Footprints in Red

by Doug Turnbull

Stand by for five exciting tales from the Martian past and future! This collection of science fiction is by the author of The Man Who Conquered Mars and Jupiter IV. Open this book and experience these unusual and thought provoking stories! The Mars Corporation is establishing a permanent colony on Mars. Hector Rodriguez along with Helen Meers are tasked with constructing the human habitats and support facilities from Earth-using robots. Mars colony will be up and running before Hector and forty-nine other intrepid pioneers arrive at their new home. And home it will because this is a one-way trip! Rocky and Augie passed their Scout First Aid class, but their skills are put to the test when a medical emergency arises during an overnight campout in a Martian cave. Aviation pioneer Titus Andronicus Scott perished in 1956 when an experimental aircraft he was flying crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Or did he? Neither Scott nor his aircraft were ever found. Learn the story behind the story in this biographical mystery. Who is that woman in the back seat of the Mars rover and why is she clutching a metal cylinder so tightly? Join four Mars colonists as they travel across the vast Martian desert on a mysterious mission. Elderly shipping tycoon Andrew Smithers recalls his long life as a Mars colonist while exploring a cavern he visited as a young man. See what the next century of life on Mars could be like through the eyes of one who lived it.

206 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

On a wintery Ohio morning in 1958, Doug Turnbull watched the television broadcast of America’s first satellite blasting off atop a Jupiter C rocket into the darkness above Cape Canaveral. From that moment, he was hooked on rockets and space travel, both what was being done and what could be done. As a youth he constructed a series of solid and liquid fuel rockets, on one occasion filling the house with smoke after conducting a static test in the basement. Future tests were banished to the back yard and while none of the rockets flew, their failures were spectacular.

A victim of Math Deficiency Syndrome, his future as a professional engineer or scientist was limited. Nonetheless, while making ends meet in mortgage banking, a field requiring only limited mathematical aptitude, Turnbull maintained his interest in Astronomy, as well as Physical and Planetary Science. He has constructed several telescopes, including one with a clock drive of his own design. As an amateur historian, amateur scientist, radical Libertarian, UCD graduate, member of the NRA, occasional reader of the work of other Science Fiction writers and subscriber to the Scientific American, he is well positioned to opine on a variety of issues.

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