n  n    Podés encontrar esta y otras reseñas en mi blog.n  n

Este año me propuse comenzar a leer a Ray Bradbury, un autor que tenía pendiente desde hace un montón de tiempo. Por suerte me encontré con un autor maravilloso y por fin pude ver por qué sus obras son consideradas grandes "clásicos modernos".

Crónicas Marcianas es, junto a Fahrenheit 451, el libro más conocido de Bradbury. Se trata de un libro que no sigue una estructura narrativa convencional, sino que está compuesto por varios relatos (o crónicas) que transcurren entre 1999 y 2026, y nos cuentan cómo los terrícolas llegan a Marte, los primeros contactos con los habitantes del planeta rojo y nos describen cómo era la vida en dicho planeta antes y después de la llegada de los seres humanos.

A pesar de ser una serie de crónicas independientes, siempre hay alguna pequeña referencia a eventos narrados anteriormente y se mantiene cierto hilo conductor a lo largo de todo el libro.

Lo que más disfruté de este libro fue lo variados que son las diferentes crónicas. Si bien todas giran en torno al mismo tema (cómo reaccionan los seres humanos ante lo desconocido y lo propensos que somos a la violencia), la forma en la que Bradbury lo trata es brillante: vas a encontrar relatos con cierto toque humorístico, otros bastantes macabros, relatos verdaderamente hermosos que son más que nada descripciones de Marte, crónicas en las que abunda la ironía y también otras que son bastante trágicas.

La prosa de Bradbury me pareció fenomenal. A pesar de haber leído Fahrenheit 451 (que también me gustó mucho), creo que Crónicas Marcianas está mucho mejor escrito y refleja verdaderamente las capacidades narrativas de este gran autor. Es por esta razón que recomiendo que lo lean en el idioma original, si tienen la oportunidad.

A pesar de tratarse de una novela que se ubica dentro del género de la ciencia ficción, considero que es un libro que tiene más de ficción que de ciencia. No te vas a encontrar con largas descripciones científicas acerca de los dispositivos tecnológicos y tampoco vas a encontrar alienígenas cabezones y de ojos enormes (de hecho, los marcianos que aparecen en este libro no son muy diferentes a los seres humanos), sino que la mayoría de los relatos exploran diferentes aspectos de la conducta humana ante lo desconocido y cómo siempre terminamos tomando el camino de la violencia.

Otra cosa que me fascinó de este libro fue encontrar varios relatos que homenajean a diferentes autores. El caso más notorio es una crónica titulada «Usher II» que es un enorme homenaje a las obras más emblemáticas de Edgar Allan Poe, fue mi relato favorito. También pude apreciar referencias a las obras de Asimov y Lord Byron, e incluso «Usher II» está directamente relacionado con Fahrenheit 451.

Te preguntarás qué tienen que ver Poe y Lord Byron con Marte, pero la forma en la que Bradbury se las ingenia para homenajear a estos grandes autores es brillante y no resulta disparatada en ningún momento; mientras leía «Usher II» no pude dejar de sonreír debido a la enorme cantidad de referencias ingeniosas que hay desde el principio del relato hasta la última frase. A pesar de que el resto de las referencias son más difíciles de apreciar (e incluso seguramente haya pasado unas cuantas por alto), me encanta ver cómo un autor rinde homenaje a sus ídolos o fuentes de inspiración, en especial cuando lo hace de una forma tan original y entretenida.

Calificación 10+:
Crónicas Marcianas es un libro brillante y se convirtió en uno de mis favoritos. A pesar de ser una novela de ciencia ficción, no se parece en nada a otras novelas del género; es más que nada una historia acerca de la naturaleza humana y cómo siempre terminamos optando por la destrucción y el enfrentamiento en vez de intentar trabajar juntos. Es por eso que la recomiendo incluso si no te gusta la ciencia ficción, pues no es tan "densa" como otras novelas del género.
La prosa de Bradbury es impresionante y la variedad de estilos de las diferentes crónicas hacen de este libro una lectura sumamente entretenida y amena. Encontrarás referencias a grandes autores, humor, ironía e incluso algunos relatos macabros.

Ya no me quedan más palabras para expresar lo genial que es este libro. ¡LÉANLO!

"The Martian Chronicles," by Ray Bradbury is a collection of 27 short stories, told in chronological order over a span of 27 years... From January 2030 through October 2057. The stories are interrelated and chronicle over this span of time the colonization of Mars by earthlings. Not surprisingly, the colonization of Mars is very similar to the colonization of America over a much larger span of time. The Martians, like the native Indians, are largely displaced. The planet resembles America with cities and streets named "New, New York," or "Washington Street." Religious leaders... Christian, of course... Travel to the planet in the hope of wiping out sin that they are sure has inflicted the planet.

Mr. Bradbury has put together one of the best collections of short stories, intertwined and connected, that I have ever read. The characters are great, the narrative is amazing, and the imagination of the author is a treasure that few other authors have ever achieved. Amazing!

I vividly remember reading this book. I was in 8th grade and I read it in Mrs. Zimmerman's class. She was this bizarre ageless woman who wore her jet-black hair in a crusty bee-hive and had gobs of pastel green eye shadow on her eyelids. She also had a rusty voice-like an ex-smoker, and spoke really slowly. She could have been a character in Martian Chronicles. I still kind of wonder if she was human.

Anyway, I read this book over and over. There was something so pristine about the world that Bradbury creates, and also incredibly odd and mysterious. As a writer, he kind of reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe.

Another thing about Bradbury, I heard him speak once in college and he said that he wrote this book from the UCLA library (he wasn't a student there), he just liked to hide out in the basement. He was super eccentric. I liked him immediately.

-Desde puntos de partida de género, ejercicio de literatura que lo trasciende por mucho.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Con prólogo de Borges en su edición en español, novela construida mediante 26 relatos de diferente longitud que nos presentan distintos aspectos y momentos de una colonización de Marte, habitado por una especie humanoide parecida a la nuestra pero con una idiosincrasia nada similar en muchos asuntos, por parte de una Tierra cuya situación social y política está evolucionando, entre 1999 y 2026. Incluye relatos escritos entre 1946 y 1950 y también varios originales para la novela.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

4 and a half stars.

My husband ruined reading Ray Bradbury for me when he showed me this video : www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM . Now I can’t pick up any of his books without that ditty getting stuck in my head, and if you click the (not really safe for work) link, the same thing will happen to you. You’re welcome.

I found “The Martian Chronicles”, “The Illustrated Man” and “October Country” at my favorite used bookstore, all the same edition, all in perfect condition. When that happens I often wonder who had the heart to sell these books off… while simultaneously being very grateful because I now have them on my shelf. It’s a complicated feeling.

Having only read "Fahrenheit 451" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), I wasn’t really sure what Bradbury’s other work would be like, but I had a feeling I’d like it because I have always enjoyed golden age sci-fi (I am a bit of a sucker for nostalgia), and the clean and evocative prose that Bradbury is often praised for.

This book is a collection of related vignettes chronicling the colonization of Mars by humans in the 21st century and it is poetic, nostalgic and heartbreaking. It is a very quietly thought-provoking book, even when there is what we normally think of as “action” taking place. It’s all about subtle things happening under the surface – in a very 1950’s way, I suppose. Thoughts about loneliness, grief, colonialism and faith are explored through the story of humanity’s settlement on the Red Planet. Would moving to a whole new planet fix the problems we have left behind on Earth? Or would we take the dark side of human nature along with us everywhere? Bradbury’s longing for a simpler, better time – that probably never existed outside of his prodigious imagination – is what these settlers are trying to capture by setting up shop away from the threat of the atom bomb, from racism, from environmental decay… From all those things that made life on Earth feel intolerable.

The wish for a better world is universal and timeless, so no matter how dated some elements of those stories can seem to a modern eye, their spirit still resonates very strongly. Sure, his Martians are a lot like Midwest Americans from the 50’s, but I don’t think that can be chalked up to a lack of imagination. Rather, I think it’s Bradbury’s way of saying that if there is life on other planets, why should we assume the beings there would be that different from us? Maybe we are much, much more alike than we can imagine…

Lyrical, sad, haunting and lovely. No other works of this genre that I have read so far feels quite the way this one does. A must-read for sci-fi fans and fans of good writing in general.

Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles is a lovely, lyrical collection of short pieces about the human colonization of Mars and its consequences, beginning just before first contact and ending after the death and destruction of most of the population of both Mars and Earth.

Since this is a collection of stories and vignettes instead of a novel, the central, guiding element of the book is not a character or set of characters; instead it is the setting and the emotion evoked by Bradbury's prose. His main concern is Mars itself, as a place separate from human intentions. As one character, a member of an early expedition to Mars, says, "Ask me, then, if I believe in the spirit of the things as they were used, and I'll say yes. They're all here. All the things which had uses. All the mountains which had names. And we'll never be able to use them without feeling uncomfortable. And somehow the mountains will never sound right to us; we'll give them new names, but the old names are there, somewhere in time, and the mountains were shaped and seen under those names. The names we'll give to the canals and mountains and cities will fall like so much water on the back of a mallard. No matter how we touch Mars, we'll never touch it. And then we'll get mad at it, and you know what we'll do? We'll rip it up, rip the skin off, and change it to fit ourselves" (53-4).

"There Will Come Soft Rains" takes this emphasis on place over people to its furthest conclusion, perhaps, telling the story of a house that continues running even after its human inhabitants have abandoned it: "The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly" (167). The house itself takes on life, described as trying to "save itself" when it catches fire (170): "The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air" (171). Bradbury drives this point home with a poem by Sara Teasdale that states, "Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, / If mankind perished utterly; / And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn / Would scarcely know that we were gone" (169).

The book is absolutely suffused with what is best described as a sense of nostalgia for the future. Bradbury romanticizes the Mars of future decades (1999-2026; the book was published in 1950) and distances the reader from Earth itself. Mars is a place of wonders, a place of great civilizations and developed individuals; it is a place to protect. And in The Martian Chronicles, what Mars needs protecting from is us. We bring with us violence, war, advanced technologies that we have yet to master, mining, and ideas about ownership and colonization that, if allowed to spread, would destroy Martian civilization as surely as they destroyed Native American societies, African cultures, and countless other ways of life on Earth. This is a future that has yet to happen, a place we have yet to see, but we, as readers, are meant to sympathize with Martians, with Mars, and root against humans. We are meant to see in conquering humanity the same problems we face here on Earth and in Mars a haven for freethinkers, former slaves, and survivors (c.f., "Usher II," "Way in the Middle of the Air," and "Million-Year Picnic"). This makes The Martian Chronicles both conservative in the way that the nostalgic mode is typically conservative and progressive in its subversive critique of the Earth way of life, specifically the American way of life.

In "The Million-Year Picnic," Bradbury's nostalgia for the future turns against human science and scientific progress as the father of a family who has left Earth after the wars to live, practically alone, on Mars, says to his family, "Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly, and the people got lost in a mechanical wilderness, like children making over pretty things, gadgets, helicopters, rockets; emphasizing the wrong items, emphasizing machines instead of how to run the machines. Wars got bigger and better and finally killed Earth. That's what the silent radio means. That's what we ran away from" (179-80). In this anti-technology statement, Bradbury provides little hope for the future of humanity and of Earth and little faith or interest in science. However, elsewhere in The Martian Chronicles, he does afford a small glimmer of hope in a different kind of future, a different attitude toward science, religion, and art. He gives us this in the Martian civilization:

"The Martians discovered the secret of life among animals. The animal does not question life. It lives. Its very reason for living is life; it enjoys and relishes life. . . . And the men of Mars realized that in order to survive they would have to forgo asking that one question any longer: Why live? Life was its own answer. Life was the propagation of more life and the living of as good a life as possible. . . . They quit trying too hard to destroy everything, to humble everything. They blended religion and art and science because, at base, science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle. They never let science crush the aesthetic and the beautiful" (66-7).

Following this model of science, one that does not separate science and technology from art and religion and humanity, there is hope for a future for humankind. The question Bradbury leaves us with, then, is whether or not we will be able to heed this warning.

The Martian Chronicles is a book I have heard about for years, but ended up passing it by in lieu of other Ray Bradbury classics (do you need to qualify them by saying “classic”? I think that goes without saying). I have now finally read it and it is amazing. I continue to be impressed with Bradbury’s writing style – and his style is very well defined. I am pretty sure he is so integrated into how and what he writes, I could probably guess that a book is written by Bradbury after just a few paragraphs (and that is not me bragging on my ability to figure out who wrote something, it is just that obvious that it is Bradbury).

When I went into this I thought, “Martian Chronicles = Sci-Fi”. That is very wrong! This book felt much more like his Magical Realism titles I have read. While most of the book takes place on Mars, the content is not about space travel, and aliens, and cool technology. It is about the human condition, perception vs reality, misuse of natural resources, man seeing himself as an island, etc. It is a commentary on people and the tendency for our hopes to be destroyed by our inability to truly see the best and right course of action. Generally it is very dark – there is a little ray of hope to it, but the overall feel is if we don’t get our s#!t together, we are doomed.

So, if you are looking for sci-fi and want nothing less than space battles and cool spaceships, this is not the book for you. If you are a fan of other Bradbury, cautionary tales, and speculative fiction, this is right up you alley.

Poetic fantasy.

Being set in the future and involving space travel, Mars and futuristic technology makes this sort of fit into the science fiction genre, but Bradbury is a writer of literature. This is beautiful writing and Bradbury is an artist with a mastery of the language.

Mars could be another dimension, or fairy land, it does not really matter, Bradbury has concocted an alternate reality to explore psychological ethos. If Heinlein is the science fiction ideologist / sociologist, and Clarke the science fiction anthropologist, and Asimov the science fiction theologist; then Bradbury is the science fiction psychologist or philosopher.

But there is no doubt that this is more fantasy than SF; Bradbury tickles and cajoles and playfully steps around all technology and goes right to a more spiritual, psychological narrative - a dreamlike, absurdist voice, a whispered incantation.

Martian Chronicles is a chronological set of short stories tied together around the theme of Earth colonization of Mars, but it is really about the human psyche and a study of what is best and worst about us.

SF must read.

*** 2020 reread – Bradbury’s beautiful language is on full display, still charming and timeless more than sixty years later.

This time around I was again struck by his seamless surrealism, blending with fantasy to evoke a psychological, almost fable like quality. Modern readers who are more accustomed to hard science fiction may be disconcerted by Bradbury’s watercolor style – until the reader accepts that this is far more fantasy than science fiction, more dream than vision.

One of the short stories was a none too subtle criticism of racism and was well ahead of its time in its stark depiction of institutionalized hate and prejudice.

This may become an annual re-read for me.

*** 2023 reread -

Bradbury is a great writer for the autumn. October Country gets most of the press, but Martian Chronicles is really, really ridiculously good.

This time I also took the time to read the introduction and learned some of Ray’s backstory for this cozy piece of fantasy fun. Seems Ray got the idea to put all of these stories and vignettes together from an editor and was himself inspired by Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.

The Martian masks - did this help to inspire Jack Vance’s Moon Moths and various other stories he has about masking up? Ray’s use of the masks for the Martians made stylistic comparisons with indigenous stories and this as a connection is further explored by Philip K. Dick in his own 1964 novel Martian Time Slip. We can also consider Heinlein’s Martians and the idea that this is an ancient race that is philosophically far, far forward of where we’re at in terms of ecological and sociological maturity.

Finally, dear modern readers, it is something of a mistake to read this thinking it is science fiction. It is not. This is poetic fantasy of the highest order. Ray’s science will not hold up and he does not intend for it to, this is more toy rocket than NASA.

Simply brilliant.

The Red Planet.

It’s been widely recorded humanity’s fascination with the unknown, and the infinity of the universe. What is out there? And who? Will we ever get there? When? And how? Will we ever find out? Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles is the diary of mankind’s strange and amazingly disastrous attempts to visit Mars, first for curiosity, and then for necessity!

Published separately in small parts through several years, the Martian Chronicles consists now of 26 short stories, averaging 1 to 10 pages each, all neatly compiled now in one single issue. Though majorly independent one from another, these short stories work better read in order and as part of a whole, especially considering the 1-2 page stories, that can result quite lame and meaningless without a frame of reference to understand the bigger picture. A fantastic story that somewhat mirrors the colonization of the Americas.

Having read them all now, I find I enjoyed plenty more the longer stories, rather than the short ones. My favorites being The Martian and There Will Come Soft Rains, with a special mention for The Third Expedition, The Fire Balloons, The Long Years and The Million-Year Picnic.

All in all, a remarkable story and an iconic book worthy of its fame. Especially recommendable for sci-fi lovers, and space nerds!

★★☆☆☆  "JAN 1999 Rocket Summer."
★★★☆☆  "FEB 1999 Ylla." [3.5]
★★☆☆☆  "AUG 1999 The Summer Night." [2.5]
★★★★☆  "AUG 1999 The Earth Men."
★★☆☆☆  "MAR 2000 The Taxpayer."
★★★★★  "APR 2000 The Third Expedition." [4.5]
★★★☆☆  "JUN 2001 And the Moon be Still as Bright."
★★☆☆☆  "AUG 2001 The Settlers." [1.5]
★★★☆☆  "DEC 2001 The Green Morning."
★★☆☆☆  "FEB 2002 The Locusts." [2.5]
★★★☆☆  "AUG 2002 Night Meeting." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "OCT 2002 The Shore."
★★★★☆  "NOV 2002 The Fire Balloons." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "FEB 2003 Interim."
★★☆☆☆  "APR 2003 The Musicians." [1.5]
★★★★☆  "JUN 2003 Way up in the Middle of the Air." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "2004–05 The Naming of Names."
★☆☆☆☆  "AUG 2005 The Old Ones."
★★★★★  "SEP 2005 The Martian." [4.5]
★★☆☆☆  "NOV 2005 The Luggage Store." [1.5]
★★★☆☆  "NOV 2005 The Off Season."
★★☆☆☆  "NOV 2005 The Watchers." [2.5]
★★★☆☆  "DEC 2005 The Silent Towns." [3.5]
★★★★☆  "APR 2026 The Long Years."
★★★★★  "AUG 2026 There Will Come Soft Rains." [4.5]
★★★★☆  "OCT 2026 The Million-Year Picnic."



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n  PERSONAL NOTEn:
[1950] [182p] [Sci-Fi] [Recommendable]
[“We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.”]
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★★★☆☆  Fahrenheit 451. [3.5]
★★★☆☆  The Martian Chronicles.
★★★★☆  The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl.
★★★☆☆  I See You Never. [3.5]
★★★☆☆  The Crowd.
★★☆☆☆  Embroidery. [2.5]

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El Planeta Rojo.

Ha quedado ampliamente registrada la fascinación de la humanidad por lo desconocido y la infinidad del universo. ¿Qué hay ahí afuera? ¿O quién? ¿Alguna vez llegaremos ahí? ¿Cuándo? ¿Y cómo? ¿Lo sabremos alguna vez? Las Crónicas Marcianas de Bradbury son el diario de los extraños y asombrosamente desastrosos intentos de la humanidad por visitar Marte, primero por curiosidad, ¡y luego por necesidad!

Publicadas por separado en pequeñas partes a lo largo de varios años, las Crónicas Marcianas constan ahora de 26 cuentos, promediando 1 a 10 páginas cada uno, todos cómodamente compilados ahora en un único tomo. Aunque en gran medida independientes entre sí, éstas historias cortas funcionan mejor si se leen en orden y como parte de un todo, especialmente si se consideran las historias de 1 o 2 páginas, que podrían resultar bastante sosas y carentes de sentido sin un marco de referencia para entender el cuadro completo. Una fantástica historia que en cierto modo asemeja la colonización de América.

Habiéndolas leídas todas ahora, encuentro que disfruté mucho más las historias largas mucho más que las cortas. Mis favoritos siendo El Marciano y Habrá Lluvias Suaves, con una mención especial para La Tercera Expedición, Los Globos de Fuego, Los Largos Años y El Picnic del Millón de Años.

Dentro de todo, una sobresaliente historia y un icónico libro merecedor de su fama. Especialmente recomendable para los amantes de la ciencia ficción, ¡y los nerds del espacio!

★★☆☆☆  "ENE 1999 Verano Cohete."
★★★☆☆  "FEB 1999 Ylla." [3.5]
★★☆☆☆  "AGO 1999 La Noche de Verano." [2.5]
★★★★☆  "AGO 1999 Los Hombres de la Tierra."
★★☆☆☆  "MAR 2000 El Contribuyente."
★★★★★  "ABR 2000 La Tercera Expedición." [4.5]
★★★☆☆  "JUN 2001 Y la Luna seguirá Igual de Brillante."
★★☆☆☆  "AGO 2001 Los Colonos."
★★★☆☆  "DIC 2001 La Mañana Verde."
★★☆☆☆  "FEB 2002 Las Langostas. " [2.5]
★★★☆☆  "AGO 2002 Reunión Nocturna." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "OCT 2002 La Orilla."
★★★★☆  "NOV 2002 Los Globos de Fuego." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "FEB 2003 Interino."
★★☆☆☆  "ABR 2003 Los Músicos." [1.5]
★★★★☆  "JUN 2003 Muy Arriba en el Medio del Aire." [3.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "2004-05 La Denominación de Nombres."
★☆☆☆☆  "AGO 2005 Los Viejos."
★★★★★  "SEP 2005 El Marciano." [4.5]
★★☆☆☆  "NOV 2005 La Tienda de Equipaje." [1.5]
★★★☆☆  "NOV 2005 La Temporada Baja."
★★☆☆☆  "NOV 2005 Los Vigilantes." [2.5]
★★★☆☆  "DIC 2005 Los Pueblos Silenciosos." [3.5]
★★★★☆  "ABR 2026 Los Largos Años."
★★★★★  "AGO 2026 Vendrán Lluvias Suaves." [4.5]
★★★★☆  "OCT 2026 El Picnic del Millón de Años."



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n  NOTA PERSONALn:
[1950] [182p] [Ciencia Ficción] [Recomendable]
[“Nosotros, los habitantes de la Tierra, tenemos un talento especial para arruinar las cosas grandes y hermosas.”]
-----------------------------------------------

Loved the dust ships of the Martians and the sense of their civilisation. Very much I feel a novel about the USA with the Martians standing in for the Indians, Mars for those prairie states.

I was almost certain I had written a longer review of this, what more might I have said other than to reiterate that it is a prime example of science-fiction as a way of exploring contemporary and near-historical issues, in this case the colonisation of the prairie states and the northward migration of the Black Americans. Equally that means that this kind of writing dates rapidly as the social issues it reflected change.

This was an entertaining book and the stories were hilarious and somber. I particularly laughed out loud on the second landing of Earthmen and how they were dealt with. The stories detail the eventual colonization of Mars and as with historical human colonialism of other cultures the same happens on Mars.

Bradbury's view of humanity is in parts spot on and in other places, to me does not make sense. The story of people returning to Earth during an nuclear war? Other stories are brilliant such as the automated house and Walter Gripp. I am not a great fan of science fiction and this book has made me question that aversion.

Calm Sci-Fi stories that come with amazing plot twists and the unique writing style of a writer who has inspired generations of authors.

It´s something different compared to the usual stories of Bradbury, a collection of ideas describing space colonization as imagined a long time ago. As always, the focus is on the characters and Bradbury uses the Sci-Fi tropes and plot devices in his stylish way of letting the surprise bubble burst in the last possible moment.

As it is the duty of each prodigy's story collections, vast lands of adaptable, extendable and simply copyable content is waiting to be reinterpreted. For instance by implanting the slow pace and philosophical ideas in one of the newer Sci-Fi novel or TV series that are running on this Hollywood blockbuster steroids to avoid any lengths that could get readers or viewers bored which is a pity because the combination of both could grow to something big.

Tropes show how literature is conceived and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...