Edward W. Ludwig 14 min read

Buried neck-deep in Martian sand to roast by day and freeze by night, Monk O'Hara chuckles as noisily as a buried man can, 'nothing to worry about,' he mutters, 'not a goddam thing.'

Edward W. Ludwig's 1954 story is a colorful colonization and adventure tale of survival on Mars. Vivid, wry golden-age pulp. Read it for a rousing red-planet yarn where a tough Earthman, left to die by hostile tribesmen, banks on wind and wit to survive, and reckons with the mysterious creature called the Aab.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

14 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry