Dwellers in Silence by Ray Bradbury AKA The Long Years Episode #387

Ray Bradbury | June 10, 2025

Dwellers in Silence by Ray Bradbury AKA The Long Years Episode #387
Ray Bradbury

DWELLERS IN SILENCE

Episode #387· Written by Ray Bradbury · Narrated by Scott Miller

Alone on a dead Mars after a ruined Earth, a brilliant man builds a life shaped by memory, hope, and unbearable silence. When a long-awaited visitor finally arrives from the stars, the truth behind that fragile existence is quietly revealed.

In the decades after Earth’s destruction and Mars’ abandonment, Dr. Walter Hathaway remains behind on a lifeless planet, sheltering himself from despair with work, memory, and carefully maintained routines. Within his stone hut near the ruins of an American city, he talks of the past, keeps warm against the relentless wind, and lives each day fueled by the faint hope that someone, someday, will come.

When a distant rocket finally appears in the Martian sky, the long wait seems over. But what that arrival uncovers reaches far beyond survival alone. With quiet precision and emotional weight, Ray Bradbury explores companionship born of necessity, love shaped by loss, and the delicate boundary between creation and comfort. Dwellers in Silence is not a tale of monsters or invasions—it is a deeply personal story about what it means to endure.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Bradbury was one of science fiction’s great humanists, writing stories that placed emotional truth at the center of speculative worlds. His prose was lyrical yet precise, often revealing profound ideas through simple, intimate moments rather than grand spectacle.

Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Bradbury produced timeless works including Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. His stories continue to resonate because they remind readers that imagination, memory, and empathy are humanity’s most powerful tools—even at the edge of extinction.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Dwellers in Silence by Ray Bradbury — a haunting work of vintage science fiction exploring isolation, memory, and survival on a forgotten Mars.