Lake of Fire by Frank Belknap Long Episode #358
Frank Belknap Long | April 9, 2025-
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Lake of Fire by Frank Belknap Long Episode #358
Frank Belknap Long
LAKE OF FIRE
Episode #358 · Written by Frank Belknap Long · Narrated by Scott Miller
In the red wastes of Mars, where fortune hunters roam the ruins of an ancient world, two explorers discover an artifact of haunting beauty. What should be a prize of unimaginable value becomes something far more dangerous. One man sees a promise of perfect companionship. The other sees the slow collapse of a human will under the weight of an impossible dream.
As rival prospectors close in and gunfire tears through the desert silence, loyalty is pushed to its breaking point. Survival demands ruthless action, yet the greatest threat is not bullets or bandits. It is the power of longing itself, and the terrible choices a friend must make to save another from a fate worse than death.
This story blends harsh frontier conflict with intimate emotional stakes. Love, obsession, and destiny intertwine beneath alien skies. What begins as a struggle over a mysterious treasure grows into a gamble that could alter the future of two civilizations. Every step toward hope risks everything that makes us human.
Frank Belknap Long crafts a sweeping Martian adventure charged with tension and tenderness. His vision of Mars is both savage and beautiful, a place where ancient knowledge lingers and the human heart is tested beyond endurance. The result is a powerful exploration of what it means to choose reality over illusion, and connection over isolation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank Belknap Long was a master of imaginative fiction whose stories moved effortlessly between cosmic awe and deeply personal drama. Known for vivid prose and bold ideas, he created worlds where wonder and danger walk side by side. In this tale, his gift for atmosphere and emotional intensity turns a simple discovery in the desert into a moment that binds two planets together.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Lake of Fire by Frank Belknap Long — a vintage sci-fi short story where human will and primal instinct collide in a terrifying tale of power unleashed.
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
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- 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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