Dreams about Mars--or set on Mars.
We're suckered by Mars. It's just a poorer Earth--small, cold, dry, thin-aired. But its clear desert air made early astronomers focus on it, not cloudy Venus. Think! Venus is closer, brighter, a near-perfect twin of Earth in size and density, it has a real atmosphere... and radar sees through the clouds, now. But culture's thicker than clouds--for generations, we've longed for Mars! Sure, Venus is too hot to land on, now. But in the long run, isn't Venus a richer terraforming prize? Way more to work with--more solar energy, lots of atmosphere (if you CAN get rid of the CO2, the remaining "trace" gases would form a nice thick atmosphere--thick enough so properly engineered people could probably fly), lots of organic molecules, heat to speed up bacterial processes, MUCH more land if you succeed, and nice strong gravity to make your biosphere permanent, unlike Mars where it'll all evaporate again, sooner or later. Okay, so we may have build a parasol, then pelt Venus with ice-comets to give it seas for all that CO2 to dissolve in and precipitate into carbonate rocks... but we may need to hailstorm Mars, too, to make it truly bloom.
Mind you, I'm a sucker for Mars too. It's so spectacular--the mountains, the canyons... I can't resist it either. I dream way less of Venus--so rarely, compared to Mars, that it didn't even rate its own list. But it's media hype, people! Buy land on Venus now, before the rush.
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BRADBURY'S DEATH IS A LONELY BUSINESS: by Wayan; 1994/1/12, a book review? Or a life review?
Bradbury's Mars was based on his life in Venice, California. What worlds grow out of my San Francisco? |
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THE DIEBACK: by Wayan; 1998/10/12, an ecological warning dream.
A plague begins on terraformed Mars and spreads to Earth. Population biology made it inevitable...
CAUTION: POPULATION CRASH (OFFSTAGE) |
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FUTILITY: by Wayan; 1973/11/23, a time-machine dream.
I'm Liza Doolittle on Mars. With Mr. Wells's Time Machine. Lost, in fact. Can I get home? Should I? |
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IN THE ENEMY MINE: by Wayan; 1986/1/11, a psychic dream.
On Mars, a child-sacrificing cult of miners wants to kill me, but something strange happens.... |
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LASERBOMB: by Wayan, 1995/7/3, a dream on paralysis.
I'm on Mars. The terraforming is going well. Then saboteurs set off a laserbomb in the street near me...
CAUTION: TERRORISM |
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MARS GLOBE : by Emmy Ingeborg Brun, 1909, a nondream but hallucinatory globe
This handmade globe of Mars, state-of-the-art for 1909, has Schiaparelli's
nomenclature and Lowell's canals--mostly illusory, though not quite all... |
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MARS REBORN: by Wayan; 15 pages, 27 photos, 2003/9/22, a tour of a sculpted/virtual world
Mars as it will be 1000 years from now, terraformed. A guided tour with photos... |
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MARTIAN AIRLOCK and JAGUAR MASK: by Wayan, 2015/6/22, twin shamanic near-nightmares
Jaguar Mask: a were-jaguar stuck in human form asks me to sew a new jaguar face on."But won't it hurt?...
Martian Airlock: I'm suitless on Mars. Freezing, choking, I dive into an airlock & slam the switch--but it's sabotaged... |
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THE MARTIAN FEUD: by Wayan; 1994/3/10, a warning dream.
On Old Mars, before it died, two rival families' teasing finally goes too far, despite the whale's warning...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE |
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MARTIAN ROBOTS DRESS LIKE FREUD: by Wayan, 1975/8/16, an absurd dream... predicting my life-path?
Martian robots pester me. I flee through the Asteroids, leaving chaos, cratering Earth.
Years later on my farm, a bot shows up disguised as Freud. I start mudslinging... |
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MARTIAN TIME-LOOP: by Wayan; 1994/5/2, a dream of the future shaping the past.
I'm a small boy in a ship docking in Mars Orbital Station. I meet a strange man: myself as an adult! Uh-oh... |
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MEREDYTH AND LILLY: by Meredyth Watts; May 2010, 2010/11/14 and 2010/12/7, episodic dreams
I dream over & over of the same place, time, & woman. We fall in love. Strangely, I'm the one who gets pregnant... |
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MISFITS ON MARS: by Wayan; 1986/11/20, an epic dream; the climax of the dreamseries UNICORN TAG.
From the punk clubs of Frisco to the Safeways of Si Valley to the vermilion sands of Mars,
Silky the were-nightmare fights for the Misfits against every cliche in science fiction... |
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MUIR ON MARS: by Wayan; 1994/5/14, a dreamtale.
I'm John Muir reborn on Mars, supporting Mars First against tree-cutters, who poison their enemies... |
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OLYMPUS UNMASKED: by Wayan; 2022/8/10, a far-future dream
On terraformed Mars, we set out to climb Mt Olympus without
oxygen masks. The first miles are OK, but the air thins until...
CAUTION: ANTICIPATED DEATH? |
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POLES NOW, TROPICS LATER: by Wayan; 1997/3/27, a dream on the pace of change.
I'm a Martian revolutionary, making the glaciers grow. The equator's still dry, but change is coming... |
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SLAVES ON RED MARS: by Wayan; 1999/8/15, a dreamfable on will.
As Mars demands independence from Earth, Jovians enslave us all! Now freedom-fighting is personal... |
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SUB AND SEALERS: by Wayan; 1996/8/9, a dream on trusting your senses.
Earth scientists ignore the natives' tales of abyssal monsters, but the locals easily track a Terran sub... |
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TOO PROUD FOR MARS: by Wayan; 1990/6/23, a dreamtale.
A hero has solved all Earth's problems. Now what? A trucker friend invites him on a road trip to Mars... |
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TOWER OF THE MARTIAN DEAD: by Wayan, 1983/7/7; a dream-poem of an exo-Valhalla
Climbing a mountain on Mars, I reach a hall where I'm transformed into a cryophilic being.
Then I feast on methane soup with the heroic Martian dead... |