Aries I – The King of Mars, Elon Musk, and the Envelope I Probably Shouldn’t Admit I Mailed
If you’ve followed my writing journey for any length of time, you know my books tend to wander between genres the way my brain wanders between grocery aisles. But Aries I – The King of Mars is special. It’s the book where I let myself dream a little bigger, not just about space, but about what it means to build a world from dust and determination.
The story follows the first human mission to Mars, but not the glossy, brochure-ready version. This is Mars the way explorers would truly encounter it: harsh, red, unforgiving, and indifferent to ego. The crew of the Titan X mission didn’t set out to become legends; they merely wanted to survive, to build, and to understand their place in a new frontier. But Mars, like destiny, has a knack for punching back.
Power shifts. Alliances fracture. A colony becomes a kingdom. And in the center of it all stands a reluctant leader, the “King of Mars” who never wanted a title, only a chance to do what was right.
It’s a story about ambition, humanity, isolation, and the fragile line between exploration and hubris.
And yes, there are domes, dust storms, and more than one crisis involving CO2 scrubbers.
Now, here’s the part where things turn a little silly.
After I finished the book, after revising, editing, and second-guessing my decisions the way all writers do, I had a thought. A ridiculous, impulsive, absolutely on-brand thought: Who is the world’s most outspoken expert on Mars colonization?
I’ll give you one guess.
So I did what any perfectly rational author with a shiny new sci-fi novel and questionable impulse control would do: I mailed a copy of Aries I – The King of Mars to Elon Musk.
Yes. That Elon Musk. SpaceX Elon Musk.
“I’m making life multiplanetary” Elon Musk. Some people would call it networking. Others would call it delusion. I prefer to think of it as… optimistic visionary outreach.
Will he read it?
Will it reach him?
Will it get swallowed in the inevitable pile of mail he must receive?
I have no idea. But somewhere out there in a mail truck, in a bin, or perhaps shuffling quietly through the corporate network of mail, my book sits, addressed to the man who wants to build a real colony on Mars.
And honestly? That’s exactly where the King of Mars should be.
The story follows the first human mission to Mars, but not the glossy, brochure-ready version. This is Mars the way explorers would truly encounter it: harsh, red, unforgiving, and indifferent to ego. The crew of the Titan X mission didn’t set out to become legends; they merely wanted to survive, to build, and to understand their place in a new frontier. But Mars, like destiny, has a knack for punching back.
Power shifts. Alliances fracture. A colony becomes a kingdom. And in the center of it all stands a reluctant leader, the “King of Mars” who never wanted a title, only a chance to do what was right.
It’s a story about ambition, humanity, isolation, and the fragile line between exploration and hubris.
And yes, there are domes, dust storms, and more than one crisis involving CO2 scrubbers.
Now, here’s the part where things turn a little silly.
After I finished the book, after revising, editing, and second-guessing my decisions the way all writers do, I had a thought. A ridiculous, impulsive, absolutely on-brand thought: Who is the world’s most outspoken expert on Mars colonization?
I’ll give you one guess.
So I did what any perfectly rational author with a shiny new sci-fi novel and questionable impulse control would do: I mailed a copy of Aries I – The King of Mars to Elon Musk.
Yes. That Elon Musk. SpaceX Elon Musk.
“I’m making life multiplanetary” Elon Musk. Some people would call it networking. Others would call it delusion. I prefer to think of it as… optimistic visionary outreach.
Will he read it?
Will it reach him?
Will it get swallowed in the inevitable pile of mail he must receive?
I have no idea. But somewhere out there in a mail truck, in a bin, or perhaps shuffling quietly through the corporate network of mail, my book sits, addressed to the man who wants to build a real colony on Mars.
And honestly? That’s exactly where the King of Mars should be.
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