Red Mars

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. New York: Spectra-Bantam. 1993. (ISBN 0-553-09204-9 [hc])

First book in KSR's Mars trilogy: Initial human colonization of Mars, including a revolution for freedom from the Terran United Nations and (more centrally) the transnational coporations really running Terra and much of Mars (cf. and contrast zaibatsu [multinationals] of cyberpunk and the ad agencies of Pohl and Kornbluth's Space Merchants), told in the conventions of the realistic novel. The relationships among humans, technology, and Mars are crucial for this novel, but technology—including such impressive technology as a space elevator—is kept firmly secondary to human interactions. Cf. and emphatically contrast R. Heinlein's Moon Is a Harsh Mistress for colonial revolution greatly aided (in Moon) by an AI computer, and A. C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise (1978), for a much less problematic space elevator. (RDE, 28/08/93)