Project Gutenberg 2010-05-13 Public domain in the USA. 18330 Bixby, Jerome 1923 1998 Bixby, Jay Lewis Bixby, Jerry Bixby, Drexel Jerome Lewis Neal, Harry Drexel, Jay B. Lewis, D. B. Lewis, D.B. Francis, Dick Francis, Richard D. The Holes Around Mars Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction January 1954. Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Holes Around Mars" by Jerome Bixby is a science fiction short story originally published in the January 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The narrative revolves around a crew of astronauts who embark on an expedition to Mars, where they encounter mysterious holes in the landscape that challenge their understanding of natural phenomena. The story explores themes of discovery, curiosity, and the strange manifestations of alien worlds. In the story, the crew, led by commander Hugh Allenby, stumbles upon unusual four-inch holes present in various terrestrial objects on Mars, sparking a series of amusing yet serious speculations about their origins. As they investigate further, the team discovers that the holes align in a straight line across the Martian desert, leading to a Martian village inhabited by small, quirky creatures. The astronauts find themselves entangled in a series of humorous and dangerous encounters with the Martians, culminating in Allenby’s revelation about the nature of the holes, positing that they were created by a small body traveling at great speed, leading to unexpected scientific insights. The story cleverly combines humor with scientific inquiry, revealing the absurdity of human assumptions in the face of the unknowable universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 85.3 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Mars (Planet) -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 63199 2025-07-13T08:26:59.694367 text/html 60452 2010-05-13T07:16:10 text/html 200115 2025-07-13T08:27:03.598361 application/epub+zip 198726 2025-07-13T08:27:01.311390 application/epub+zip 91391 2025-07-13T08:27:00.298371 application/epub+zip 291899 2025-07-13T08:27:05.410836 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 283506 2025-07-13T08:27:02.964386 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 149985 2022-09-15T04:18:28.764900 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 54519 2025-07-13T08:26:59.327348 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 54403 2010-05-13T07:16:10 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20879 2025-07-13T08:27:05.550886 application/rdf+xml 13013 2025-07-13T08:27:00.788344 image/jpeg 3524 2025-07-13T08:27:00.542385 image/jpeg 153822 2010-05-13T07:16:12 application/octet-stream application/zip 20887 2010-05-13T07:16:12 application/octet-stream application/zip 258529 2025-07-13T08:26:59.708399 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia