Return to Mark/Space
ISBN 0-553-56073-5 (US pbk),,, 0-246-13881-5 (UK hbk)
novel, science fiction, mars, terraforming
Mars, early 21st century. Book 1 of a trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars , Blue Mars . Winner of the 1993 Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. A Mars Companion is planned to accompany the trilogy.
"Ever since early man saw it as a dull red glow in the night sky it has been a force in our imagination.
"Closest to Earth in our solar system, surely there must be life on it, a sister planet to our own? We dreamt about the builders of the canals we could see by telescope, about ruined cities, lost Martian civilisations, about the possibilities of alien contact. Then the Viking and Mariner probes went up, and sent back -- nothing, Mars was a barren planet: lifeless, sterile, uninhabited. But might it not be brought to life?
"In 2019 the first man set foot on the surface of Mars: John Boone, American hero.
"In 2027 the first hundred -- Earth's finest engineers and scientists -- made the first mass-landing.
"Their mission? To create a New World. To terraform the planet, turning it from a wasteland into an Eden populated by people, plants and animals.
"It is the greatest challenge mankind has ever faced: the ultimate test of our intelligence and ability: our finest dream.
"Mars is intensely cold: far colder than the Arctic or the depths of Siberia. It has no atmosphere, and no magnetosphere to filter the sun's deadly radiation. The only water on the planet is trapped in underground aquifiers. Nothing can survive in this hostile environment.
"Using every triumph of science and technology, the first hundred will strive to bring about the genesis of a new, living planet. But in order to do so, they must overcome their own limitations: personalities, prejudice, politics and greed.
"How can John Boone hold the dream together? Already there are factions within the hundred, different ideologies and views of what Mars is, and should be. And in his own life, he and his co-leader, Frank Chalmers, are in deadly competition, over Mars, and over the beautiful Maya." [jacket blurb, UK hbk, 1992]
Mars Atlas home page
(essential topography for anyone visiting there)
Mars Directory
(thinking of moving?... here are the connections)
|
|
|
Return to Mark/Space