The Martian Chronicles

 The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1946-1950) 182 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by Mark Boyett. This is a series of short stories that are loosely connected around Earth people colonizing Mars. Some short stories I would give 4 out of 5 stars, some I would give 3 stars, and some 2 stars. In my opinion it averages to 3 out of 5 stars. "There Will Come Soft Rains" is often considered a top example of Bradbury's work here. It reminded me of Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" poem. In an automated home the owners and neighbors are gone. There is no one left to fix the technology or stop the flames when a fire starts. I got a kick out of the story "Usher," which is a homage to Edgar Allan Poe and Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney. A wealthy man loves these horror books and movie that have been banned by those "protecting" civilized society. Fans of Tim Burton creations will enjoy this dark tale too. Some of the other stories express interesting thoughts about colonization. Some are quite dated. There are evidently editions of this that push the years that these stories happen back thirty years. This audiobook used the original text. So, all these events are imagined to take place from 1999 to 2026.