MixedThe Washington Independent Review of BooksHe lists many, many stories and novels set on Mars from this period to the present, and groups them thematically, with each work summarized in a single sentence. But there is very little analysis as to why the themes arose at the various times they did ... Ashley does not address why using Mars as a thought experiment was the default approach ... The absence of deeper criticism would be a minor disappointment if the stories were all fun, but most of them feel more like curiosities than hidden gems ... Any fan of old science-fiction magazines will find stories to enjoy in Lost Mars, but if you’re looking for a more nuanced examination of how the red planet functioned in the minds of the people who chose it as their milieu, you might be disappointed. And if you are looking to read a quality collection of short stories set on Mars, you might do better to just read The Martian Chronicles.
