The Martians have invaded by the billions. They really are little green men. If you’re looking for a good SF laugh check this one out.
SF writer Luke Devereaux gets a remote cabin from a friend. Luke is suffering from writer’s block and thinks the solitude may bring him out of it. He starts to think about Martians when there’s a knock on the door. It’s a Martian. The invasion is underway.
They’re little green men who are fast on the wisecracks and whose main mission is to be as irritating as possible. They have the ability to transport themselves to anywhere in an instant. Luke is wondering about his current girlfriend when a Martian sees what she’s up to …and with who and immediately tells Luke.
They love upsetting people and inform on everyone whenever possible. They close down the entertainment industry by interfering in every production. It doesn’t matter if it’s movies, TV or radio.
The birth rate drops as they can see through walls, blankets etc. and love to watch. When you try and slug them your hand goes right through them. Unemployment is very high and there doesn’t seem to be any way to get rid of them.
No one is interested in SF anymore and Luke’s publisher asks him to go back to writing Westerns. He gets paranoid to the point that he’s the only one on the planet who can no longer see or hear the Martians. He starts writing in a sanitarium. Then he gets an idea about how to get rid of them.
Too bad he can’t figure out how to get rid of the putrid TV “movie” made in 1989 with Randy Quaid as Luke. In the TV version he’s a song writer as opposed to a SF writer. It’s an offense to SF fans to see a good book ruined. I put movie in quotes because anything made for TV is TV…not a movie.
Fredric Brown
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