You hear that? That's the haunting, deafening silence of the Red Planet in this full-length audiobook of Ray Bradbury's classic short story, "I, Mars" - alternately published as "Night Call, Collect."
Emil Barton, Martian colonist, has been stranded on Mars for sixty years (take THAT, Matt Damon!) and is utterly alone... until the telephone rings on his 80th birthday. But the voice on the line isn't a long-awaited rescue ship. It's the recorded voice of his younger self, a brilliant, arrogant man from decades past—an invention Barton created to stave off loneliness that has now turned into a relentless, mocking tormentor.
What if your greatest enemy was your own past? Come along with me on this chilling exploration of isolation, technology, and the psychological horror of confronting your own lost hopes.
A compelling "lost" tale from the era of The Martian Chronicles, "I, Mars" is a profound and deeply melancholy journey into madness against the desolate, beautiful backdrop of a would be human civilization on Mars.
The story still resonates decades later as Barton inadvertently created an AI of his own that has the power to ruin his life. I give the story my best reading and try to capture the poignant despair and creeping dread of Bradbury's words - and it was fun to read the voices too! Perfect for fans of classic science fiction, dark fantasy, and chilling audio drama.
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I, Mars was originally published in Super Science Stories, April 1949.
