File:Solar system.jpg|alt=A photomontage of the eight planets and the Moon|thumb|Uranus appears infrequently in fiction compared to other locations in the
Solar System. Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction. circle 1250 4700 650
Neptune in fiction circle 2150 4505 525
Uranus in fiction circle 2890 3960 610
Saturn in fiction circle 3450 2880 790
Jupiter in fiction circle 3015 1770 460
Mars in fiction circle 2370 1150 520
Earth in science fiction circle 3165 590 280
Moon in science fiction circle 1570 785 475
Venus in fiction circle 990 530 320
Mercury in fiction Uranus was discovered in 1781 and has comparatively rarely been featured in fiction since then; in the catalogue of
early science fiction works compiled by
E. F. Bleiler and
Richard Bleiler in the
reference works
Science-Fiction: The Early Years from 1990 and
Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years from 1998, Uranus only appears in 6 (out of 2,475) and 9 (out of 1,835) works respectively, compared to 194 for
Mars in fiction and 131 for
Venus in fiction in
The Gernsback Years alone. Various explanations for this lack of representation have been proposed, including the planet's relatively late date of discovery, In the
subgenre of works visiting multiple locations in the
Solar System that appeared throughout the 19th century, Uranus was rarely included,
Clifton B. Kruse's 1936 short story "
Code of the Spaceways" likewise portrays the planet as having a solid surface, where
space pirates with a
paralysis ray have taken over a military base. In
Raymond Z. Gallun's 1940 short story "
The Long Winter",
methane snow falls on the Uranian surface during the
decades-long winter. Other early depictions of Uranus include
Russell R. Winterbotham's 1937 short story "
Clouds over Uranus" and the
Buck Rogers series. Uranus also appears in
Barry N. Malzberg's 1971 short story "
Ah, Fair Uranus", in which it hosts aliens in conflict with humanity; the television series
Doctor Who; the works of
Mark Brandis; and various
comic books. Toward the end of the century, there was a slight uptick in appearances by Uranus in
science fiction, including
Charles Sheffield's 1985 short story "
Dies Irae" about life in the atmosphere,
Geoffrey A. Landis' 1999 short story "
Into the Blue Abyss" in which there is life in the ocean below, and
G. David Nordley's 1999 short story "
Mustardseed". The planet appears briefly in
Kim Stanley Robinson's 1985 novel
The Memory of Whiteness. In games, Uranus appears as a source of
deuterium and
helium-3 in the
tabletop role-playing game Transhuman Space and the
video game series
Mass Effect. == Moons ==