Madmen of Mars by Erik Fennel Episode #27
Erik Fennel | July 26, 2022-
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Madmen of Mars by Erik Fennel Episode #27
Erik Fennel
MADMEN OF MARS
Episode #27 · Written by Erik Fennel · Narrated by Scott Miller
For years, Mars has existed as a quiet failure in humanity’s expansion into space. Communication stopped, trade collapsed, and no one could explain why an entire civilization appeared to lose its momentum. As Earth prepares to reopen diplomatic relations, a small group of spacefarers realizes the past is no longer content to stay buried.
Madmen of Mars is told by a man who understands exactly what went wrong—and why it was never meant to be fixed. A single voyage, an experimental telepathic device, and one crew member’s unchecked mental presence triggered changes that didn’t look violent, dramatic, or even deliberate. Instead, Mars slowed, stalled, and surrendered its independence without knowing it had done so.
The story builds tension through restraint rather than spectacle. There are no battlefield victories or final confrontations, only the creeping realization that influence can be more dangerous than force. As Earth considers renewed contact, the characters must decide whether telling the truth protects humanity—or guarantees a new kind of chaos.
At its core, Madmen of Mars explores how easily control can masquerade as order, and how difficult it is to reclaim agency once it’s been outsourced. The uncertainty isn’t whether Mars can change, but whether anyone has the right to change it again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erik Fennel was an active contributor to American science fiction magazines during the early 1950s, publishing stories that combined speculative technology with sharp social commentary. His work appeared in venues that favored concept-driven narratives and moral unease over simple adventure.
Madmen of Mars reflects Fennel’s interest in psychological pressure, unintended influence, and the fragile boundary between assistance and domination. Rather than relying on external threats, his fiction often placed ordinary professionals—engineers, pilots, technicians—into situations where a single decision could ripple across entire civilizations.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Madmen of Mars by Erik Fennel — a vintage science fiction story where a silent planet, a hidden influence, and Earth’s curiosity collide.
RELATED STORIES
Mars has always been the most familiar of alien worlds, close enough to imagine and distant enough to remain dangerous. Vintage science fiction turned the red planet into a testing ground for human ambition—an empty frontier, a dying world, or a civilization older and stranger than Earth itself.
These stories send explorers, settlers, soldiers, and scientists across the void to a place where survival is never guaranteed. Thin air, vast deserts, and abandoned cities create a landscape that is both harsh and haunting.
Whether the planet is home to ancient Martians, fragile colonies, or the last hope after Earth’s decline, Mars stories are about adaptation.
- Dwellers in Silence by Ray Bradbury
- Death-Wish by Ray Bradbury
- Defense Mech by Ray Bradbury
- The Visitor by Ray Bradbury
- The One Who Waits by Ray Bradbury
- The Crystal Egg by H. G. Wells
- Never on Mars by John Wyndham
- Return of a Legend by Raymond Z. Gallun
- Message From Mars by Clifford D. Simak
- The Monsters Came By Night by Robert Silverberg
- The Martians and the Coys by Mack Reynolds
- A Zloor For Your Trouble by Mack Reynolds
- The Weapon by Isaac Asimov
- Arm of the Law by Harry Harrison
- Monster by William Morrison
- Fee of the Frontier by H. B. Fyfe
- A Message From Our Sponsor by Henry Slesar
- Two Weeks in August by Frank M. Robinson
- Duel on Syrtis by Poul Anderson
- We're Off to Mars by Joe Gibson
- Death Walks on Mars by Alan J. Ramm
- The Old Timer by Richard R. Smith
- Trainee for Mars by Harry Harrison
- The Hermit of Mars by Stephen Bartholomew
- Martian Homecoming by Frank Belknap Long
- Lake of Fire by Frank Belknap Long
- The Hated by Frederik Pohl
- The Old Martians by Rog Phillips
- The Martian Shore by Charles L. Fontenay
- Madmen of Mars by Erik Fennel
- Martians Never Die by Lucius Daniel
- What's He Doing in There? by Fritz Leiber
- Don't Look Now by Henry Kuttner
- Jonah of the Jove-Run by Ray Bradbury
- The Goggles of Dr Dragonet by Fritz Leiber
- The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber
- Alien Equivalent by Richard R. Smith
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