Out of the Silent Planet Robert McClenaghan writes, ""Out of the Silent Planet", the shortest and most straightforward of the [Space Trilogy] books, incorporates many of the elements of classic science fiction, including a space flight, meetings with fantastic aliens, and an extended depiction of another planet. Were it not for the theological backdrop (which comes into focus only toward the story's end), "Out of the Silent Planet" could pass as merely a well-written and exceptionally erudite pulp novel." John Gosling, on his website devoted to "The War of the Worlds", wrote that the novel "is a very well written and important piece of Martian
The Sands of Mars The Sands of Mars The Sands of Mars is a science fiction novel by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. While he was already popular as a short story writer and as a magazine contributor, "The Sands of Mars" was also a prelude to Clarke's becoming one of the world's foremost writers of science fiction novels. The story was published in 1951, before humans had achieved space flight. It is set principally on the planet Mars, which has been settled by humans and is used essentially as a research establishment. The story setting is that Mars has been surveyed but not