First published in serial form in the 1950s The Martian Chronicles is a collection of short stories that together tell the story of humanity colonising Mars. Almost all the stories are entirely set on Mars, and deal with the effects that people have on the planet. The story opens in January 1999 with the heat (Read More)
Read online Long long ago, in a valley in the Andes, a group of settles were cut off from the rest of the world. They didn’t mind too much, they lived good lives and their land produced good crops. But a strange affliction caused their children to go blind. And their children’s children. And so (Read More)
This week’s essay for my Coursera Course got a 5. W00t :) Beatrice, Beatrice, let down your hair. Giovanni is not a pregnant woman, but his longing looks[1] into the enclosed garden next door echo the desires that resulted in Rapunzel being taken from her parents. Beatrice may live with her father but she shares (Read More)
Giovanni moves to a new city, and finds that his apartment overlooks an enclosed garden where beautiful flowers grow. And a beautiful woman tends to them. She is Beatrice, the daughter of Rappaccini. But a friend of his father, Baglioni, warns Giovanni away from Rappaccini. He values knowledge and science too much, he pursues it (Read More)
This is the story of a scientist who falls in love and marries. But his wife, although beautiful, has a flaw. A birthmark in the shape of a small red hand upon her cheek. Unluckily for her she is very very beautiful and, as her only flaw, this mark is a disaster. Or at least (Read More)