Mars

Read some novels about the red planet

The Sky So Big and Black by John Barnes
As Martian student Teri Murray and her father, an eco-prospector, escort a group of students from Mars's highlands to their school in Wells City, a catastrophic solar phenomenon occurs, decimating many of the human colonies and disrupting communication planet-wide. Left to rescue herself and the survivors in her group, Teri is forced to compromise her principles and make an alliance with a force that could mean the end of Martian independence.

Moving Mars by Greg Bear
Mars is a colonial world, governed by corporate interests on Earth. The citizens of Mars are hardworking,but held back by their lack of access to the best education, and the desire of the Earthly powers to keep the best new inventions for themselves. The second and third generation Martians have little loyalty to Earth, and a strong belief that their planet can be independent. The revolution begins slowly, but will grow in power over decades of political struggle until it becomes irresistible.

Mars by Ben Bova
An unforgettable portrait of space, politics and humanity, this novel from six-time Hugo Award-winning author Bova combines fact and fiction to tell the story of the first manned expedition to our mysterious neighbor, the red planet. Astronauts land on Mars prepared for meteor showers and subzero temperatures but not for everything they encounter. Also try: Return to Mars.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Written in the 1940s, the chronicles drip with nostalgic atmosphere--shady porches with tinkling pitchers of lemonade, and grandfather clocks. But longing for this comfortable past proves dangerous in every way to Bradbury's characters--the golden-eyed Martians as well as the humans. Starting in the farflung future of 1999, expedition after expedition leaves Earth to investigate Mars. The Martians guard their mysteries well, but they are decimated by the diseases that arrive with the rockets.

Phobos by Ty Drago
Lt. Mike Brogue is one of a kind: the only native Martian to be a commissioned officer. He's the military's poster boy for relieving political tensions between Mars Colony and Earth---but he wants nothing to do with it. Brogue is just a man trying to do his job as a tactical analyst and prefers to leave the politics to civilians. After he manages to save a top Terran official from an extremist plot, however, the only way to avoid the spotlight is to get off planet. So he pulls some strings and gets shipped to one of the small moons of Mars to help unravel a mystery.

Stranger In a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Valentine Michael Smith is the stranger. A young human, reared by Martians on Mars, he is brought to Earth, where he must adapt not only to the planet's social injustices and its population's foibles, but to its strong gravitational field and rich atmosphere. This was the first science-fiction title to appear on The New York Times bestseller list; and also the book that taught us how to “grok.” Also try: Red Planet.

The Tranquility Wars by Gentry Lee
When rising star Hunter Blake wins a prestigious appointment as a Covington Fellow, he leaves his home in a mining colony on the asteroid Cicero for a period of intensive study on Mars, the center of the Federation of Independent Space Colonies. Captured by space-faring pirates and held hostage as part of an intricate political juggling act involving two rival governments and the anarchistic pirates, Hunter soon learns to question his assumptions about life, love, politics and truth.

The Secret of Life by Paul McAuley
2026: A strange fungus-like organism is growing in the Pacific Ocean, threatening Earth's entire food chain. Christened "the slick," this bizarre life-form contains alien DNA that may have come from the planet Mars. Dr. Mariella Anders is recruited by NASA to join an urgent mission to the Red Planet to search for life beneath Mars' polar icecap – and perhaps uncover the secret of the slick. But whom can she trust to safeguard one of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history?

Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
As a member of the Institute of Temporal Research, Hanville Svetz explores Earth's past on a regular basis--to satisfy the whims of the current secretary-general. By the 31st century, Earth is polluted nearly to death, and most species are extinct, so Svets is sent not only back in time, but also to Mars to figure our why their canals went dry and what lessons can be learned to benefit Earth.

Von Neumann's War by John Ringo
Mars is changing. Seemingly overnight the once "Red" planet is turning to gray. Something is happening, something unnatural. A team of rocket scientists figure out a way to send a probe, very fast, to Mars to determine how and why it is changing. However, when the probe is destroyed well short of the formerly red planet, it's apparent that Mars is being used as a staging ground. And the only viable target for that staging ground is Earth.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of colonists is about to fulfill that destiny. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists" Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life...and death. Also try: Green Mars and Blue Mars.

Ilium by Dan Simmons
Ilium is an awe-inspiring novel that reconstructs the events in Homer's classic The Iliad. Imagine the Trojan War taking place on a terra-formed Mars, with gods that are really highly advanced posthumans. Add to that a variety of races of sentient biomechanical organisms living in the outskirts of the solar system, a reincarnated professor from the 21st century working as an observer for the gods, handheld time-travel devices and Little Green Men. Also try Olympos.

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings by S. M. Stirling
In a parallel universe on Mars, Terran archaeologist Jeremy Wainman and Martian female mercenary Teyud za-Zhalt set out for the Martian wilderness in search of an ancient artifact. They find it and, also, love. But then they come into the cross fire among at least three murderous conspiracies, one of them led by a Martian prince who aims to usurp the Crimson Throne, to which Teyud is actually the lawful heiress. Also try The Sky People, which is set on Venus.

The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
In a future where Earth is overpopulated and on the verge of ecological collapse, and where aliens would rather see humanity wiped out to save the planet, the government cuts a deal with the Interstellar Trade Organization by selling off 90 percent of its citizens as slaves and pets. Margaret Bain, the only child on the sparsely populated Martian moon, Phobos, finds companionship by creating imaginary versions of herself as, for example, a queen, a warrior, even a boy. Each time Margaret faces a crisis, the other Margarets split off and grow to adulthood on other worlds.

Red Thunder by John Varley
With the Chinese sure to beat out the rival American ship, Ares, to become the first humans to set foot on Mars, exastronaut Travis Broussard, his brilliant but unconventional cousin, Jubal, and four teens from Florida decide to build their own spaceship, Red Thunder, and get there first. Jubal has invented a new technology, the Sqeezer, that will get their ship there in a mere three days – that is, if they can get their rag tag ship built and launched. Also try Red Lightning.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells invented the myth of invasion from outer space. Martians land near London, conquering all before them, and ruin the metropolis; the fate of civilization and even of the human race remains in doubt until the very last. The novel exemplifies most dramatically the scientific skepticism and vivid narrative imagination that make Wells the pre-eminent founder of modern science fiction.