Playground Mars

by Logan Russell

When Tony Swanson won the lottery and booked his trip to the Martian tourist colony of Elonia, he expected the adventure of a lifetime. Now, as a single father living in a remote outpost and performing dangerous prospecting work for a greedy mining tycoon, he wonders, "Where did it all go wrong?"

When an accident traps Tony, his daughter, Tally, escapes with the rights to the richest plot of land in the solar system. With only her wits and her rover's AI companion, she must learn to distinguish friend from foe to protect herself and save her father.

Follow Tally's journey while uncovering her parents' history, from tourists, to parents, to tragedy.

Playground Mars kicks off the Project Elonia series, which follows the long-term residents of the tourists colony. Will Elonia remained trapped in the capitalist machine, or evolve to become humanity's greatest hope?

Hardcover

Published January 7, 2024

About the author

The moment I graduated college and teachers and professors stopped telling me what to read, I found a love for reading for the first time in my life. Titles like The Martian, Rendezvous with Rama, and Contact blew me away with their ability to tell the most incredible stories while remaining grounded to our reality. At some point in my quest to find the best hard science fiction I hatched ideas for a few stories of my own. The first to come to fruition was LUCA and I hope to use this first publishing experience to grow as a writer and find my niche in science fiction.

Now my sights are set on completing a series of sci-fi books called Project Elonia, which follows the long-term residents of a tourist colony on Mars.

I currently work in a clinical genomics laboratory. I love running, skateboarding, video games, Pittsburgh sports, and movies.

Reviews

[Logan Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the author of this book, I can't exactly be objective in my review of the quality. But I will say that I think Playground Mars is a big improvement over my first novel LUCA. The characters have more depth than anything else I've ever written and this book was carefully crafted to set up the rest of the series.

If this book was written by someone else, my review would probably say that it scratched my itch for interplanetary sci-fi that wasn't just about aliens or people shooting each other.

[Jonathon Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. The characters were interesting, and the plot twists kept me engaged. I gasped and cheered several times. I enjoy that the cast of characters is diverse. It also gave a really interesting look at what it could be like to live on Mars. I’m excited to read the next two books in the series!

[Katie Comier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Playground Mars is a thrilling and heartfelt sci-fi adventure that masterfully blends survival, mystery, and the challenges of life on the Red Planet. Tally’s resilience and bravery make her an unforgettable heroine, while the story’s rich worldbuilding and high stakes keep you turning pages. A must-read for fans of gripping space fiction!

[Tanya Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where don’t you want to go? Sci-fi? Takes place at a vacation resort on mars. Thriller? Unscrupulous man chases a young girl for greed. Mystery? Mother vanishes and isn’t heard from for years.

An all around fun opener.