[ image of Mars ]       

The Geography of Mars

Novel Report

Christine M. Rodrigue, Ph.D.

Department of Geography
California State University
Long Beach, CA 90840-1101
1 (562) 985-4895
rodrigue@csulb.edu
https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/

Novels about or Set on Mars

  • Aldiss, Brian, and Penrose, Roger. 2000. White Mars. New York: St. Martin's Press.
  • Allaby, Michael, and Lovelock, James. 1984. The Greening of Mars. New York: St. Martin's Press.
  • Anderson, Kevin J. 1994. Climbing Olympus. New York: Warner Books.
  • Asimov, Isaac. 1952. The Martian Way. New York: Galaxy Publishing.
  • Baker, Kage. 2009. The Empress of Mars. New York: Tom Doherty Associates.
  • Baxter, Stephen. 1996. Voyage. UK: Voyager Books.
  • Bear, Greg. 1987. The Forge of God. New York: Tor Books.
  • Bear, Greg. 1993. Moving Mars. New York: Tor.
  • Benford, Gregory. 1999. The Martian Race. New York: Warner.
  • Bisson, Terry. 1990. Voyage to the Red Planet. New York: William Morrow and Co.
  • Bogdanov, Alexander. 1908. Red Star. Re-issued 1984 in English, with Engineer Menni, and A Martian Stranded on Earth, tr. Charles Rougle, ed. Loren R. Graham and Richard Stites. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  • Bova, Ben. 1992. Mars. New York: Bantam Books.
  • Bova, Ben. 1999. Return to Mars. New York: EOS.
  • Bradbury, Ray. 1950. The Martian Chronicles. New York: Doubleday.
  • Burroughs, Edgar Rice. 1917. A Princess of Mars. Chicago: McClurg.
  • Burroughs, Edgar Rice. 1920. Thuvia, Maid of Mars. Chicago: McClurg.
  • Clarke, Arthur C. 1951. The Sands of Mars. London: Sidgwick and Jackson.
  • Deitz, William C. 1992. Mars Prime. New York: ROC.
  • Farmer, Philip José. 1979. Jesus on Mars. Los Angeles: Pinacle Books.
  • Greg, Percy. 1880. Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record. London: Trübner. Reprinted online as open access by Project Gutenberg.
  • Hartmann, William K. 2003. Mars Underground. New York: Tor Books.
  • Heinlein, Robert A. 1963. Podkayne of Mars. New York: Putnam.
  • Heinlein, Robert A. 1949. Red Planet. New York: Scribner's.
  • Landis, Geoffrey A. 2000. Mars Crossing. New York: Tor Books.
  • Laßwitz, Kurd (aka Lasswitz, Kurd). 1971 (originally 1897). Two Planets. Carbondale and Edle: Illinois University Press.
  • Lee, Gentry. 1996. Bright Messengers. New York: Bantam.
  • Mcauley, Paul J. 1993. Red Dust. London: Victor Gollancz.
  • McDonald, Ian. 1991. Desolation Road. New York: Bantam Books.
  • Moffitt, Donald. 1990. Crescent in the Sky. New York: Del Rey.
  • Newman, Emma. 2018. Before Mars. New York: Ace.
  • Pohl, Frederik. 1976. Man Plus. London: Victor Gollancz.
  • Pohl, Frederik. 1992. Mining the Oort. New York: Ballantine Books.
  • Pournelle, Jerry. 1976. Birth of Fire. Riverdale, NY: Baen Books.
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley. 1992. Red Mars. New York: BantamDell Spectra.
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley. 1993. Green Mars. New York: BantamDell Spectra.
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley. 1997. Blue Mars. New York: BantamDell Spectra.
  • Sawyer, Robert J. 2014. Red Planet Blues. New York: Ace.
  • Shiner, Lewis. 1984. Frontera. New York: Baen Books.
  • Sykes, S.C. 1991. Red Genesis. New York: Bantam Books.
  • Tolstoy, Alexei N. 1922. Aelita, or the Decline of Mars. Foreign Languages Publishing House. Russian novel first printed in English in 1950.
  • Weir, Andy. 2011, 2014. The Martian. First edition self-published; 2014 edition New York: Broadway Books.
  • Wells, H.G. 1898. War of the Worlds. London: William Heineman.
  • Zubrin, Robert. 2001. First Landing. New York: Ace Books.
  • Zubrin, Robert. 2008. How to Live on Mars: A Trusty Guidebook to Surviving and Thriving on the Red Planet. New York: Three Rivers Press.

            

Guidelines for Extra Credit Novel Report

For those of you looking for extra credit, a novel report will potentially add as many as 10 extra points (after the grade curve has been set!). You are to read a novel from the list at left. As you read, take notes on the following:
  • What are the main events of the novel (don't go overboard on this)
  • Does the novel represent the early years of science-fiction (when scientific understanding was based only on telescopes and before humans had actually developed rocketry in WWII)? Or does it date from the beginnings of the rocket era (post WWII) but before the arrival of Mariner and Viking imagery in the mid and late 1960s through the early 1980s)? Or does it date from the post Viking era (1980s to present)?
  • In light of the scientific understanding of the day, how "accurately" is the Martian environment depicted?
  • Why is the novel set on Mars at all? Why does the author bother to take the action that far out?
  • How are the Martian landscape and weather/climate depicted? Are geographical differences in regional landscapes mentioned?
  • Is the environment of Mars being altered by humans? If so, how?
  • What sorts of technology are depicted?
  • How is the human society on Mars depicted? Are there class differences? Are there racial, ethnic, linguistic, or religious differences? How do these social categories fit into any class hierarchy? How are the genders characterized in terms of jobs, social rôles, autonomy, family or sexual relationships?
  • Are there non-human Martians in the story? What kind of non-terrestrial life is discussed? Are the Martians humanoid? What are they like? How do they fit into human social, political, economic, and environmental functions?
  • What is the author's purpose or hidden agenda in writing this novel? Authors don't write for the sheer joy of it, so what do you suppose s/he is trying to sensitize you to?
  • Would you recommend this novel to one of your friends? Are you thinking of reading other novels by the same author(s)?

Now, notes and novel in various heaps around you, consult them frequently and compose a coherent roughly five page essay about the novel, relating it to the class. The summary of main events should be pretty succinct: a paragraph up to no more than two pages. Be sure to address each of the points above to the extent it is relevant to your novel.

Writing mechanics are important: One of the objectives of this report is to help you develop professional writing standards. Roughly a third of the points on this report will have to do with organization and coherence, spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation and capitalization, and avoiding sexist usage. An extra credit point will be offered for those essays that are not only competently written but show actual professional style. For more information about my writing standards, please visit https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/writmech.html. A very useful reference on writing mechanics was put together by Mary McCaskill of NASA: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900017394.pdf

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This document is maintained by Dr. Rodrigue
First placed online: 01/15/07
Last updated: 08/17/22