Frost and Fire (short story)

"Frost and Fire" is a short story by Ray Bradbury and the fourteenth in his collection R is for Rocket. It was first published in Planet Stories (Fall, 1946) as "The Creatures That Time Forgot." The story is about short-lived humans on a planet similar to Mercury.[1]

"Frost and Fire" (as "The Creatures That Time Forgot") was cover-featured on the Fall 1946 issue of Planet Stories

Plot summary

Placed there by a past rocket ship that crashed, the people of the storied land are within sight of another rocket ship on a distant mountain plateau. The plot follows Sim, the protagonist of this story, and his apparently short life on a planet where people are cursed by radiation to live only eight days.

The people of this planet are also gifted with racial memory (they remember their ancestors' memories). However, they do not attempt to reach the sole remaining rocket ship due to the futility of attempting to reach it in one hour, which is the longest length of time between day and night (both deadly).

Sim is then moved by the memory of his ancestors to find and meet with scientists who make halting progress towards the goal of lengthening the world's decreased life span. Sim, motivated by his dwindling days, makes it his goal to extend his life and reach the distant rocket, despite the protests of his sister and other cave-dwellers.

Graphic novel adaptation

"Frost and Fire" was adapted as a graphic novel. It is the third in the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel series, by Klaus Janson in 1985.

Movie adaptation

An independent short film Quest, based on "Frost and Fire" and directed by Elaine and Saul Bass, was released in 1983.[2]

References
  1. Williams, Matt (August 4, 2016). "How do we colonize Mercury?". phys.org. Science X Network. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020. The conditions on this world allude to Mercury, where the days are extremely hot, the nights extremely cold, and humans live for only eight days.
  2. Frauenfelder, Mark (December 28, 2011). "Quest, a Saul Bass short fim based on Bradbury's "Frost and Fire"". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
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