[fantasyfan]

I found TMC a very rewarding experience. The best of the stores are wonderful and quite well crafted with interesting thematic reverberations. "The Long Years", for instance, is a mirror of "The Third Expedition." The latter plays with the idea that the Martians create images which finally destroy the crew by playing on their loneliness and need for an image of Home. In "The Long Years" Hatheway recreates images of his lost family so as to survive loneliness and need. Both stories end with death and have deeply haunting conclusions.

I found the abandonment of Mars by the settlers rather difficult to accept as believable. Why go back to a deatroyed civilization? Well, perhaps one could see it as an example of humankind's tendency to embrace a society that provides only an illusion of fulfillment and happiness. Viewed this way, the answer provided by the final story is that only by becoming "Martians" in the sense of rejecting the culture of Earth, with its false visions, and the beguiling dreamlike betrayal it offers--and beginning anew is there a possible future for the race. Thus, the Martian Chronicles end where they began.

I read "Usher II" and there is no doubt but that it is a gem--a kind of brilliant ironic miniature of Fahrenheit 451. It was deleted to be replaced by "The Fire Balloons". I prefer the latter tale as I feel that it fits into the general atmosphere and world of TMC better than "Usher II" but tastes vary and many may prefer the other.