Robert Moore Williams' "The Sound of Bugles" (short story)

Adventure involving a well intentioned human researcher & a greedy human villain - both trying to figure out how Martians are able to literally create material things out of thin air. Villain will die trying; scientist will learn that their technique cannot be replicated by humans because it involves biological capability we lack, & that he's dealing with super-beings.

Collected in.

1. Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "Adventures on Other Planets".

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, September 1949.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Robert Moore Williams.

Mangalyaan, India's maiden Mars probe, is now orbiting Mars!

@ISRO.

Clifford D Simak's "Rule 18" (novelette, humor): How earth won it's first football match against Martians in decades

Martians have been beating earth in annual football match for a long time. And the diagnosis is: earth-men have become soft because of too much automation here; they never get a chance to exercise their muscles. But things are about to change as a cool newly invented gadget, the earth team's coach sick of losing too long, & a betting syndicate come together...

Title comes from one of the rules of the game that requires a player of the team to not only be natives of his world, but his 9 preceding generations should have been native of this world too. Coach will twist this rule in a curious way to win.

Update 21 July 2014:  Marooned has a note on an Isaac Asimov connection to this story.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, July 1938.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Retro Hugo Awards 1939 in novelette category.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Clifford D Simak.

Robert A Heinlein's "Double Star" (novel, politics): When an imposter became the ruler

This is a fast paced action story with a lot of election politics. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to because at some places the world view is too provincially Western; the thing that irritated me most was a small passage on the classification of world's languages - confidently told & totally bogus.

Story summary.

Here is a solar Empire spanning many worlds, dominated by humans though there are aliens on other worlds. It's a monarchy similar to British one - emperor is supreme but is a rubberstamp, & sits in a city on the moon. The parliament has the power & is elected; aliens can vote but must choose a human representative. Head of government is the "Supreme Minister", probably majority leader in Parliament.

Current ruling party has arranged the kidnapping of the leader of opposition at a time where he's absolutely required to be present at a Martian ceremony. So his underlings will recruit an actor, Lawrence Smith aka Lorenzo Smythe, to act as an imposter at the function. One thing will lead to another & new situations will keep coming up & the imposter will end up becoming the politician he's impersonating.

The story is, first & foremost, the character study of this actor, & evolution of his personality.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, Feb/Mar/Apr 1956.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Winner of Hugo Award 1957 in novel category.
Related: Stories of Robert Heinlein.

Ronald D Ferguson's "The meaning of life" (flash fiction, free)

It begins very well - with interesting illustrations of the idea that the ultimate purpose of life is ... to move stuff from here to there. But later parts become a bit too far fetched.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 17 October 2013.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Mangalyaan, India's first probe to Mars, launched

Very brief official announcement. Official name: "Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft". But local media has been calling it "Mangalyaan".

On to its nearly a year long journey - scheduled to go in orbit around Mars on 24 September 2014. Is currently in orbit around earth; will actually leave earth's orbit on 30 November 2013.

Incidentally, today is Tuesday - Mangalwaar in Hindi, literally "Mars day".

In addition to half a dozen Indian communications facilities - on land & on ships in the South Pacific, the "American NASA/JPL is providing communications and navigation support".

Cost: Rs 450 cr. US $72m at current exchange rate. It would really have been about $100m but for the free fall of rupee during the last couple of months.

Other perspectives on cost:

1. "Rs 12 per km, equivalent to Auto fare"! It's actually Rs 450 cr/780m km = Rs 5.77/km; that would be may be half the rickshaw fare in Bombay. That's ignoring the cost of the spaceship, just transport would be cheaper.
2. "Gravity movie cost 600 Cr and Mangalyaan ... is 450 Cr."
3. "in $ terms,entire ISRO #MarsMission cost less than the Commonwealth Games 2010 opening ceremony"
4. "2G Scam : Rs.176,000 crores | Mangalyaan Rs. 450 crores".

Here are some official pictures of the spacecraft wrapped in golden colored film.

ISRO has posted a beautiful annotated schematic image of the planned spacecraft trajectory - from launch to capture by Mars.

It's a significantly cut down version of the original planned craft, with a lot of instruments dumped. Because the big-lift rocket is still in the works.

There is a sobering history of Mars launches, however. Both US & USSR had a lot of failures before reaching there, Japan & China have both tried & failed so far. And average international success rate so far has been less than 50%. "No other space agency has been fully successful with first attempts at similar programs." I'll wish ISRO all the best, but wait a year before celebrating - till it actually enters the Mars orbit.

There was a story in Indian Express about the project time till launch: 15 months when the NASA & ESA norm is 2-2.5 times as much. I wonder if politics played a role in compressing the project time: with elections due next year, Congress gets to claim the credit for launch?

"Mars Orbiter Mission carries five scientific payloads to observe Martian surface, atmosphere and exosphere extending up to 80,000 km for a detailed understanding of the evolution of that planet, especially the related geologic and the possible biogenic processes on that interesting planet. These payloads consist of a camera, two spectrometers, a radiometer and a photometer. ... MCC [Mars Color Camera] will also be used for probing the two satellites of Mars-Phobos & Deimos."

And can the jokes be far behind:

1. 'Meanwhile an astrologer on Mars: "Aapke bete par dharti ki dasha chal rahi hai."'
2. "Rajnikant lit a Diwali rocket yesterday. Today they're started calling it #Mangalyaan".
3. "The Biggest Rocket this Diwali Season".
4. A very funny illustration of the exterior of the rocket. Caution: Jokes are very Indian & might easily escape others.

Related: Fiction set on Mars, Phobos, Deimos.

William Tenn's "The Sickness" (novelette): A cure for cold war mistrust between US & USSR

This is a story of two epidemics caused by bugs - one physical & literal, other metaphorical as in US/USSR standoff. Knowing Tenn, I won't be surprised if he intended it as a satire on cold war war-mongering at both ends.

Story summary.

US & USSR not only are constantly at each other's throat, they also have independent programs to send people to Mars. An India-mediated joint expedition to Mars might hopefully help understanding & ease tensions - so the ship that goes there contains an equal number of Americans & Russians but with the condition that Americans will only speak Russian & Russians only English during the expedition.

On Mars, they'll find a vast & ancient underground city - still kept alive by machines though its inhabitants are long dead. Human explorer to the city will return infected with a highly contagious (via breathing) bug, & quickly infect the whole expedition. They'll nearly die out, but there is a miracle waiting - both for their personal sickness, & of humanity's sickness back on earth...

Collected in.

1.  William Tenn's "Time in Advance".

Fact sheet.

First published: Infinity Science Fiction, November 1955.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of William Tenn.

Douglas Drew's The Carbon Eater (novelette, chemical warfare, free): Neutralizing a carbon-eating poison gas

This appears to be a fairly oft-cited story. And from an author who was far from prolific.

I noticed at least 3 different things here:

1. Arguments justifying colonialism. Didn't go down very well with me.
2. A "carbon eating" gas that sounded somewhat like aliens' "iron mining" in one of the "doc" Smith's "Lensman" novels. In this case, it's an extremely active gas & liquid. Martians employ it as a weapon to rid themselves of carbon-based human colonists. A lakeful of this material, with a little electrical stimulation, is producing enough gas to kill all humans on the world. Our chemist hero, of course, will save most humans, except for early casualties.
   
   I liked this part though the details are hand-wavy.
3. Hero against the bull-headed establishment, & winning in spite of them. Lot of action in later parts.

See also.

1. Murray Leinster's "Tallien Three" (download in 4 parts, beginning here): Hero is forced similarly to burn a lot of infrastructure near end, to similarly save a cityful of lives.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, June 1940.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding (British Edition), June 1940.
Rating: A. 
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.

Leigh Brackett's "Martian Quest" (short story, frontier hazards, free)

Fast paced, quick read.

Story summary.

There is a new frontier being opened at the edge of the harsh Martian desert, with settlers that are mostly impoverished from earth & Venus. It's essentially a farming community, with on very big local hazard: "Khom", the "great desert lizard" the size of a small dinosaur that eats crops &, when disturbed, kills people. No one knows how to counter it.

Martin Drake, newly arrived, & prompted by a local beauty, will find a solution to the Khom hazard.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, February 1940.
Download full text from Baen Books.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Leigh Brackett.

Eric Frank Russell's "Down, Rover, Down" aka "The Case for Earth" (short story, first contact, free): Man not mature enough to join elder aliens' union

One of the minor stories of Russell.

Story summary.

Moon & Venus have been conquered; now it's time to expand outwards. Carlow is the sole occupant of the first human ship to Mars. He'll lose contact with earth on the way, & meet an interstellar reception committee on arrival there. And made to attend hearing that will decide the fate of humanity...

Notes.

Title is alien's answer to human's objection to aliens' decision:
  "Even if we haven't learned to keep the peace, we are smart & tough & we keep going. Man's a rover, see?"
  "Down, rover, down!"

See also.

1. Robert Heinlein's "Have Space Suit - Will Travel": Has a somewhat similar sitting of an alien committee to judge the fate of humanity.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nebula Science Fiction, #14 (November 1955).
Download full text as part of the scans of the magazine it originally appeared in.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Leigh Brackett's "The Treasure of Ptakuth" (short story, adventure, treasure hunt, free): Want to trade immortality for sleep?

Imagine a rejuvenation treatment that gives you practical immortality except from violent action. But it has a side effect: it takes away your ability to sleep. With this kind of technology in a story edited by Campbell, I will expect author to examine the implications of it. Not so. This is clearly a pre-Campbell story that somehow slipped through his editing.

Told as an adventure & as a treasure hunt, with a girl added so she can be rescued by hero. Set on Mars.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, April 1940.
Download full text from Baen Books.
Rating: B.
Among the stories in Astounding/Analog issues edited John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Leigh Brackett.

Harl Vincent's "Neutral Vessel" (novelette, kinetic weapon, free): NY WTC attacks' style plot from several decades before

Bad men don't hijack a plane here. They hijack a spaceship. And target is the destruction of an entire world. Accelerating a huge spaceship to unbelievable speeds & ramming it into a world.

According to Johnny Pez's introduction to the story, this story features "science fiction’s first kinetic weapon". He also talks of parallels of the plot with then about-to-start WWII & popular perceptions in the US then.

Story summary.

Venus & Mars are both inhabited. There is intermarriage across worlds - so presumably both are settled by humans. There has been a war going on between Mars & Venus. Earth has stayed neutral so far.

In this background, the drive & communications systems of a large passenger ship on earth-to-Venus run are sabotaged by Martian agents in a way that makes the ship accelerate uncontrollably to eventually hit Venus.

Can the captain & his crew be able to save themselves & a world...

See also.

1. Pat Forde's "In Spirit" (download): A collection of 9/11 stories where one of the culprits is forced to experience the event from victims' perspective.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, January 1940.
Download full text from Johnny Pez's blog (story is distributed over 5 pages; links to other pages available with the story).
Rating: B.
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog.

Norman Spinrad's "Agent of Chaos" (novel): Autocracy vs democracy vs "chaos"

I'm not sure I understand the point of the book, though I loved the later parts:

1. "Freedom from" (hunger, disease, ...) is a less desirable goal for a population than "freedom to" (do what you want, e.g.). Author uses them in the sense where former is a white list of specific freedoms that can be granted by the rulers, while the later is open ended. That it's impossible to list down the freedoms you should have; an evolving universe constantly offers new opportunities, & the society's default should be that you can go pursue any if you are so inclined.
2. It's not just the universe that has a tendency to become more chaotic with time (increasing entropy), but societies too. To maintain order in a society requires "social energy". But tendency towards chaos is the natural, hence more desirable, state. In the context of story, I could not disagree; proponents of chaos are opposing a despicable tyranny. But as a general principle?

Story itself pits 3 antagonists against each other:

1. "Hegemony" runs the government. Descended from former US, Soviet Union, & their allies, it runs a sort of world government that spawns several inhabited planets & moons of Sol, besides earth. At the top of the government is a 10-member oligarchy, partly elected. While there is no hunger or disease in this society, citizens are really treated as cattle: do an "Unpermitted Act" & the punishment is immediate death, citizens are killed at every tiny provocation (& non-provacation too), you need a pass to travel anywhere, ...
2. "Democratic League" is a rebel group that primarily uses terror to make its point, & is working towards a "free" society. But its ideologues are not very clear on the idea of freedom.
3. "Brotherhood of Assassins" is a mislabeled group that believes in chaos. To them also, killing innocents is no big deal - so long as it achieves whatever goal. They've been introducing random acts in orderly Hegemony, because ... chaos is good!

First two thirds, or more, has a lot of killings & random acts of terror. Things really start falling in place near end.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1967.
Rating: B.
Included in "grubthrower"'s "Top 10 obscure but superb science fiction novels".
Related: Stories of Norman Spinrad.

Mari Ness' "And the Hollow Space Inside" (short story, cyborg, free)

We've come a long way since C L Moore invented cyborgs in "No Woman Born". Moore's version was an extreme one: only brain of a fire victim could be saved; so she got a steel body. Since then, most (but not all) cyborgs have had an intermediate form - some parts of the body are mechanical.

I liked this story for a single reason: this is one of the rare stories that looks at the other extreme form of cyborgs as the central idea: what if someone is born deformed, where deformity is a complete lack of brain tissue? In this case, the baby is saved by providing computer to complete the individual.

The story, however, does not share the spirit of Moore's original. Moore doesn't demand the reader's sympathy; we're happy & inspired to meet a complete & competent individual. This one is more like many modern stories of the ilk - emotional scenes galore.

Fact sheet.

First published: Clarkesworld, February 2012.
Download text/audio from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2012" list.

Alex Apostolides & Mark Clifton's "We're Civilized!" (short story, colonialism, free): Martians are savage to Man, Man is to...

First human expedition to Mars, led by a military commander, claims all of Mars for Western Alliance. The process involves a general genocide of Martians, but who has time to notice such minor details...

Our pioneers of Mars return to earth & are being felicitated. Only all doesn't go according to organizers plan...

See also.

1. A Bertram Chandler's "Familiar Pattern" (download): Very similar idea.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, August 1953.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Mark Clifton.

Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "The Sky is Falling" (as by C H Liddell) (novelette, doomsday, free)

One of the really minor stories of authors.

Johnny Dyson is a crew member on a ship sent to Mars to mine some ore that might help prevent an almost certain apocalypse ("Blow-Up") on earth. But he loves his life too much, doesn't want to return from Mars to die.

So chase & drama on Mars. He will fail, & will be forced to return. Only it will be too late to return...

Fact sheet.

First published: Planet Stories, Fall 1950.
Download full text.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner, C L Moore, as by C H Liddell.

A E van Vogt's "Slan" (novel, adventure): Supermen hunted by men

Leave your brains somewhere, & enjoy a generally gripping adventure on earth & Mars.

Story summary.

Humanity is divided into 3 races: normal humans, "true slans", & "tendrilless slans". "True slans" are carefully bred intellectual & physical supermen from natural human mutations. "Tendrilless slans" are carefully mutated form of "true slans" - they don't have tell-tale "golden" tendrils in their hair that act as telepathic antennae in "true slans", & they're'nt telepathic. It's these tendrils that sets "true slans" visually apart from normal humans, &
makes them easy hate targets - hence "tendrilless slans".

This is the story of Jommy Cross, 9 year old when we first meet him. His mother has just been killed for being a slan; he's being hunted to be killed. We'll see him growing up in a world that hates him for being what he is, but like a true hero, he never stoops to becoming an animal in spite of his superhuman abilities.

We'll also meet Kathleen Layton, a 13 year old who's also on the death row for being a slan; her story will abruptly end partway through & later return in a totally crazy way.

Notes.

1. The word "slan" is a sort of shortening of "Samuel Lann". He's the semi-mythical man who arranged conditions for first "true slans" to breed in numbers.

See also.

1. Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "Mutant" series of short stories (most are online): Far more thoughtful exploration of similar idea & plot.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec 1940.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of A E van Vogt.

Ross Rocklynne's "Escape through Space" (short story, adventure, free): Riding through solar corona, in a comet's shadow

A communist revolution on Mars, throwing out local royalty, also killed all of royal family, except a teenage princess. Revolutionists want to kill her in a more subtle way.
So they enlist services of Larry Sharon, a visitor from earth, to carry her "safely" to earth; plan is to kill both during their voyage. Story is of the fugitives escaping their interceptors...

Fact sheet.

First published: Amazing Stories, June 1938.
Download full text from Internet Archive. [via Marooned]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Ross Rocklynne.

Robert Sheckley's "Bad Medicine" (as by Finn O'Donnevan) (short story, humor, free): A neurotic gets the wrong treatment

Elwood Caswell has strong homicidal urge towards his friend Magnessen. Recognizing his own problem, he goes out & buys "the Rex Regenerator, built by General Motors" - a "mechanotherapist". Only there was a problem in delivery - the model he was delivered is meant to cure Martians.

So the machine will treat Elwood strangely...

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, July 1956.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks. [via John@ClassicScienceFiction]
Download audio from Project Gutenberg.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Robert Sheckley.

John Varley's "Just Another Perfect Day" (short story, amnesia, free): Living many 1-day-long lives

Best part of this story is ... call it style? I was hooked from the start. Otherwise a rehash of old ideas.

"Martians" in the story were a bit of distraction & just lengthened the story without adding to it.

Story summary.

A man wakes up in a room with two doors & no windows, & neither door will open. He'll find a letter, & we begin learning about his circumstances...

See also.

1. John R Pierce's "Invariant": Another story where a man keeps winding down to his mental state as of a specific time.

Fact sheet.

First published: Rod Sterling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1989.
Download full text from Lightspeed. [via QuasarDragon]
Rating: B. 
Related: Stories of John Varley.