Martian n. 1

In popular periodicals and lectures of to-day you may learn much of the bays, rivers, inlets, oceans, and continents of the planet Mars; and if inclined for a vacation excursion, and could you find a conveyance thither, you might easily arrange a tour in that planet, starting from Huggin’s Inlet and sailing thirty thousand miles along one of its very convenient estuaries without ever losing sight of land. I know not whether the Martians have accepted the nomenclature of Dawes Continent, Table-Leg Bay, and the other designations laid down on their planet by the spirited geographers of ours; but at least they might be flattered did they know of the interest they excite on this earth.

The Martians would therefore be in a better position for understanding our attempts at opening up communication than the Venerians.

He…brought with him another Martian, differently attired.

The glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging from the cylinder in which they had come to the earth from their planet.

Exactly the same is the case when the Martian converses by thought transmission; his brain ‘hears’ only that which he actually wishes to hear and nothing else.

A science-fiction club, in case you’re not familiar with one, is a group of young fellows who read the science fiction magazines regularly, sometimes collect them, and like to meet once in a while to talk over the various ideas presented in them—like interplanetary flight, Martians, time travel and so forth.

note: all characters in this novel are fictitious except possibly the Martians. [Ibid. ix. 98] I broke his clutch on my windpipe and gripped his shoulders over the subclavicular nerve clusters where a Martian should feel pain, but he was hard to down.

The story’s premises are not true: there are no Martians of the sort Heinlein writes of, and no super powers are available to those who think proper Martian thoughts.

The Martians went back again as soon as we left.

The management of the Fair had taken the opportunity to show what would happen if Martians took it into their pointy little green heads to attack the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Olympus Mons was the best example. Martians were fond of saying that it was three times the height of any mountain on Earth…

Martians have never smuggled designs and never sought to infringe patents.

And the lust for destruction exhibited by the Martians was simultaneously more petty.

Yes, with each sandstorm comes the inevitable Cleaning of the Solar Cells, a time-honored tradition among hearty Martians such as myself.