Brian Burt's Blog: Work in Progress - Posts Tagged "mars"

Red-green-blue (RGB) is the additive color model that drives electronic display systems. It paints our computer screens and infuses the incredibly vivid images that dance across modern televisions. It also describes the color-coding scheme for one of the most brilliant science fiction trilogies of all time. If you've not had the pleasure of reading Kim Stanley Robinson's award-winning Mars Trilogy, carve out time to do so. This is an SF saga you can't afford to miss!

The scope and sweep of the Mars Trilogy -- Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars -- will steal a reader's breath away. The saga covers two centuries of Martian history as it traces the adventures of the First Hundred, the initial group of scientists and engineers who struggle against daunting odds to colonize Mars. Robinson's imaginative world-building and attention to scientific detail are second to none, but what sets him apart are his facility with language and his insight into the softer sciences that power so much of character-driven fiction. He is rightly lauded for his ecological and environmental themes, the way his Martian settlers reshape their inhospitable planet and pioneer new cultural and political structures to provide a more open, free society than exists on their home world. Readers can marvel at the global changes that gradually transform the Martian landscape, differentiating it from the inequities of Earth and ultimately leading to a struggle for independence from the repressive "metanational" corporations that rule the governments back home... and covet the valuable resources of the Martian colony world.

The science, the ecosystems engineering, and the societal evolution are all fascinating. Still, what makes this trilogy even more compelling is the cast of disparate, colliding characters through whose eyes the reader sees the story unfold. The First Hundred (and their descendants) include calm, pragmatic engineers; enigmatic, mystical metaphysicists; fiery, passionate leaders; and introspective, geeky scientists. None of these key characters are caricatures or stereotypes. They defy expectations, are tormented by conflicting waves of emotion; they are uncertain and flawed and admirable and pitiable, undoubtedly recognizable examples of people in the reader's own life. Who better to accompany you through three lengthy novels, several centuries of toil and tribulation, and the creation of a new world?

If you enjoy science, space, and the spirit of exploration, you owe it to yourself to feast on this decorated trilogy that won two Hugos and a Nebula Award. It deserves every accolade it and its author have received. I very much enjoyed Andy Weir's The Martian and NatGeo's dramatic Mars miniseries. These were both brilliant... but they were undeniably inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's groundbreaking epic published more than two decades earlier. The original Mars trilogy has lost none of its relevance, especially as we on Earth struggle with our own environmental challenges and accelerating climate change.

With red, green, and blue, you can concoct a dazzling array of colors. With Red, Green, and Blue Mars, you can explore a mind-boggling vision of the future. Taste the rainbow!

#SFWApro