His entry begins:
I write science fiction for a living. It’ll surprise no one that I read a lot of science and SF: for enjoyment, as research, and to stay current on trends in my genre.About Life and Death on Mars, from the publisher:
I also enjoy reading that has nothing to do with science, fictional or otherwise. Consider this (anyway, I do) a mental palate cleanser. Two such books from my recent reading particularly stand out.
I’ll begin with The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, by Walter R. Borneman. Having lived for almost thirty years on the East Coast, I can’t help but be interested in events that shaped this region—and so, the continent. More than informative, this history is grippingly well written. Well aware how the war turned out (how many of us in North America don’t speak French?), I still often found the book difficult to put down. If you ever wondered what qualified George Washington to...[read on]
As though landing people safely on Mars weren't daunting enough ...Learn more about the author and his work at his website.
The Space Race of the Sixties, at the height of the Cold War, had been nail-biting—until the Soviet Union forfeited.
In the thirties—amid a second Cold War—China is not about to lose the race to Mars. Nor is the United States. Nor, quitethe wildcard, is a secretive cabal drawn from among the world's multi-billionaires. All of them scrambling to launch deep-space missions on a schedule to make the Sixties contest appear lackadaisical.
Competition that could only continue on the Red Planet.
More treacherous still? The rivalries, resentments, and distrust that simmer just beneath the surface within each expedition.
More difficult yet? Survival on that arid, radiation-drenched, all-but-airless, planet.
These challenges have somehow fallen into the lap of NASA engineer—and reluctant astronaut—Xander Hopkins.
But the thorniest problem of all? The existential quandary for which neither training nor experience has in any way prepared Xander? Making sense of the seemingly unstoppable plague that has already killed. The plague that seems poised to devastate all life on Mars and another world.
Earth.
The Page 99 Test: Small Miracles.
The Page 69 Test: Fools’ Experiments.
The Page 69 Test: InterstellarNet: Origins.
My Book, The Movie: InterstellarNet: Origins.
My Book, The Movie: Déjà Doomed.
The Page 69 Test: Déjà Doomed.
Q&A with Edward M. Lerner.
My Book, The Movie: Life and Death on Mars.
The Page 69 Test: Life and Death on Mars.
Writers Read: Edward M. Lerner.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
