The Last Martian (short story)
The Last Martian was the eighth story in the anthology Iris Wildthyme of Mars. It was written by Rachel Churcher.
Summary
When Iris and Panda crash-land in a suburban garden, she assumes they’ve landed in the American Midwest, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. The news that they’re on Mars, and that the damage to the bus is too severe for the local mechanics to fix, comes as a shock. Before long, Iris, Panda, and their new friends are racing across the red planet in search of the only person who can help – and running headlong into a dangerous quest to save the last Martian.
Characters
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Notes
‘The Last Martian’ by Rachel Churcher is an homage to Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles – one of the author’s favourite books. There are several direct references: the Blue Sail Automotive Company; the comment about cars, suitcases, and hot dogs; the clapboard houses and 1950s fashions; and the physical form of the last Martian. “The opportunity to throw a presence as disruptive as Iris Wildthyme into Bradbury’s small-town version of Mars was too good an opportunity to turn down”, Rachel explained. “The story was a lot of fun to write, and I like to think that Iris leaves Mars a little better, and a little more adventurous, than it was before she arrived.”
Continuity
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