Sleepers of Mars is a collection of early short stories by British writer John Wyndham, published after his death, in 1973 by Coronet Books. The collection includes: "Sleepers of Mars" (1939), a sequel to the novel Stowaway to Mars, in which a Russian expedition finds the remains of Martian civilisation. "Worlds to Barter" (1931), telling of the descendants of the human race travelling back in time to take over the current Earth. "Invisible Monster" (1933), featuring an invisible alien on the loose after the return of a space expedition. "The Man from Earth" (1934), in which a human sent on a mission to Venus wakes up in the far future as the last human alive. "The Third Vibrator" (1933), a cautionary tale in which the inventor of a super-weapon has a vision of how it previously destroyed Atlantis and Lemuria. Plot summary of Sleepers of Mars (story) At the end of the previous novel, Stowaway to Mars, the British spaceship, the Gloria Mundi departed Mars, expecting the USSR ship to leave at the same time. It did not. In the Stowaway to Mars it is mentioned that while the British reached Earth safely, it was now several years later, and still there had been no sign of the Soviet vessel. This story tells their fate. While on the planet in the previous story, the Soviet and British crews had explored part of Mars around their landing sites, discovering vegetation plant life, in the form of scrubby bushes growing along the banks of ancient canal works, with sluggish water still in them. The planet also hosted AI robots, hostile to the visitors from Earth. They seemed almost wild, feral machines living without control of organic life. Due to fatal encounters with these robots, and ill planned gunfight with the British crew, the Soviets now number four crewmen. Preparing to depart for Earth they discuss the fate of their mission - originally a race between the nations of Earth to be the first to reach Mars. The British and the Gloria Mundi had won the race, reach Mars before the Soviets and United States (whose rocket had crashed with no survivors upon reaching Mars). The Russians speculate what would be the global reaction if the Gloria Mundi reaches Earth, and then the Soviets return, and claim that they were the first to land on Mars, not the British. They conclude that they