"Frost and Fire" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

and the fourteenth in his collection '' R is for Rocket''. It was first published in

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readershi ...

(Fall, 1946) as "The Creatures That Time Forgot". The story is about short-lived humans on a planet similar to Mercury.

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 In psychology, genetic memory is a theorized phenomenon in which certain kinds of memories could be inherited, being present at birth in the absence of any associated sensory experience, and that such memories could be incorporated into the geno ...

(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 A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

. It is the third in the ''

DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel ''DC Graphic Novel'' is a line of graphic novel trade paperbacks published from 1983 to 1986 by DC Comics. The series generally featured stand-alone stories featuring new characters and concepts with one notable exception. ''The Hunger Dogs'' ...

'' 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 Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career, Bass wor ...

, was released in 1983.

References

External links

* * 1946 short stories Science fiction short stories Short stories by Ray Bradbury Works originally published in Planet Stories Short stories adapted into films {{Authority control