Talk:The Illustrated Man

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[edit] fire balloons

My 2001 edition of the Illustrated Man doesn't include "The Fire Balloons", but I remember reading it in the Martian Chronicles. Can someone check to see if it appeared in other editions, or if it's a mistake? — Ultrarob 19:15, 12 December 2005

I don't have it in my edition either, plus "The Rocket Man". I wonder why...--80.227.100.62 09:13, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

"The Fire Balloons" was published in the UK edition of The Martian Chronicles (The Silver Locusts), and in the first U.S. edition of The Illustrated Man (1951). It does not appear in all editions of The Illustrated Man. — Walloon 19:40, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

My edition has some other changes: from the list in the article, I'm missing: The Rocket Man, The Fire Balloons, The Exiles and The Concrete Mixer. However, mine includes Usher II and The Playground, which, funnily enough, aren't listed in the article. Abednigo (talk) 20:57, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

I looked up the contents in the Tuck reference and it appears that you have a British edition which has a slightly different contents. I've also added a note in the article detailing this.--Rtrace (talk) 22:00, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Technology can destroy mankind

The stories are all basically about how technology can destroy mankind,

Well, they aren't all about that. It's a couple of decades or more since I read that collection, but if I recall some of the stories correctly:

• The Long Rain is about some men stranded on Venus and being driven mad by the incessant rain, trying to get to the shelter where they can get dry.
• The Fire Balloons is about Catholic missionaries who find aliens with no physical bodies, incapable of temptation or sin (other than pride, perhaps)
• The Last Night of the World is about the destruction of the world, but its not done by technology, everyone just wakes up one morning knowing that the world will end that night, and they calmly set about putting their affairs in order.
• The Fox in the Forest - wasn't that about someone seeking refuge from a persecuting state by hiding in the past?

There's no particular common theme, just collected stories with a really cool frame story. Malcolm Farmer

I fixed the sentence. I didn't find the "frame story" all that interesting, to be honest. I liked all the short stories, but the frame story just seemed to be thrown together as a vehicle for the short stories. I'm not saying I would've done anything different, though... :-) —Frecklefoot 21:20, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)

The Fire Balloons is actually about Episcopal priests, not Catholic. Walloon 02:00, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Concrete Mixer

I'ma go ahead and fill this part in. 16:10, 26 July, 2006