Martian Chronicles

     "The ship came down from space.  It came from the stars and the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent gulfs of space.  It was a new ship; it had fire in its body and men in its metal cells, and it moved with a clean silence, fiery and warm."
 

The Martian Chronicles was written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1950.   Some would say this book is pure fantasy, but I say look: it's got rockets, it's got Mars: it's sci-fi, and he can really write:

     "Suppose all of these houses aren't real at all, this bed not real, but only figments of my own imagination, given substance by telepathy and hypnosis through the Martians, thought Captain John Black.  Suppose these houses are really some other shape, but, by playing on my desires and wants, these Martians have made this seem like my old home town, my old house, to lull me out of my suspicions.  What better way to fool a man, using his own mother and father as bait?"
     "And suppose those two people in the next room, asleep, are not my mother and father at all.  But two Martians, incredibly brilliant, with the ability to keep me under this dreaming hypnosis all of the time."

Ray Bradbury is such a good writer; Martian Chronicles reminds me of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, another classic that dwells upon the idea of the same city viewed from many different perspectives=many different cities.   I think these books are very similar in a way, but I digress...Ray Bradbury is a national treasure and  has inspired a Tina Fey-esque video, that is kinda funny and kinda obscene, but he said he liked it anyway.  Ray Bradbury is a good sport; and Racheldoesstuff is a riot that is worth watching at least once; here's the video: (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)