"If You Knew What It Is To Change from the Thing You Are to the Thing That Is Me, Today, Here, Now”

"I, Mars."

By Ray Bradbury (1920-2012; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

Illustration by Hannes Bok (Wayne Francis Woodard, 1914-64; ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: Super Science Stories, April 1949.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short story (7 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

   "I understand. I remember. We are one. I am Emil Barton and you are Emil Barton."

A doppelganger? An evil twin? Schizophrenia? Whatever it is, it's a living nightmare . . .

Main characters:

~ Old Emil Barton ("You’re only a voice. If I could show you how lonely the years are. End it, kill yourself!"), young Emil Barton ("All colonials were called home from Mars, by rocket. I got left behind!”), and Captain Rockwell ("We’ve repairs on our rocket. Exhausted from the flight. Can you come help?").

References:

- "Alone on Mars":

  There's a book and a movie made from it with that same theme (Warning! Spoilers! Wikipedia HERE and HERE).

- "Today, the atom war started on Earth":

  It could well be that the science fiction community is the only non-military component of society to have turned the biggest profit from the prospect of an atomic war. Even in 1949, when the public had yet to internalize the implications, Bradbury appreciated how devastating such a conflict would be in reality; see Wikipedia (HERE) for the grim details.

- "an old Laurel and Hardy":

  "Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to 'talkies.' From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "War and Peace"; "Love’s Labor [sic] Lost":

  For years getting completely through Tolstoy's epic novel has been regarded as a major accomplishment, requiring time and patience (Wikipedia HERE); Shakespeare's comedy 

had the themes of self-denial and concealed identities (Wikipedia HERE).

- "the late twin moons"; "the moons of Mars":

  Those would be Phobos and Deimos (Wikipedia HERE).

- "New Schenectady":

  Old Schenectady is still with us (Wikipedia HERE).

- "the dry Martian seas and the blue hills of Mars"; "rushing over blue hills and into iron valleys of Mars"; "the dark canal where the stars shone in the quivering waters":

  See "Resources" below.

Resources:

- For a while there, Ray Bradbury could have copywrited his own unique version of the Red Planet with the Martian Chronicles sequence, of which "I, Mars" is a part; thanks to those spoilsport space probes, though, the real Mars looks a lot different (Wikipedia HERE); but before then SFF authors felt free to let their imaginations run riot (Wikipedia HERE), and they did. For example, a deluxe illustrated book edition depicting the deplorable behavior of Martian tourists is available at Roy Glashan's Library (HERE).

- Ray Bradbury is no stranger to ONTOS; we last made contact with his Marionettes, Inc. stories, "Marionettes, Inc.," "Changeling," and "Punishment Without Crime" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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