Perchance to Dream by Ray Bradbury

To be or not to be...

Of course, any title with a direct reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet will automatically pique my interest. Ray Bradbury is fascinated with the myth of space travel, especially exploring distant planets such as Mars (The Martian Chronicles being the most famous collection on the subject). Astronauts in Bradbury's stories are pioneers of the future and their missions are often treacherous, filled with imminent danger as well as strange encounters of the unknown. 

In this story, Bradbury returns to the theme of the castaway, a lone astronaut stranded on an deserted planet after his spaceship crashes. Andy Weir's The Martian immediately comes to mind and owes a great deal of credit to Bradbury's influence. 

The protagonist manages to send a distress signal to the rescue party but they will not arrive for another six days, giving him plenty of leisure time to relax. He has no shortage of food, cigarettes and even Tolstoy's War and Peace to help pass the time. Unfortunately for him, it is not all fun and games on this planet. After falling asleep, his dreams become infiltrated by a series of strange and competing voices. Two warring factions are searching for a human body to host their intergalactic war and this unsuspecting astronaut has conveniently crossed their path...

The psychological horror is the most striking aspect here and Bradbury presents a very creative spin on the survival narrative as the protagonist must fight internally to stay awake or succumb to madness as the voices begin to take over his mind. The nightmarish ending is full of dramatic irony, bringing the story full circle to a satisfying conclusion. Perhaps not as memorable as some of Bradbury's other planet exploration stories, this is still an entertaining, suspenseful and quick read by Bradbury that accomplishes so much in only a few pages.