Moon in science fiction

The Moon has been a setting in fiction since at least the works of the ancient Greek writers Antonius Diogenes and Lucian of Samosata; the former's Of the Wonderful Things Beyond Thule has been lost and the latter's True History from the second century CE is a satire of fanciful travellers' tales.

[2][5] By the latter part of the 1800s, it was clear that the Moon was devoid of life, making depictions of lunar lifeforms and societies lack credibility.

[10] The earliest depiction of life on the Moon in Lucian's True History included three-headed horse-vultures and vegetable birds.

[16] The titular mission of the 2011 film Apollo 18 is a secret project to investigate alien life in the form of lunar rocks.

[17][18] Following the end of World War II, several literary works appeared depicting science fiction authors' visions of the first Moon landing.

[3][19][21] An early example of colonization of Moon is found in The Lunar Trilogy of Polish writer Jerzy Żuławski, written between 1901 and 1911.

[22] Colonization of the Moon is depicted in Murray Leinster's 1950s Joe Kenmore series starting with the novel Space Platform, Larry Niven's 1980 novel The Patchwork Girl, and Roger MacBride Allen's 1988 novel Farside Cannon, among others.

The 1931 novel The Birth of a New Republic by Jack Williamson and Miles J. Breuer adapts the story of the American Revolutionary War to the lunar surface.

Heinlein's aforementioned The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls portray lunar societies based on libertarian ideals such as laissez-faire capitalism,[24][27] while the 1992 novel Steel Beach by John Varley depicts a post-scarcity society where the central authority guarantees both jobs for all who wish to work and access to necessities such as air, food, and heating.