Books in “The Dope on Mars," a Short Story by Jack Sharkey (1960)

A short story, told in diary format, in which a news writer accompanies the first human trip to the Red Planet, “The Dope on Mars” (1960), by Jack Sharkey, was originally published in Galaxy Magazine and can be downloaded as a free eBook from ManyBooks.net.

Here’s a neat diary entry from the story that mentions several publications that we’re probably all familiar with:

April 1, 1961

I've skipped over the last 177 days or so, because there's nothing much new. I brought some books with me on the trip, books that I'd always meant to read and never had the time. So now I know all about Vanity Fair, Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace, Gone with the Wind, and Babbitt.

They didn't take as long as I thought they would, except for Vanity Fair. It must have been a riot when it first came out. I mean, all those sly digs at the aristocracy, with copious interpolations by Mr. Thackeray in case you didn't get it when he'd pulled a particularly good gag. Some fun.

And only 78 days to go.

Thanks to QuasarDragon for bringing “The Dope on Mars” to my attention. I'll be posting a piece on Jack Sharkey's novel The Secret Martians (1960) later in the month.