A MARTIAN ODYSSEY

AN ALL-EXPENSE-PAID TRIP TO THE RED PLANET WITH BEN BOVA

With a firm foundation in the realities of science and space travel, Bova's book
is the most accurate Mars novel ever.

"The red world and the blue are brothers," Ben Bova declares at the start of
Mars, his epic near-future novel of space exploration (Bantam, June 1992). Mars
is the most nearly Earthlike of all the sun's planets, and it has dominated the
human imagination since before the time of Stonehenge. The Red Planet prevailed
in the visions of the early science fiction writers as well: It was the source
of H. G. Wells's invaders, the site of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoomian
adventures and Ray Bradbury's chronicles. Now, amid signs of renewed enthusiasm
for a manned mission to Mars, veteran SF writer and former Omni editor Bova
offers a detailed, knowledgeable, and vastly entertaining look at what such a
mission might be like.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Mars received less and less attention from science
fiction writers. Paradoxically, the wealth of accumulating new data, which
peaked with the 1976 Viking landing, turned writers away. The emerging image of
Mars had no baroque cities, no canals, and (most importantly) no Martians-no
life at all. There seemed little for the imagination to work with. But lately
writers appear to have gotten over the disappointment and are embracing the real
Mars as a setting (or a goal): Robert L. Forward in Martian Rainbow (Del Rey,
1991); S. C. Sykes in Red Genesis (Bantam, 1991); and Terry Bisson in Voyage to
the Red Planet (Morrow, 1990). SF grand master Jack Williamson has a Mars
novel, Beachhead, coming from Tor Books in July; Frederik Pohl's Mining the
Oort, a new novel about Martian colonization, is due from Del Rey in August; and
Kim Stanley Robinson plans a series of three Mars novels. Red Mars, Green Mars,
and Blue Mars, the first of which will appear from Bantam next year. Bova's
book may not be the most wildly speculative of these, set as it is less than 30
years from now, but it is probably the most scientifically accurate.

In terms of narrative structures and techniques, Mars is nothing remarkable.
Bova handles the first mission to Mars the way James Michener handles the
histories of Texas and Hawaii: He uses straightforward language, a host of
characters, a wealth of detail, and thinly disguised lectures to examine his
daunting subject. His characters are likable and well-drawn, from Jamie
Waterman, the half-Navaho protagonist. and Joanna Brumado, the shy but brilliant
daughter of the Mars mission's chief spokesman, to the stolid Russian mission
commander Mikhail Vosnesensky and Edith Elgin, Jamie's opportunistic newswoman
girlfriend.

But, as in Michener's books, the information is the real heart of Mars. Bova
presents Mars as our best scientific data shows it, and he finds in its desert
landscapes and huge extinct volcanoes a wonder and beauty that outstrips even
Burroughs's fantastic Barsoom. In place of wild adventure, Bova concentrates on
the excitement of scientific exploration. In an early scene, the first
explorers on the surface find a rock with a mysterious greenish vein-could it be
life? The book is bursting with data, from analyses of Mars' atmosphere to
speculations on its geothermal history, but Bova never lets his lectures grow
boring. Like Robert Heinlein, he manages to slip in important data dumps
without ever losing the reader's attention or the thread of the plot.

Despite some anachronistic references to the "Soviet Union," Bova's Mars mission
is firmly rooted in the post-Cold War era. The two teams are composed of
scientists and astronauts from around the world. Through his characters, Bova
addresses the many scientific, political, economic, and social issues a real
Mars mission will face: racial and international tensions, budgetary worries,
personal ambitions, sexual tensions, hierarchical jealousies. Bova deals with
the issues adequately but not in depth, because for Bova, the value and
necessity of a Mars mission are beyond question, beyond politics and economics
and petty differences. We will go to Mars, says Bova, speaking through Jamie
Waterman, "Because we have to. The human race has to. We're explorers . . .
It's what makes us human."

The question Bova leaves to his readers is not if, but when. He has produced an
intelligent, entertaining story that may also serve as a rallying cry, spurring
us all to pool our resources and get back into space.

"Mars waits for us," says Bova. Let's go.