Red Mars
From The Kim Stanley Robinson Encyclopedia
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| Title | Red Mars | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genre | Science Fiction | ||||
| Series | Mars trilogy | ||||
| Release | 1993 | ||||
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra (US) HarperCollins Voyager (UK) | ||||
| ISBN# | 0553560735 (US paperback) 0586213899 (UK paperback) | ||||
| Page Count | 592 (US paperback) 400 (UK paperback) | ||||
| Word Count | 211,621 | ||||
| Preceded by | A Short, Sharp Shock (1990) | ||||
| Followed by | Green Mars (1994) | ||||
| Notes | Cover artwork by Don Dixon | ||||
Red Mars is the first volume in Kim Stanley Robinson's acclaimed Mars trilogy. Published in 1993, it tells of the colonization of Mars by the first settlers and the subsequent repercussions on human development. Known collectively as the First Hundred, the settlers embarked from Earth in 2026 aboard the Ares.
The first hundred establish the settlement of Underhill, and begin their new construction and scientific projects with earnest, although with the enormously varied backgrounds and personalities within the group, factions and conflicts quickly emerge over the direction the emerging social order on Mars should take, particularly over political and economic issues and the big question of terraforming.
Eventually, over the course of many decades, the first hundred are but a tiny proportion of the total Martian population, with huge industrial projects being undertaken by Earth's giant transnational corporations. Many Martians are increasinly disenchanted with what they see as a Wild West-style plundering of Mars' resources by greedy, Terran capitalist interests to the detriment of the emerging Martian culture and way of life.
Events come to a head after a intense period of overcrowding in transnational outposts, leading to disillusioned, angry workers, and an increasing support for the Martian underground movement. This builing tension climaxes in a violent, yet futile, revolution in 2061, in which much infrastructure is destroyed, thousands killed and a new era of aggressive domination by the transnational corporations is ushered in. The few members of the first hundred that are still standing are forced into hiding, and a new life in the underground.
Contents |
Summary of Events by Chapter
<<<BRIEFLY SUMMARISE EACH CHAPTER>>>
Part 1: Festival Night
POV Character: Frank Chalmers
Summary: A festival in the new city of Nicosia features public appearances by celebrities like John Boone, Frank Chalmers, and Maya Toitovna--all members of the first hundred colonists on Mars. After making a public speech in the park, Frank Chalmers wanders the city, stewing over his anger toward his old friend John Boone. His anger is both political and personal, unless the former is only a rationalization of the latter. It is Boone's realtionship with Maya Toitovna that is a major source of the estrangement. When Frank comes upon a group of Arabs, he eggs them on in their displeasure with Boone, who is rumored to to be anti-Arab. Later he meets one-on-one with Selim el-Hayil, whose anger is more intense in his youth, and incites him to put his anger toward Boone into violent action. After arranging another meeting with Hayil for later in the evening, Frank exits the city tent and goes to the farm, where he picks up incesticide patches before returning to the city. Back in the city, after making his way through the medina and planting evidence for a staged riot, he continues to wander and has a tense encounter with Boone upon arriving at the city park. In the park he makes more mischief like that in the medina, is spotted by a dark stranger with dreadlocks, and runs off to his meeting with Hayil. Telling Hayil that he had failed to reason with Boone, there is an unspoken understanding of what is to happen next, at which point Frank stealthily sticks Hayil with the poisonous pesticide patches, giving Hayil only hours to live. After the meeting Frank has an encounter with Maya nearly as tense as the one with Boone. Then the time slip begins, and fights or riots begin to break out. When Frank and Maya investigate, people say that John Boone was attacked trying to break up a fight and was dragged off by his attackers. After running around the city searching for him, they find Boone in the farm unconscious and without a helmet, and take him to the hospital. Later, a doctor informs them that Boone is dead.
Part 2: The Voyage Out
POV Character: Maya Toitovna
Summary: After a flashback describing psychiatrist Michel Duval's involvement in selecting the first hundred colonists in Antarctica, and then being selected himself, the story shifts to 2026 as The Ares leaves Earth for Mars. There is a party in the dining hall of the ship, after which Maya Toitovna, the official Russian leader of the mission, wanders the ship and examines its various features such as the toruses it is comprised of and the "bubble dome". One day Maya eats breakfast in the dining hall and thinks of her past in Russia and her friendship with Nadia Cherneshevsky, and examines the two American leaders (one official, one not), Frank Chalmers and John Boone. Meanwhile Arkady Bogdanov, who runs the simulations in which the colonists practice for possible disaster scenarios on the ship and upon arrival at Mars, is already emerging as a sort of anarchist, while physicist Sax Russell and geologist Ann Clayborne debate whether to terraform Mars.
The ship's simulated seasons begin with spring, and naturally there is sex among the colonists, which comes to include Maya and Frank. But Frank's strange, distant personality spooks Maya and she moves on. Discussions and debates continue among the colonists, such as an argument over religion between Phyllis Boyle, a Christian, and John Boone, in which John displays uncharacteristic anger, an incident of which Frank spreads rumors throughout the crew to undermine John's popularity. But a larger debate breaks out during a solar storm while all hundred colonists are confined to a storm shelter, when Arkady declares that the colonists should disregard Earth's plans for them, and some such as John Boone are more open-minded to the idea than others. This pivotal icident plants the seeds for future factioning and questioning of the original plans for the colony as a mere scientific station answering to Earth's authority. One day Maya is working in the farm, which is run by Hiroko Ai, a biosphere prodigy and the youngest of the hundred, and she thinks she sees the face of a dark stranger through a jar of algae. Thinking the possibility of a stowaway impossible, she suspects it was a hallucination and questions her own mental health. Time passes and the behavior of colonists becomes more and more peculiar as a result of being confined to the ship. Rumors of affairs circulate. Janet Blyleven, a journalist for American television who had been transmitting regular video reports back to Earth, feels alienated and resigns her duties, which are taken over by Phyillis and her circle who are loyal to Earth.
As the ship nears Mars, Maya and Frank assign missions for the colonists upon arrival. Arkady and his circle lobby for assignment on the moon Phobos which is to be converted into a space station, to which Phyllis' circle objects, though they are unwilling to take the mission themselves and it is given to Arkady. Meanwhile, after a later night encounter in the bubble dome, Maya and John begin and affair. Later, Maya tells John about the face in the farm, and he reacts open-mindedly. Finally The Ares arrives at Mars and aerobrakes into orbit, and the colonists begin to dismantle the ship into landing vehicles. There is a final dinner in the dining hall in which one last debate breaks out between Arkday and Phyllis over the intentions of the colony. When Maya is unable to sleep the night before landing and goes to wait in her landing vehicle, she concludes that she had failed as a leader and allowed the colonists to faction. The die is cast.
Part 3: The Crucible
POV Character: Nadia Cherneshevsky
Summary:
Part 4: Homesick
POV Character: Michel Duval
Summary:
Part 5: Falling into History
POV Character: John Boone
Summary:
Part 6: Guns Under the Table
POV Character: Frank Chalmers
Summary:
Part 7: Senzeni Na
POV Character: Nadia Cherneshevsky
Summary: The First Russian Revolution breaks out, resulting in the destruction of the Space Elevator, and Phobos
Part 8: Shikata Ga Nai
POV Character: Ann Clayborne
Summary:
Major Characters
- Arkady Bogdanov
- John Boone
- Frank Chalmers
- Nadia Cherneshevsky
- Ann Clayborne
- Michel Duval
- Maya Toitovna
<<A BRIEF DESCRIPTION (one or two sentence) OF EACH CHARACTER'S ROLE IN THIS VOLUME>>
Memorable Quotes
"Shikata Ga Nai-There is no other way"
Critical and Popular Response
Publication History, Editions and Translations
External Links
| The Mars Trilogy | |
| People |
Hiroko Ai • Arkady Bogdanov • Jackie Boone • John Boone • Phyllis Boyle • Frank Chalmers • Nadia Cherneshevsky • Ann Clayborne • Peter Clayborne • Michel Duval • Nirgal • Desmond Hawkins • Art Randolph • Sax Russell • Maya Toitovna • Zo Boone |
|---|---|
| Groups & Organizations |
First Hundred • Greens • Reds • Free Mars • Praxis • UNOMA • UNTA |
| History |
Timeline • 1st Martian Revolution • 2nd Martian Revolution • Second Renaissance |
| Culture |
Areophany • Viriditas • Gift Economy • Ecopoesis • Little Red People |
| Settlements |
Acheron • Bogdanov Vishniac • Burroughs • Cairo • Da Vinci • Dorsa Brevia • Echus Overlook • Nicosia • Odessa • Sabishii • Senzeni Na • Sheffield • Underhill • Zygote/Gamete |
| Areography |
Mars • Tharsis • Valles Marineris • Hellas • Argyre • Olympus Mons • Pavonis Mons |
| Satellites & Spacecraft |
The Ares • Clarke/Space Elevator • Deimos • Phobos • Novy Mir • |
| Kim Stanley Robinson | The Mars Trilogy | Other Works | |
