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Sleepers of Mars

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Another compilation of John Wyndham's earlier work. Five stories dealing with space travel, time travel, aliens and superweapons. These were written before we knew what we know now about our solar system. Published in a time that seemed more innocent, when Britain was the strongest nation in the world, when it was taken for granted that humans would walk on other planets before the end of the twentieth century.

The first story, "Sleepers of Mars", is a sequel of sorts to "Stowaway to Mars", dealing with different characters. Those who have read "Stowaway to Mars" will know that the action takes place in 1981. "Sleepers of Mars" is set just after the British rocket heads back to Earth, while the Russian team, who were in competition with the British, are stranded. Like many other stories about Mars, it mentions the canals that were thought to exist there.

"Invisible Monster", is like a vague prototype of the film "Predator", with an invisible alien creature that feeds on anything that strays into its path. The growing creature was brought back to Earth after a returning explorer ship crashed in a forest.

"Worlds to Barter" is a story in which the future makes contact with the past/present. A matter of us swapping places (and times) with the highly evolved descendents who live in an Earth in decline.

"The Man From Earth" is a fairly standard story of a man kept in a zoo on Venus. He warns the Venusians not to accept the overtures of the destructive, self-serving species he represents,unaware that he is the last human in the universe.

"The Third Vibrator", my personal favourite, offers an explanation of how two lost civilizations, Lemuria and Atlantis, were destroyed by a weapon of unimaginable power. This weapon (with the rather unfortunate name "vibrator") can turn miles of land into desert. Atlantis was once a mighty, technologically advanced civilization that passed into legend after its total destruction. The same danger faces 20th century civilization when the weapon is built again by the scientist who had destroyed the two other civilizations in his previous lives. This story was written nineteen years before the hydrogen bomb came into being (for the first time?)

These stories, written by a man best remembered for destroying civilization with blinding comets and triffid seed, are quite clever in a charming sort of way. Light, easy reading.