"The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury; 6/10

 Read by Peter Marinker

The best thing that can be said for this collection, at least by me, is that Bradbury has great ideas and is blazing trails that many would follow.  The frame to this frame story, however, is extremely forced, some of these stories having been originally published elsewhere in other forms, and others being more or less filler to advance the overall story arc, what there is of it.

Again, Bradbury is ahead of the game as an advocate for social and racial equality and peace, and again the stories are very inconsistent, and again... the adjectives and the completely unreasonable characters.  I guess many would counter that real people are frequently unreasonable themselves.  Fine.  I just don't think it makes for interesting or compelling literature.

My favorite stories in the Mars set are "There Will Come Soft Rains," "The Fire Balloons," and "Usher II," but I wouldn't stack them anyplace close to the high points of "The Illustrated Man." Peter Marinker's narration was not memorable in either a positive or a negative way.  You may be happy to learn that this is my last Bradbury, at least until the present time.  I'll go back someday, but this quick triple shot was quite enough for to go on for a few years. Not my favorite.