The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury's science fiction is unlike anything else being written at the time, and that is particularly true of The Martian Chronicles. A collection of linked stories that tell of the human conquest of Mars, it is full of mysterious elements that add a haunting quality to the book. There's the human expedition that arrives on Mars only to discover a mid-West town exactly like the one the astronauts grew up in; there are the dead people from their past who reappear to the colonists; there are strange ruins and religious experiences. Yet amid all of this there are threatening images as well: a cataclysmic war on Earth witnessed from space, lonely colonists searching for company amid deserted townships, isolated settlements where the dead seem to be still alive.   This is a vision of Mars that you really won't find anywhere else, but once you read these stories the images will stay with you forever. This is a beautiful book that should not be missed.