Editing Mars in fiction (section)

=== ''The War of the Worlds'' ===
{{Further|The War of the Worlds}}
The 1897 novel ''The War of the Worlds'' by [[H. G. Wells]], which depicts an [[alien invasion]] of [[Earth]] by Martians in search of resources, represented a turning point in Mars fiction. Rather than being portrayed as essentially human, [[Martian (The War of the Worlds)|Wells's Martians]] have a completely inhuman appearance and cannot be communicated with. Rather than being noble creatures to emulate, the Martians dispassionately kill and exploit the Earthlings like livestock—a critique of contemporary [[British colonialism]] in general and its devastating effects on the [[Aboriginal Tasmanians]] in particular.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="AshleyLostMars" /><ref name="MarkleyTurnOfTheCentury" /><ref name="CrossleyWells">{{Cite book |last=Crossley |first=Robert |title=[[Imagining Mars: A Literary History]] |date=2011 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6927-1 |pages=110–128 |language=en |chapter=H. G. Wells and the Great Disillusionment |quote=But in the last decades of the nineteenth century, a discernible shift of locale took place. Fictional goings and comings between Earth and Mars took precedence over all other forms of the interplanetary romance. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3TDEDfEPdEC&pg=PA110}}</ref> The novel set the tone for the majority of the science-fictional depictions of Mars in the decades that followed in portraying the Martians as malevolent and Mars as a dying world.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> Beyond Martian fiction, the novel had a large influence on the broader science fiction genre,<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="JennerDeathStars">{{Cite book |last=Jenner |first=Nicky |title=4th Rock from the Sun: The Story of Mars |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-2251-9 |pages=63–82 |language=en |chapter=Death Stars and Little Green Martians |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od7oDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT65}}</ref><ref name="ScienceFictionAndEcology">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Stableford |title=A Companion to Science Fiction |date=2005 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-79701-3 |editor-last=Seed |editor-first=David |editor-link=<!-- No article at present (April 2024); Wikidata Q112491049 --> |pages=129, 135–136 |language=en |chapter=Science Fiction and Ecology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiphRocVYRwC&pg=PA129}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Webb |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Webb (scientist) |url= |title=All the Wonder that Would Be: Exploring Past Notions of the Future |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51759-9 |series=Science and Fiction |pages=104 |language=en |chapter=Aliens |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51759-9_4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVPJDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA104}}</ref> and inspired rocket scientist [[Robert H. Goddard]].<ref name="Webb" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Science fiction meets science fact: how film inspired the Moon landing |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/science-fiction-meets-science-fact-how-film-inspired-moon-landing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725122048/https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/science-fiction-meets-science-fact-how-film-inspired-moon-landing |archive-date=2021-07-25 |access-date=2022-08-20 |website=[[Royal Museums Greenwich]] |language=en}}</ref> According to science fiction essayist [[Bud Webster]], "It's impossible to overstate the importance of ''The War of the Worlds'' and the influence it's had over the years."<ref name="Webster" /> 

[[File:Orson Welles War of the Worlds 1938.jpg|alt=Photograph of Orson Welles surrounded by reporters|thumb|[[Orson Welles]] interviewed by reporters after his [[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|1938 radio adaptation]] of ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' caused a panic.]]
An unauthorized sequel—''[[Edison's Conquest of Mars]]'' by [[Garrett P. Serviss]]—was released in 1898,<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="Roberts1850–1900">{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Adam |title=The History of Science Fiction |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-56957-8 |edition=2nd |series=Palgrave Histories of Literature |pages=174, 177 |chapter=SF 1850–1900: Mobility and Mobilisation |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-56957-8_7 |oclc=956382503 |quote=[...] ''Edison's Conquest of Mars'' (1898) by Garrett P Serviss which was written as a more upbeat American sequel—unauthorised, naturally—to H G Wells's Martian invasion story ''The War of the Worlds'' |author-link=Adam Roberts (British writer) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gq7LDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174}}</ref> as was a parody by {{Interlanguage link|Charles L. Graves|qid=Q16944166}} and [[E. V. Lucas]] titled ''{{Interlanguage link|The War of the Wenuses|qid=Q124090563}}''.<ref name="CrossleyInventingANewMars" /><ref name="Westfahl2022Venus" /> Wells's story gained further notoriety in 1938 when [[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|a radio adaptation]] by [[Orson Welles]] in the style of a news broadcast was mistaken for a real newscast by some listeners in the US, leading to panic;<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination">{{Cite book |last=Markley |first=Robert |title=Dying Planet: Mars in Science and the Imagination |date=2005 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-8727-5 |pages=182–229 |language=en |chapter=Mars at the Limits of Imagination: The Dying Planet from Burroughs to Dick |author-link=Robert Markley |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loalUL6vakoC&pg=PA203}}</ref> less famously, a 1949 broadcast in [[Quito]], Ecuador, also resulted in a riot.<ref name="Baxter" /><ref name="JennerDeathStars" /><ref name="HartzmanMarsInvadesPopCulture">{{Cite book |last=Hartzman |first=Marc |title=The Big Book of Mars: From Ancient Egypt to The Martian, A Deep-Space Dive into Our Obsession with the Red Planet |date=2020 |publisher=Quirk Books |isbn=978-1-68369-210-2 |pages=148–201 |language=en |chapter=Mars Invades Pop Culture |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4W-2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157}}</ref> Several [[List of works based on The War of the Worlds#Sequels by other authors|sequels and adaptations by other authors]] have been written since, including the 1950 [[Superman]] comic book story "[[Black Magic on Mars]]" by [[Alvin Schwartz (comics)|Alvin Schwartz]]<!-- Westfahl (2022) incorrectly gives the name as "Alan" Schwartz --> and [[Wayne Boring]] where Orson Welles tries to warn Earth of an impending Martian invasion but is dismissed,<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="ReadingMars" /> the 1968 novel ''[[The Second Invasion from Mars]]'' (''Второе нашествие марсиан'') by [[Soviet science fiction]] writers [[Arkady and Boris Strugatsky]] where the Martians forgo military conquest in favour of infiltration,<ref name="ReadingMars" /> the 1975 novel ''[[Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds]]'' by [[Manly Wade Wellman]] and {{Interlanguage link|Wade Wellman|qid=Q121745664}} and the 1976 novel ''[[The Second War of the Worlds]]'' by [[George H. Smith (fiction author)|George H. Smith]] which both combine Wells's story with [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[Sherlock Holmes]] characters,<ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="PringleTheMartians">{{Cite book |title=The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: The Definitive Illustrated Guide |date=1996 |publisher=Carlton |isbn=1-85868-188-X |editor-last=Pringle |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Pringle |pages=269–270 |language=en |chapter=The Martians |oclc=38373691 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateencyclop0000unse_a8c7/page/269/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Andrew M. |title=Solar Flares: Science Fiction in the 1970s |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-84631-834-4 |pages=54 |language=en |chapter=Big Dumb Objects: Science Fiction as Self-Parody |author-link=Andrew M. Butler |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz4iCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54}}</ref> the 1976 novel ''[[The Space Machine]]'' by [[Christopher Priest (novelist)|Christopher Priest]] which combines the story of ''The War of the Worlds'' with that of Wells's 1895 novel ''[[The Time Machine]]'',<ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="PringleTheMartians" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=George |title=The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=2001 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |isbn=978-0-7867-0887-1 |pages=243 |language=en |chapter=Priest, Christopher |author-link=George Mann (writer) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mammothencyclope00mann/page/243/mode/2up}}</ref> the 2002 short story "[[Ulla, Ulla]]" by [[Eric Brown (writer)|Eric Brown]] which reframes the invasion as a desperate escape by a peaceful race from a dying world,<ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="MarkleyTransformingMars" /> and the 2005 novel ''[[The Martian War]]'' by [[Kevin J. Anderson]] where Wells himself goes to Mars and instigates a [[slave uprising]].<ref name="CrossleyAlternativeVisions" /> The authorized 2017 sequel novel ''[[The Massacre of Mankind]]'' by [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]] is set in 1920 in an [[alternate timeline]] where the events of the original novel caused World War I never to happen by making Britain war-weary and isolationist, and the Martians attack yet again after inoculating themselves against the microbes that were their downfall the first time.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |title=Sequels by Other Hands |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sequels_by_other_hands |access-date=2022-06-06 |edition=4th |author1-last=Langford |author1-first=David |author1-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Niall |date=2017-01-19 |title=Graphic Geometry: The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter |url=https://www.tor.com/2017/01/19/book-review-the-massacre-of-mankind-by-stephen-baxter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003140414/https://www.tor.com/2017/01/19/book-review-the-massacre-of-mankind-by-stephen-baxter/ |archive-date=2022-10-03 |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=[[Tor.com]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dihal |first=Kanta |author-link=Kanta Dihal |date=2017-02-12 |title=Review: ''The Massacre of Mankind'' |url=https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2017/02/12/review-the-massacre-of-mankind/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927102143/https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2017/02/12/review-the-massacre-of-mankind/ |archive-date=2022-09-27 |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=The Oxford Culture Review |language=en}}</ref>