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Mars #5 - Attlee and the Long Walk
Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier
Mars! The Red Planet! For generations, people have wondered what it would be like to travel to and live there. That curiosity has inspired some of the most durable science fiction, including Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and the work of Isaac Asimov. Now the award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan has brought together thirteen original stories to explore the possibilities. After reading Life on Mars , readers will never look at the fourth planet from the sun the same way again.
333 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2011
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413 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 19, 2017
Attlee and the Long Walk by Kage Baker - in order to be accepted into a club, Attlee needs to go on an quest to find a huge cockroach. (4 stars)
The Old Man and the Martian Sea by Alastair Reynolds - Yukimi runs away in a cargo ship and lands on an old Marsian outpost. (3 stars)
Wahala by Nnedi Okorafor - Planton tries to run away in the desert but a space ship from Mars lands carrying people from the colony. (4 stars)
On Chryse Plain by Stephen Baxter - A human from Earth enters into Mars' atmosphere and knocks into two humans from Mars. (3 stars)
First Principle by Nancy Kress - as Earth dies, refugees from Earth land on an Martian outpost where humans have been generically modified; perspective from a Martian teen. (3 stars)
Martian Chronicles by Cory Doctorow - in preparation for going to Mars, people play 'Martian Chronicles' game, but three teens figure out there's more to that than practice. (4 stars)
Goodnight Moons by Ellen Klages - as part of the first crew to Mars, a woman discovers she's pregnant. (4 stars)
The Taste of Promises by Rachel Swirsky - a runaway teen gets caught trying to steal from a Mars settlement. (4 stars)
Digging by Ian McDonald - an almost-adult is invited on a digging mission with the team leader. (4 stars)
LARP on Mars by Chris Roberson - three teens on Mars find a corpse. (2 stars)
Martian Heart by John Barnes - a young couple goes prospecting on the Martian frontier. (3 stars)
Discovering Life by Kim Stanley Robinson - scientists hold a press junkets about the discovery of single cell life on mars, but one is concerned. (4 stars)
The Old Man and the Martian Sea by Alastair Reynolds - Yukimi runs away in a cargo ship and lands on an old Marsian outpost. (3 stars)
Wahala by Nnedi Okorafor - Planton tries to run away in the desert but a space ship from Mars lands carrying people from the colony. (4 stars)
On Chryse Plain by Stephen Baxter - A human from Earth enters into Mars' atmosphere and knocks into two humans from Mars. (3 stars)
First Principle by Nancy Kress - as Earth dies, refugees from Earth land on an Martian outpost where humans have been generically modified; perspective from a Martian teen. (3 stars)
Martian Chronicles by Cory Doctorow - in preparation for going to Mars, people play 'Martian Chronicles' game, but three teens figure out there's more to that than practice. (4 stars)
Goodnight Moons by Ellen Klages - as part of the first crew to Mars, a woman discovers she's pregnant. (4 stars)
The Taste of Promises by Rachel Swirsky - a runaway teen gets caught trying to steal from a Mars settlement. (4 stars)
Digging by Ian McDonald - an almost-adult is invited on a digging mission with the team leader. (4 stars)
LARP on Mars by Chris Roberson - three teens on Mars find a corpse. (2 stars)
Martian Heart by John Barnes - a young couple goes prospecting on the Martian frontier. (3 stars)
Discovering Life by Kim Stanley Robinson - scientists hold a press junkets about the discovery of single cell life on mars, but one is concerned. (4 stars)
April 21, 2019
I would've given this book 4.5 stars if given the option. Most of the stories in this anthology were wonderful. Only one that I really didn't understand or get it. And a few new authors to check out for sure. That's what I call a good reading experience.
June 18, 2016
Good intro, stories suck though
February 27, 2018
Excellent collection, great authors.
June 20, 2025
“Attlee and the long walk,” by Kage Baker. Attlee’s parents came to Mars as terraformers, but it’s not a life Attlee enjoys—she’s really smart and wants to be a scientist. When an initiation ritual required by the group of kids she hangs out with sends her on an all-night walk though the covered agricultural fields, with the promise of a deadly monster cockroach at the end, she’s unprepared for what she finds. I thought this was a bit slow, and I had trouble picturing the environment. I liked the idea of exploring the effect of kids being stuck with their parents’ choices, and there was some roach-killing action, but overall this was underwhelming.
“The old man and the Martian Sea” by Alistair Reynolds. Yukumi’s parents are divorcing, and her big sister is now working on Venus and doesn’t stay in touch the way she promised. So Yukimi stows away on a ship, headed out to another Martian city. When it makes a surprise landing on an ancient terraforming machine, Yukumi ends up on the ‘scaper’ with the old man who keeps it running. He shows her something that no one else will ever see again. This was a slow moving, thoughtful piece, with a lot of world building and details about the supposed Martian past and terraforming in general. I liked it well enough, though I’m not sure how much it would appeal to kids because it really is more world building than action.
“Wahala” by Nnedi Okorafor. A generation ago, nuclear war caused tremendous changes to the world and its people. Nigerian Fisayo is a shadow speaker, who can read people and their histories. When she hears about a shuttle arriving from Mars after a many weeks trip, the first shuttle to come from Mars in 40 years, she happens to be nearby in the desert. She goes to see what people unaffected by the great change on earth would be like. She encounters some familiar prejudices, and some things that she has never encountered before. This is an unusual science fiction in being not western based, but African based. It has great descriptions and imagination, but it gives the message that the more things change, the more people remain the same, with all of their bad habits and tendencies intact. It’s a story that’s not easy to understand at first read, which may make some readers not like it so much. But if you really read it and think about it, there’s a lot to absorb.
“On Chryse Plain” by Stephen Baxter. Vikram and Jonno live and work on a sparsely populated Mars. Natalie is from London, on a school trip that includes surfing the Martian stratosphere. A miscalculation sends Natalie crashing into the two boys, wrecking both vehicles and any way to communicate beyond the Martian desert. It also gravely injures one boy. Could some ancient technology offer any hope? I liked this one well enough, though it didn’t explain some of the tech enough for me to understand the concept. Some of the attitudes felt either too 21st century or like a commentary on how people don’t change, so I’m guessing the intent was the latter. The system of arranged Martian marriages for genetic reasons (regardless of any LGBTQ feelings) seemed depressing, as if the future holds no more opportunities than the past and hope is irrelevant.
“First Principle” by Nancy Kress. Gina is human, but like all of the recent generations living on Mars, is genetically engineered to suit the planet. Earth-born humans sneer at the Martians, calling them bugs and generally being racist jerks. But Earth is swiftly becoming non-viable after multiple disasters, so immigration is starting again. One of the first is David, and Gina’s mother asks her to play chess with him, as his parents are mostly unavailable. But David’s rampant racism and homesickness may threaten everything Gina holds dear. This was depressing. I think the message is that sometimes homesickness makes transplantation impossible, but I wasn’t sure. The racism was well represented.
“Martian Chronicles” by Cory Doctorow. David and his parents, wealthy on Earth, have sold everything to immigrate to Mars with the second wave of 1000 people to go to join the 1000 that landed ten years ago. David was eager to go, as the only place he felt worthwhile on Earth was playing the online game Martian Chronicles, where he was the CEO of a major corporation that he founded. On the ship, he meets Vijay, a "pove" or impoverished orphan sent by a charity, and Helene. Both were surprisingly powerful in Martian Chronicles, though all of them will need to start over when they lose connection to Earth internet and rejoin the game on the Mars servers. David has been brought up to believe you a winner or a whiner, and "poves" are whiners who don't want to work hard and want government handouts, which doesn't endear him to Vijay. But life on Mars may be a lot harder than anyone warned them, and all the rules of the game may go out the window. This was a very long story, more of a novelette, and had clear messages about the entitlement of people like David and their misinformed beliefs about people like Vijay. I'm not too interested in business-oriented games (or reality), so that part didn't hold my attention except in that it did feel like a realistic picture of how people would behave in that situation. I also didn't appreciate the gross-out moments that will no doubt thrill middle schoolers more interested in puke and poop than me. Overall, this would be a good class read, because there would be a lot of discussable themes.
“Goodnight moons” by Ellen Klages. Zoe has always dreamed of traveling to Mars, and spent her life turning herself into an astronaut. Her husband unfortunately didn't make it, but Zoe does get chosen for the inaugural voyage. On the journey, she gets an unexpected farewell gift from her husband that will change their lives forever. This isn't really a story that will appeal to middle schoolers, so I'm not sure what it's doing in this collection. It's short and realistic and sad on a number of levels.
“The taste of promises” by Rachel Swirsky. Tiro is 14 and has run away from home with his younger brother, Eo. He needs to find a way to get Eo a new body, and his parents weren’t being proactive enough for Tiro. He gets caught when he pilfers some food from an outlying community, and learns that the community’s computer system and security is run by someone like Eo. Does Eo really need a new body? Or is Tiro trying to make his brother more like him? This was interesting, if I had a bit of difficulty trying to picture the settlement. I think the author had a very clear picture in mind, but in a short story, I’m not sure was able to do it justice. I liked the concept, and I think that it could be a good one for discussion.
“Digging” by Ian McDonald. Tash lives in a traction city whose purpose is to dig into the surface of Mars until they and the other digging traction cities reach a level that will be habitable by humans. Three generations so far have expended their time on this. Tash wants more, but what more is there? I found this one difficult to comprehend, because the writing is a bit convoluted and turgid. It had some crudities in it that would bump it into the young adult category, but no incidents of that sort. I guess I just didn’t get the point; it seems like a rough existence with no way for it to change within the main character‘s lifetime.
“LARP on Mars” by Chris Roberson. Three boys who have grown up on Mars, in a small settlement where they are the only kids their age, have based their friendship on their love of fantasy, manga, anime, and gaming. One day they go out to play zombie ninjas on the surface of Mars, and in a lava tube, they discover something that isn’t a game. I liked this one OK. I like the idea that kids would be just as bored on Mars as they are on Earth, and just as obsessed with media. I did wonder about their plans to go to college on Earth, because so many of the other stories of commented that people born on Mars wouldn’t be able to survive Earth’s gravity. Otherwise, this was fine.
“Martian heart” by John Barnes. Cap is an old man now, and a big deal on Mars. But he had a rough start on Earth, getting arrested with his girlfriend Sam for vagrancy, and being sent to Mars to work. They started out as prospectors, but didn’t know that Sam had a common heart defect that only affected people when they went to Mars. Sam was much smarter than Cap, and the advice that she gave him made his life possible. This story was sad, of course, with interesting details about prospecting on Mars as far as the author could imagine it. There were a few times when I was a little confused about who or what he was telling his story too, but otherwise it was pretty comprehensible. In reading the author’s note for this, I see that he was inspired by “The cremation of Sam McGee“ by Robert Service, a poem I know very well. I can see all the connections the author made with the poem, and it makes a lot of sense. As Service said, “A promise made is a debt unpaid.”
“Discovering life” by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bill has spent his entire career doing research about Mars, with the thought that all of the hours and hours and years and years he’s sacrificed, including so much time with his family, will be worth it because eventually humans will land on Mars. Now they have discovered bacteria on Mars, and that changes everything. This was really an adult short story, and it made sense, but it certainly wasn’t a lot of fun to read. The human reaction to bacteria on Mars certainly rang true.
“The old man and the Martian Sea” by Alistair Reynolds. Yukumi’s parents are divorcing, and her big sister is now working on Venus and doesn’t stay in touch the way she promised. So Yukimi stows away on a ship, headed out to another Martian city. When it makes a surprise landing on an ancient terraforming machine, Yukumi ends up on the ‘scaper’ with the old man who keeps it running. He shows her something that no one else will ever see again. This was a slow moving, thoughtful piece, with a lot of world building and details about the supposed Martian past and terraforming in general. I liked it well enough, though I’m not sure how much it would appeal to kids because it really is more world building than action.
“Wahala” by Nnedi Okorafor. A generation ago, nuclear war caused tremendous changes to the world and its people. Nigerian Fisayo is a shadow speaker, who can read people and their histories. When she hears about a shuttle arriving from Mars after a many weeks trip, the first shuttle to come from Mars in 40 years, she happens to be nearby in the desert. She goes to see what people unaffected by the great change on earth would be like. She encounters some familiar prejudices, and some things that she has never encountered before. This is an unusual science fiction in being not western based, but African based. It has great descriptions and imagination, but it gives the message that the more things change, the more people remain the same, with all of their bad habits and tendencies intact. It’s a story that’s not easy to understand at first read, which may make some readers not like it so much. But if you really read it and think about it, there’s a lot to absorb.
“On Chryse Plain” by Stephen Baxter. Vikram and Jonno live and work on a sparsely populated Mars. Natalie is from London, on a school trip that includes surfing the Martian stratosphere. A miscalculation sends Natalie crashing into the two boys, wrecking both vehicles and any way to communicate beyond the Martian desert. It also gravely injures one boy. Could some ancient technology offer any hope? I liked this one well enough, though it didn’t explain some of the tech enough for me to understand the concept. Some of the attitudes felt either too 21st century or like a commentary on how people don’t change, so I’m guessing the intent was the latter. The system of arranged Martian marriages for genetic reasons (regardless of any LGBTQ feelings) seemed depressing, as if the future holds no more opportunities than the past and hope is irrelevant.
“First Principle” by Nancy Kress. Gina is human, but like all of the recent generations living on Mars, is genetically engineered to suit the planet. Earth-born humans sneer at the Martians, calling them bugs and generally being racist jerks. But Earth is swiftly becoming non-viable after multiple disasters, so immigration is starting again. One of the first is David, and Gina’s mother asks her to play chess with him, as his parents are mostly unavailable. But David’s rampant racism and homesickness may threaten everything Gina holds dear. This was depressing. I think the message is that sometimes homesickness makes transplantation impossible, but I wasn’t sure. The racism was well represented.
“Martian Chronicles” by Cory Doctorow. David and his parents, wealthy on Earth, have sold everything to immigrate to Mars with the second wave of 1000 people to go to join the 1000 that landed ten years ago. David was eager to go, as the only place he felt worthwhile on Earth was playing the online game Martian Chronicles, where he was the CEO of a major corporation that he founded. On the ship, he meets Vijay, a "pove" or impoverished orphan sent by a charity, and Helene. Both were surprisingly powerful in Martian Chronicles, though all of them will need to start over when they lose connection to Earth internet and rejoin the game on the Mars servers. David has been brought up to believe you a winner or a whiner, and "poves" are whiners who don't want to work hard and want government handouts, which doesn't endear him to Vijay. But life on Mars may be a lot harder than anyone warned them, and all the rules of the game may go out the window. This was a very long story, more of a novelette, and had clear messages about the entitlement of people like David and their misinformed beliefs about people like Vijay. I'm not too interested in business-oriented games (or reality), so that part didn't hold my attention except in that it did feel like a realistic picture of how people would behave in that situation. I also didn't appreciate the gross-out moments that will no doubt thrill middle schoolers more interested in puke and poop than me. Overall, this would be a good class read, because there would be a lot of discussable themes.
“Goodnight moons” by Ellen Klages. Zoe has always dreamed of traveling to Mars, and spent her life turning herself into an astronaut. Her husband unfortunately didn't make it, but Zoe does get chosen for the inaugural voyage. On the journey, she gets an unexpected farewell gift from her husband that will change their lives forever. This isn't really a story that will appeal to middle schoolers, so I'm not sure what it's doing in this collection. It's short and realistic and sad on a number of levels.
“The taste of promises” by Rachel Swirsky. Tiro is 14 and has run away from home with his younger brother, Eo. He needs to find a way to get Eo a new body, and his parents weren’t being proactive enough for Tiro. He gets caught when he pilfers some food from an outlying community, and learns that the community’s computer system and security is run by someone like Eo. Does Eo really need a new body? Or is Tiro trying to make his brother more like him? This was interesting, if I had a bit of difficulty trying to picture the settlement. I think the author had a very clear picture in mind, but in a short story, I’m not sure was able to do it justice. I liked the concept, and I think that it could be a good one for discussion.
“Digging” by Ian McDonald. Tash lives in a traction city whose purpose is to dig into the surface of Mars until they and the other digging traction cities reach a level that will be habitable by humans. Three generations so far have expended their time on this. Tash wants more, but what more is there? I found this one difficult to comprehend, because the writing is a bit convoluted and turgid. It had some crudities in it that would bump it into the young adult category, but no incidents of that sort. I guess I just didn’t get the point; it seems like a rough existence with no way for it to change within the main character‘s lifetime.
“LARP on Mars” by Chris Roberson. Three boys who have grown up on Mars, in a small settlement where they are the only kids their age, have based their friendship on their love of fantasy, manga, anime, and gaming. One day they go out to play zombie ninjas on the surface of Mars, and in a lava tube, they discover something that isn’t a game. I liked this one OK. I like the idea that kids would be just as bored on Mars as they are on Earth, and just as obsessed with media. I did wonder about their plans to go to college on Earth, because so many of the other stories of commented that people born on Mars wouldn’t be able to survive Earth’s gravity. Otherwise, this was fine.
“Martian heart” by John Barnes. Cap is an old man now, and a big deal on Mars. But he had a rough start on Earth, getting arrested with his girlfriend Sam for vagrancy, and being sent to Mars to work. They started out as prospectors, but didn’t know that Sam had a common heart defect that only affected people when they went to Mars. Sam was much smarter than Cap, and the advice that she gave him made his life possible. This story was sad, of course, with interesting details about prospecting on Mars as far as the author could imagine it. There were a few times when I was a little confused about who or what he was telling his story too, but otherwise it was pretty comprehensible. In reading the author’s note for this, I see that he was inspired by “The cremation of Sam McGee“ by Robert Service, a poem I know very well. I can see all the connections the author made with the poem, and it makes a lot of sense. As Service said, “A promise made is a debt unpaid.”
“Discovering life” by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bill has spent his entire career doing research about Mars, with the thought that all of the hours and hours and years and years he’s sacrificed, including so much time with his family, will be worth it because eventually humans will land on Mars. Now they have discovered bacteria on Mars, and that changes everything. This was really an adult short story, and it made sense, but it certainly wasn’t a lot of fun to read. The human reaction to bacteria on Mars certainly rang true.
February 20, 2011
Let’s go to Mars. The timing for this anthology couldn’t be better. The fascination with Mars endures and it was prudent of Strahan to see that especially now the interest grows. This exquisite collection will electrify your short story collection. Life on Mars is a follow-up anthology to Strahan’s The Starry Rift (published in 2008). Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier is a science fiction anthology that takes as its leaping off point that we do go to Mars. In some stories, we have been on Mars for a significant stretch of time. Imagine that! Cory Doctorow, Ellen Klages, Nancy Kress, Kim Stanley Robinson are among the dozen authors who share their point of view on Martian life. The fact that each of the authors present unique details relevant to life on the Red Planet makes it feel like we have already colonized the planet. Aspects of life don’t seem all that different that life on Earth, but there is something that is a true problem. “Goodnight Moons” by Ellen Klages was inspired by reading Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, eating a Mars bar and eating lunch with a rocket scientist. Each story ends with an brief author biography and an author’s note that divulges what inspired the story. A great addition to any short story or science fiction collection.
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April 9, 2012Dawn States
Science Fiction
Life on Mars…what would it be like? The book of short stories by the same title explores this option in a myriad of ways, from colonizing the red planet, to travel between earth and Mars, to living on Mars as an accepted way of life. Each short story is a well-written and contained plot that has a connecting theme with the other stories with Mars being the connection. Some stories are about racial differences, some are love stories, and some are about the courage to hope for a better future. Science fiction fans will love the plots and futuristic themes of each story.
The first story, also my favorite, is about Attlee a young girl growing up and knowing nothing other than the red planet and the struggle to survive. However, she has bigger dreams than always planting vegetables and killing cockroaches. She needs to believe in herself in order to achieve these dreams and overcome the self-doubt she has. This is a universal theme and like many of the stories these ideas are even present on another planet.
Science Fiction
Life on Mars…what would it be like? The book of short stories by the same title explores this option in a myriad of ways, from colonizing the red planet, to travel between earth and Mars, to living on Mars as an accepted way of life. Each short story is a well-written and contained plot that has a connecting theme with the other stories with Mars being the connection. Some stories are about racial differences, some are love stories, and some are about the courage to hope for a better future. Science fiction fans will love the plots and futuristic themes of each story.
The first story, also my favorite, is about Attlee a young girl growing up and knowing nothing other than the red planet and the struggle to survive. However, she has bigger dreams than always planting vegetables and killing cockroaches. She needs to believe in herself in order to achieve these dreams and overcome the self-doubt she has. This is a universal theme and like many of the stories these ideas are even present on another planet.
April 30, 2012
As is always the case with short story collections, some of these are more memorable than others, with Rachel Swirsky and Cory Doctorow's standing out for me among the rest. This was shelved with the "YA" tag in my library, but in spite of the younger protagonists in most of these stories, I can bet that most adults would enjoy them as well.
I hope kids are reading this stuff, however, and dreaming of Mars. Since this current generation has really sucked up the areas of space flight and exploration, maybe if more of the younger generations are intrigued by the horizons of the red planet and beyond, we'll have the possibility to actually succeed in becoming a bi-planetary species.
I hope kids are reading this stuff, however, and dreaming of Mars. Since this current generation has really sucked up the areas of space flight and exploration, maybe if more of the younger generations are intrigued by the horizons of the red planet and beyond, we'll have the possibility to actually succeed in becoming a bi-planetary species.
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October 22, 2019I listened to the novella "Martian Chronicles" by Cory Doctorow as a two-part podcast from Escape Pod.
The Mars colony consists of the 1000 original colonists and the children who have been born since their arrival, and now the second ship is heading for Mars with another 1000 colonists. The children on board have been playing a game called "Martian Chronicles" for years on Earth and are continuing to play it on the first half of the journey, knowing that their status in the game and everything they have built up so far will be lost when they switch over to playing on the Mars servers and have to start from scratch.
It's a thought-provoking tale of class, business, and colonisation, and no whining is allowed.
7/10 for this novella.
The Mars colony consists of the 1000 original colonists and the children who have been born since their arrival, and now the second ship is heading for Mars with another 1000 colonists. The children on board have been playing a game called "Martian Chronicles" for years on Earth and are continuing to play it on the first half of the journey, knowing that their status in the game and everything they have built up so far will be lost when they switch over to playing on the Mars servers and have to start from scratch.
It's a thought-provoking tale of class, business, and colonisation, and no whining is allowed.
7/10 for this novella.
January 19, 2023
Stories generally centered on a teenage person figuring out what they are good at and want to contribute to their Mars society. I enjoyed the range of authors and situations as limited by a Mars location.
September 8, 2018
Turns out this book is mostly for, and about, teenagers, but I enjoyed all of the stories to various degrees nonetheless.
October 3, 2024
I recommend people who are interested in science fiction to try this book. However, each chapter was a different story, which was very confusing for me.
June 21, 2025
None of the stories were what I expected, but they were very thought provoking.
September 1, 2025
I loved all of the different approaches. I don't know when (or if) people will make it to Mars, but it's nice to imagine that someday humanity will figure it out.
March 3, 2021
Some of the stories were really boring, and had hardly anything to do with living on Mars in the 1st place. The other stories were good or decent.
February 17, 2025
Every single story in this collection was very well-written and I enjoyed them all. However, I didn't feel like the stories had enough diversity. It was basically one example after another of things on Mars that could kill a human, and it got depressing by the end. I would have liked a couple of happier stories to be included, something that showed Mars being a nice place to live. Maybe a fun romance, or someone bringing the first pets to Mars or something.
October 29, 2012
I finished reading Life on Mars this morning. It’s a collection of SF short stories set on Mars after we’ve started putting people on it; either as tourists or immigrants. (Interestingly the publisher is Viking; a name significant in the recent history Mars.) I enjoyed all the stories, which is frequently not the case in anthologies, especially multiple author anthologies. For some reason I’ve been picking up quite a few SF books on Mars lately. Not sure if there are more available recently, or it’s just that the recent film adaptation of Burrough’s A Princess of Mars (1912) piqued my interest.
When I buy a multiple author anthology, I generally look over the table of contents for names I recognize. In this collection of 12 stories, I saw the names of three authors I almost always enjoy: Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow, and Ian McDonald.
The collection started with Kage Baker’s “Attlee and the Long Walk”. I like it when a collection starts with a strong story and this one fit the bill. It wasn’t my favorite story in the collection, but it was very enjoyable. It’s the story of a teen’s initiation into the important section of her peer group.
The second story “The Old Man and the Martian Sea” by Alastair Reynolds was also quite good. Like Baker’s story, this story features a young (teen-age?) girl as its protagonist. I might have a soft spot in my heart for those; Podkayne of Mars is probably my favorite early Heinlein.
“Wahahla” by Nnedi Okorafor continues the young-girl-protagonist theme, but unlike most of the other stories in the collection, it takes place on Earth. In an interesting turn, the people of Earth are the ones who have changed, not the Martian colonists.
The next story, “On Chryse Plain” by Stephen Baxter, features a trio of young protagonists, two male and one female in a tale of a meeting of cultures and survival.
In “First Principal” by Nancy Kress, the theme of young central characters continues. This time the main character is female and born on Mars and the other central character is male and a newly arrived colonist from Earth.
“Martian Chronicles” by Cory Doctorow is the longest story in the collection and probably my favorite. The story revolves around a young colonist to be (male) and his two friends (one male and one female) on their way to a Mars that is not what they or their parents are expecting. “Martian Chronicles” is a popular video game on Earth and Mars, but the game is played differently on Mars.
In “Goodnight Moons” by Ellen Klages we have the first story where the main character is an adult. It’s the story an early manned expedition to Mars and about the fallibility of plans.
“The Taste of Promises” by Rachel Swirsky is a return to young, teen-age protagonists. This time the main character is a boy travelling with his brother on a frontier Mars where law rules only the domed colonies.
“Digging” by Ian McDonald was an interesting story with yet another teen-aged main character, this one female. The story took a novel approach to creating an atmosphere on Mars.
In “LARP on Mars” by Chris Roberson we have a trio of young students (all male) on a field trip to the surface of Mars to prevent failing a science class.
The next to last story “Martian Heart” by John Barnes features adults as the main characters in an attempt to survive first financially then physically in a hostile environment.
And finally, there was Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Discovering Life”, the odd man out. This was the only story that was not original to this collection, and the only one that takes place before anyone ever sets foot on Mars. Not much action here, it’s the story of scientists at JPL after the discovery of Martian life.
All in all a good collection of stories.
When I buy a multiple author anthology, I generally look over the table of contents for names I recognize. In this collection of 12 stories, I saw the names of three authors I almost always enjoy: Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow, and Ian McDonald.
The collection started with Kage Baker’s “Attlee and the Long Walk”. I like it when a collection starts with a strong story and this one fit the bill. It wasn’t my favorite story in the collection, but it was very enjoyable. It’s the story of a teen’s initiation into the important section of her peer group.
The second story “The Old Man and the Martian Sea” by Alastair Reynolds was also quite good. Like Baker’s story, this story features a young (teen-age?) girl as its protagonist. I might have a soft spot in my heart for those; Podkayne of Mars is probably my favorite early Heinlein.
“Wahahla” by Nnedi Okorafor continues the young-girl-protagonist theme, but unlike most of the other stories in the collection, it takes place on Earth. In an interesting turn, the people of Earth are the ones who have changed, not the Martian colonists.
The next story, “On Chryse Plain” by Stephen Baxter, features a trio of young protagonists, two male and one female in a tale of a meeting of cultures and survival.
In “First Principal” by Nancy Kress, the theme of young central characters continues. This time the main character is female and born on Mars and the other central character is male and a newly arrived colonist from Earth.
“Martian Chronicles” by Cory Doctorow is the longest story in the collection and probably my favorite. The story revolves around a young colonist to be (male) and his two friends (one male and one female) on their way to a Mars that is not what they or their parents are expecting. “Martian Chronicles” is a popular video game on Earth and Mars, but the game is played differently on Mars.
In “Goodnight Moons” by Ellen Klages we have the first story where the main character is an adult. It’s the story an early manned expedition to Mars and about the fallibility of plans.
“The Taste of Promises” by Rachel Swirsky is a return to young, teen-age protagonists. This time the main character is a boy travelling with his brother on a frontier Mars where law rules only the domed colonies.
“Digging” by Ian McDonald was an interesting story with yet another teen-aged main character, this one female. The story took a novel approach to creating an atmosphere on Mars.
In “LARP on Mars” by Chris Roberson we have a trio of young students (all male) on a field trip to the surface of Mars to prevent failing a science class.
The next to last story “Martian Heart” by John Barnes features adults as the main characters in an attempt to survive first financially then physically in a hostile environment.
And finally, there was Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Discovering Life”, the odd man out. This was the only story that was not original to this collection, and the only one that takes place before anyone ever sets foot on Mars. Not much action here, it’s the story of scientists at JPL after the discovery of Martian life.
All in all a good collection of stories.
December 9, 2016
Title: Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier
Author: Jonathan Strahan
Mars has been a place that man has always wanted to explore. There are many people who want to go and explore Mars but sooner and later that will become a reality. There are many stories about mars and what happens there. The book Life on Mars is about realistic events that could happen in Mars today. The author gives us thirteen stories written by other authors about real life possibilities that could happen on Mars if it could happen today. The authors use scientific data about the Mars so as accurate as possible. My favorite story is Attlee And The Long Walk written by Kage Baker. The story is about a girl from earth named Attlee Bonser. She lives on a mars, in the book she takes walk on Mars to prove that she has courage and to improve the status she has in the Matrian Shadowcats. On her walk she finds out about the legend of The Roach, the Roach has many abilities. They include the ability to hack signals, talk, walk, and even sneak around without being noticed. She even finds out origins of the Shadowcats. She then understands the values of being an individual and even seizes the opportunity to determine her very own future.
I think people who like short stories and different perspectives would be very interested in the book. Also people who like science fiction and futuristic stories. The book deal with young people, who do something very foolish, and then have to be rescued by someone. So I would recommend this book for a younger teenager audience. Also this book could relate to many people because many people face similar problems to the main characters just in different context. In my opinion this book really reaches out to the younger audience and has many hidden meanings.
My overall satisfaction with this book is 4/5 because the book does get a little confusing with the different short stories. Although is does get a little confusing they all have hidden meaning and all tie into each other. The book kept me entertained throughout the whole book because after the first short story there is another one right after it with a whole new story. I really did enjoy the futuristic plot because it could all happen one day into the future. This is why my overall satisfaction is a 4/5 stars, only cause some of the stories are a little repetitive.
Author: Jonathan Strahan
Mars has been a place that man has always wanted to explore. There are many people who want to go and explore Mars but sooner and later that will become a reality. There are many stories about mars and what happens there. The book Life on Mars is about realistic events that could happen in Mars today. The author gives us thirteen stories written by other authors about real life possibilities that could happen on Mars if it could happen today. The authors use scientific data about the Mars so as accurate as possible. My favorite story is Attlee And The Long Walk written by Kage Baker. The story is about a girl from earth named Attlee Bonser. She lives on a mars, in the book she takes walk on Mars to prove that she has courage and to improve the status she has in the Matrian Shadowcats. On her walk she finds out about the legend of The Roach, the Roach has many abilities. They include the ability to hack signals, talk, walk, and even sneak around without being noticed. She even finds out origins of the Shadowcats. She then understands the values of being an individual and even seizes the opportunity to determine her very own future.
I think people who like short stories and different perspectives would be very interested in the book. Also people who like science fiction and futuristic stories. The book deal with young people, who do something very foolish, and then have to be rescued by someone. So I would recommend this book for a younger teenager audience. Also this book could relate to many people because many people face similar problems to the main characters just in different context. In my opinion this book really reaches out to the younger audience and has many hidden meanings.
My overall satisfaction with this book is 4/5 because the book does get a little confusing with the different short stories. Although is does get a little confusing they all have hidden meaning and all tie into each other. The book kept me entertained throughout the whole book because after the first short story there is another one right after it with a whole new story. I really did enjoy the futuristic plot because it could all happen one day into the future. This is why my overall satisfaction is a 4/5 stars, only cause some of the stories are a little repetitive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2014
This short story collection contains 12 works from contemporary science fiction writers. The protagonists of the stories range in age from 12 to mid-forties. These stories are varied in their themes and language (some with profanity) so it is difficult to give appropriate age range. I would like to say that the only common denominator is that they are all about the colonization of Mars at different stages of development, and that the authors use the same Martian topography and scientific details that were recovered from NASA missions to add credibility. There are stories of friendship, racism, suicide, social class, dedication, and the idea that colonizing Mars to escape problems on Earth will never work as long as we are still human.
The problem with this collection is that it feels too long; it would be a stronger book if it cut half of the stories, particularly the Chris Roberson story which was lost in videogame and role-playing game jargon with no gripping plot. The stand outs are the stories by Kage Baker, Alastair Reynolds, Cory Doctorow, Ellen Klages, Rachel Swirsky, and John Barnes. Though these 6 writers are varied in their subject, their stories have the most appeal to teens and adults and are written in an engaging style.
The problem with this collection is that it feels too long; it would be a stronger book if it cut half of the stories, particularly the Chris Roberson story which was lost in videogame and role-playing game jargon with no gripping plot. The stand outs are the stories by Kage Baker, Alastair Reynolds, Cory Doctorow, Ellen Klages, Rachel Swirsky, and John Barnes. Though these 6 writers are varied in their subject, their stories have the most appeal to teens and adults and are written in an engaging style.
May 4, 2011
Ah, sweet traditional science ficiton that is NOT a dystopia (I'm getting very tired of that subset of the genre) - how I've missed you!
This was a nice collection of short stories that captured the possibilities of a Mars colonized. The scope was generally pretty similar in each story. Most imagined what life might be like for those who colonized Mars. There were a few unique stand outs (the first one, Cory Doctorow's, the one with genetic engineering, & the tale of the old man recounting his past were a few of my favorites - sorry I'm no good with titles).
This collection probably won't convert anyone who is adamantly anti-sci-fi, but for those who want a broader view of the genre beyond the Hunger Games wannabes, it's a winner.
This was a nice collection of short stories that captured the possibilities of a Mars colonized. The scope was generally pretty similar in each story. Most imagined what life might be like for those who colonized Mars. There were a few unique stand outs (the first one, Cory Doctorow's, the one with genetic engineering, & the tale of the old man recounting his past were a few of my favorites - sorry I'm no good with titles).
This collection probably won't convert anyone who is adamantly anti-sci-fi, but for those who want a broader view of the genre beyond the Hunger Games wannabes, it's a winner.
May 19, 2011
Above average collection, all juveniles. The contributions from Kage Baker, Nnedi Okorafer, Ellen Klages and John Barnes I found outstanding (the Barnes isn't really a Mars story, so much as a pioneer love story that happens to be set there). Cory Doctorow's tale was OK, but as usual with his stuff I felt bludgeoned, I couldn't get through Ian McDonald's story, and the Kim Stanley Robinson was, I dunno, phoned in. The rest were at least OK too, competently thought out and readable.
October 12, 2011
First class science fiction writers lend their considerable talent to this volume of wildly differing tales about going to and living on Mars. Each story is captivatingly imaginative. Kage Baker opens the fun with a story about a girl acting on a dare from her friends, and making an astonishing discovery and conquering her fear at the same time. Readers won't look back after this. For older teens and adults.
January 7, 2012
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
February 21, 2012
I really enjoyed this collection. It was varied both in link and subject matter, yet the stories seemed to flow smoothly from one to the next. I never felt that I was looking at multiple Mars; rather, I was immersed in the same Mars during different time periods. I higly recommend this for any avid science fiction fan!
March 12, 2014
I picked this up because it was in the young teen section at the library and I wondered if Samuel would like it. A lot of authors I really enjoy are in here plus some new to me and overall, it's a good collection. Many of the protagonists are kids or teenagers but I don't think Samuel would enjoy it yet. I'd recommend it for late middle school/high school.
May 7, 2012
A couple of the stories in here were really great - I especially liked the ones by Ellen Klages, Kage Baker, and Cory Doctorow. Even the ones that didn't really grab me were pretty good, just not my taste. Overall I found this to be an enjoyable, thought-provoking, and worthwhile anthology.
August 20, 2012
It's an anthology of short stories set on established Martial colonies. A good conceit for a book, and some of the stories were excellent. It only gets three stars because some of the stories were only okay, and Cory Doctorow's story would not stop lecturing me in a teeth-grind way.
September 8, 2014
A strong compilation of short stories, though some weren't so much to my taste. Of them, I really loved "Goodnight Moons" and "The Taste of Promises," which built plots around the issues of human adaptation to the Martian environment.
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August 31, 2013I might have missed a story or two in this one, but I read most of them. I especially liked Cory Doctorow's story.
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