Issue 1

Best of the Bookshelf - Just Read

Red Mars

Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars, a crew of the "First Hundred" colonists, composed for the most part of Russians and Americans. The book details the construction of the first settlement on Mars, called "Underhill". A debate among the colonists breaks out about the advisability of terraforming the planet, focusing on the two extreme views personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and it should be continued, a viewpoint held by "the Greens", and Ann Clayborne who represents "the Reds" viewpoint that mankind does not have the right to change entire planets at their will and Mars should be left in its original state. Hiroko Ai represents a middle ground, believing that a new way of living could evolve on Mars, a philosophy referred to as "Areophany".

The Greens eventually win out, through direct intervention in some cases, and the first steps to terraforming Mars start during the book. At the same time, new towns are developed across the planet, increasingly "open" as new technologies and materials allow pressure to be contained in new ways. However, due to the greed of the transnational corporations which come to dominate and control the nation states of Earth, the new Martian towns become overcrowded and undermaintained. Several cases of sabotage of terraformation infrastructure occur, blamed on anti-terraforming forces. The situation results in a violent revolution in 2061, in which many of the First Hundred are killed, and much of Mars' infrastructure, notably the space elevator, and Phobos, are destroyed. Most of the surviving members of the First Hundred are forced into hiding in the "underground", in this case a literal underground shelter created by Hiroko Ai under the Martian south pole.

Share this page.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Email this page to a friend.

Add Comment