The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber Episode #97
Fritz Leiber | September 8, 2023-
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The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber Episode #97
Fritz Leiber
THE FOXHOLES OF MARS
Episode #97 · Written by Fritz Leiber · Narrated by Scott Miller
In the blasted trenches of Mars, one soldier discovers that the most frightening battlefield isn’t the one filled with alien machines and mutated enemies—it’s the one inside his own mind. As the war twists reality and identity, he’s forced to decide who he truly is… and what he’s willing to become.
War has a way of stripping life down to its barest truths, and on Mars—under a purple sun and skies scarred by nuclear fire—those truths become impossible to ignore. In The Foxholes of Mars, Fritz Leiber thrusts us into a battlefield where every trench is a coffin waiting to be sealed, every machine a creeping omen, and every moment another step toward psychological fracture. The story follows a soldier whose hatred for the battle is matched only by his disgust for the illusions humanity once lived by. As the machines of destruction crawl closer and his comrades crack under the pressure, he confronts not just an inhuman enemy, but the overwhelming emptiness behind the ideals that once shaped galactic civilization.
Leiber uses the Martian warfront as a lens to explore alienation, identity, and the unsettling clarity born in extreme conditions. The narrative flows between feverish intensity and quiet, introspective terror, revealing a protagonist who sees too much, feels too deeply, and ultimately becomes something far more dangerous than the enemy he faces. The Foxholes of Mars is vintage science fiction at its most unnerving: atmospheric, philosophical, and saturated with the psychological weight of a soldier spiraling toward a revelation he cannot escape.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fritz Leiber was one of the genre’s great innovators, known for weaving emotional nuance and intellectual depth into science fiction, fantasy, and cosmic horror. Born in 1910, he wrote across nearly every subgenre—crafting tales that were thoughtful, eerie, and years ahead of their time. Leiber helped define sword-and-sorcery with his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, expanded the boundaries of urban fantasy, and brought a literary sophistication to speculative fiction that influenced generations of writers.
His short stories in particular showcased his command of mood, voice, and existential tension. Whether exploring cosmic dread, psychological collapse, or the fragility of civilization, Leiber infused his work with a unique blend of intelligence and unease. In The Foxholes of Mars, these strengths converge in a tale that exposes the emotional toll of war and the dangerous clarity that can emerge when all illusions are stripped away. It remains one of his most striking examinations of the human condition under pressure—bleak, mesmerizing, and impossible to forget.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber — a tense journey through war-torn Mars in this vintage science fiction tale of identity, fear, and survival.
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
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