greenray,

"Mars is Heaven" does differ slightly from "The Third Expedition". I read both a few months ago to do a side by side comparison for a paper I was writing.

From what I recall, the significant difference is in the final couple of paragraphs, in the way the martians "celebrate" the death of the earth people.

"Mars Is Heaven" can be found in what collection(s)?

Brailing II, before we send you back to your box in the cellar, I'll answer your question. The collection is the subject of this thread. "Mars is Heaven" can only be found in The Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Philnic, great work, as always. I don't know what we would do without your investigative, detailed reporting.

Thanks, greenray.
May I borrow your copy?
(I have a little clip-on light that I read by whilst ensconced in the box. Don't tell Braling I!)

Dear Bralings, You can get this book for a song on Amazon, eBay, or Half.com. The cheapest is Amazon. They have a few copies starting at $5.00 with only $3.99 shipping. (Click the link below, if interested.) Being that The Stories of Ray Bradbury has 100 stories, that is less than a dime each. Furthermore, you get all the unpublished stories mentioned earlier. I'd let you borrow my copy, but I know you would make me come over to get it back. Thus, I'd do anything to stay out of your cellar!

Here is the Amazon link for those interested;

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0394513355/ref=d...id=1189739009&sr=1-2

Thanks, green. (Or should I call you Ray?)
I may pick it up at my local Borders...

However...

I could be wrong on this, as I don't have the book immediately to hand, but...

I have a sneaking suspicion that "Mars is Heaven" in The Stories of Ray Bradbury is actually "The Third Expedition", with the revised ending.

For the original, unaltered "Mars is Heaven", you have to go to an anthology called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame volume one. (Link to UK Amazon site here

I will double-check this within the next few days and post back here, but I'm fairly sure this is correct. (Because I ordered this very anthology myself earlier in the year as the only way to get the original text.)

If anyone has The Life of Fiction by Eller & Touponce, there is a section in there detailing the differences between the texts.

Or before buying a copy on line, BrII, maybe a signed edition is the way to go. I have a couple of 1st ed.'s of Stories of RB. My RB's Stories is also signed. I would think there is a sufficient # of unpublished works to complete a trilogy of 100's by RB. Yes! All the greats found between two covers.

In any event, look here:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?fe=on&isb...3355&sgnd=on&x=0&y=0

Cheers, Phil.

philnic, According to The Life of Fiction by Eller & Touponce; 48-14 "Mars is Heaven!" ("April 2000:The Third Expedition") Planet Stories fall 1948. ..collected as revised Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980), as "Mars Is Heaven!" Anthologized Best Science Fiction Stories 1949 (First Book Appearance 1949). The entry goes on for half a page. Perhaps the only way to really tell the differences would be to compare the Planet Stories original to The Stories of Ray Bradbury selection. I hope this information helps.

Contento also lists the following;

Mars Is Heaven!, (ss) Planet Stories Fll 1948; also as “The Third Expedition”.

* The Best Science-Fiction Stories: 1949, ed. Everett F. Bleiler & T. E. Dikty, Fredrick Fell 1949
* Shot in the Dark, ed. Judith Merril, Bantam 1950
* Science Fiction Omnibus, ed. Everett F. Bleiler & T. E. Dikty, Garden City Books 1952
* Best Horror Stories, ed. John Keir Cross, London: Faber & Faber 1956
* Tomorrow Midnight, Ballantine 1966
* Worlds to Come, ed. Damon Knight, Harper & Row 1967
* Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, ed. Robert Silverberg, Doubleday 1970
* Approaches to Science Fiction, ed. Donald L. Lawler, Houghton Mifflin 1978
* The Stories of Ray Bradbury, Knopf 1980
* Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories: 10 (1948), ed. Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW 1983

This message has been edited. Last edited by: greenray,

greenray, thanks for checking the Eller & Touponce reference.

I have the books in front of me now, so here's what I see:

Martian Chronicles: The Third Expedition - this is the revised version of the story, ending with this paragraph:

"The brass band, playing 'Columbia, Gem of the Ocean', marched and slammed back into town, and everyone took the day off."

The Stories of ray Bradbury - this is called "Mars is Heaven", but it is actually a reprint of The Third Expedition (i.e. the revised version of the story.

Science Fiction Hall of Fame - this is the genuine original Mars is Heaven, ending with this paragraph:

"After the funeral the brass band slammed and banged into town and the crowd stood around and waved and shouted as the rocket was torn to pieces and strewn about and blown up."

There are other differences in the two versions of the stories, but looking at the final paragraph gives us a distinct way of telling the ORIGINAL "Mars is Heaven" from the REVISED version.

philnic, many thanks to you for taking the time to clear this up.

After further reading in Eller & Touponce, it appears the changes were made to reflect the story moving from the pulps to the book text. One example is Captain Black's brother becoming a thing in the text, while in the pulp version, "a one-eyed, green and yellow-toothed Martian."

Again, from the Life of Fiction, Eller and Touponce explain; "Finally, at the end of the pulp version, the Martian crowd tears the rocket apart, blows it up, and strews the pieces all about, a much more directly Dionysian ending than the revised one, where they maintain the illusion for a good while after the Earthmen are dead just for the pleasure of the joke."

Thus, the original, as you clearly explain in your post, Phil, is the pulp version. We will have to look at that last paragraph as we search the used book stores.

Additionally, we somehow lost a rocket man from the original version of Mars is Heaven! The original pulp version has, near the end of the story, seventeen holes and seventeen tombstones, with markers for Captain Black, Albert Lustig, and Samuel Hinkston. The updated version has sixteen holes and sixteen tombstones, and does not name the tombstone markers of the three previously listed men from earth. Anybody have any theories where that extra astronaut may have gone off to?

What a bizarre change! Maybe one of the named characters in Mars is Heaven was deleted, so RB (or his editor) thought they would have to reduce the number of graves by one.