ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Reporter's Notebook
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water ... "
So British novelist and historian H.G. Wells began his 1898 story, "War of the Worlds," which established inhabitants of Mars as enemy invaders and set the trend for much literature which followed. The story got a boost in 1938 when it was updated and dramatized on radio, causing many listeners to believe what they heard was actually happening:
"Good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing's body. It's as large as a bear and glistens like wet leather. But that face. It - it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it ...'' said the hysterical voice heard by thousands - and believed by many - over the radio.
Science fiction is popular in the New River Valley. Susan Edlund at Blacksburg's Softcovers reports high sales in that genre. "It's probably the big one," she said. At neighboring Booksmith, which opened in downtown Blacksburg this spring, sales are also significant with students among the major buyers.
Waldenbooks at the New River Valley Mall also reports brisk sf sales. Printer's Ink in University Mall devotes its entire upstairs section to sci fi, and the University Volume Two Bookstore in that mall also has its own section (although it reports more sales of fantasy than sci fi).
The photos sent back by space probes nearly 20 years ago showed a lifeless planet and largely ended life-on-Mars stories.
Now a trace of what may represent ancient Martian bacterial life, inside a meteorite found in Antarctica, may revive them. At a news conference on the findings, a NASA scientist even speculated that life from an earlier Mars may have seeded our own planet and given rise to us.
In his "Martian Chronicles," a series of short stories started in 1946, Ray Bradbury came to a similar conclusion although in a more roundabout way:
"'I've always wanted to see a Martian,' said Michael. 'Where are they, Dad? You promised.'
'There they are,' said Dad, as he shifted Michael on his shoulder and pointed straight down.
The Martians were there ... Timothy and Michael and Robert and Mom and Dad.
The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water ...''
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB