped there would be aristocratic red
men there, and giant four-armed green Tharks, and beautiful Martian
princesses....
Full text available here, h/t to Jenayah.
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
edited 2 hours ago
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
answered 3 hours ago
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
24.6k486126
24.6k486126
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
1
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
That's it. Thanks. Didn't remember where I'd read it, but that OMNI cover looks very familiar. (Of course it would, being that's a pretty famous picture of Mars.)
– Emsley Wyatt
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
I read it in the Wollheim "Best of" collection.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
1
1
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
Since there's been some discussion of how story IDs can be done: I knew I had read it, but it was newer than my core short story reading decades: 50s-70s, and that it wasn't by one of my core authors. Given that, for me, it pretty much had to be in one of the 2 "Year's Best" series I own, so I started browsing tables of contents of those series on isfdb (starting at the end and working backward). If a title sounded like it might relate to Mars, I pulled out the book and checked the story.
– Organic Marble
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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That almost sounds like the kind of thing Ray Bradbury would write, although I'm absolutely certain that this is not one of the stories collected in his The Martian Chronicles. I'm just guessing, though, that he could conceivably have written such a thing as a one-shot not connected to any of his other stories set on Mars . . . but I don't recall ever reading it in any of his collections.
– Lorendiac
3 hours ago