Rocket's Red

Lady Astronaut Universe #4.4

by Mary Robinette Kowal

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

ebook

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award winning alternate history novel The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series which continues in 2025 with The Martian Contingency. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, The Spare Man and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Denver with her husband Robert, their dog Guppy, and their “talking” cat Elsie.

Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uplifting story in the Lady Astronaut universe. Mary Robinette Kowal seems to have a gift for conveying beautiful, human emotions into her science fiction stories.

[StephanieNicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but sweet story set in the Lady Astronaut universe (with a very brief cameo by the Lady Astronaut herself) about celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Mars colony with a fireworks display with mother-son pyrotechnics duo. I am surprised that they still used punch cards to program the computers 20 years later.

[Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but heartwarming story story set in the Mars colony of the Lady Astronaut books. I even teared up for a moment at the end.

[Minnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5*

A fluffy little story without much depth. Read while waiting for the tram, didn't really care.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adorable! I am especially appreciative of the face that an elderly parent saved the day! :)

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, sweet story about fireworks on Mars.

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This year the lady astronaut series, the series this short story is part of, was a finalist for the "Best Series" award. While I usually skip that particular category, since I had already read all the previous instalment of the series, and utterly loved some of them (in particular The Calculating Stars and The Lady Astronaut of Mars) I decided to go ahead and read all the remaining instalments that I had not previously read.
Rocket's Red is a nice exploration of intergenerational family relations and aging, set of a backdrop of planetary colonization. For the 20th anniversary from the Mars colony foundation it has been decided to have a fireworks show. The latest owner of an Earth based fireworks family own business wins the bid and decides to bring up to Mars the previous owner, his mum.
The resulting story us touching and moving, and a little nice addition to this long running series. It can be read as stand alone, and it does not contain spoilers.

[Yolanda Sfetsos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found another story set in the Lady Astronaut Universe!

Aaron and his mother are about to put together a fireworks display to celebrate the anniversary of Arrival Day on Mars, but when something goes wrong, he fears this might not work after all...

Well, this is such a charming shortie. I just love the way this author manages to sneak in how old age can creep up on strong people who have experienced the great heights of success when they were younger. The fact she manages to pull this off in a very interesting SF setting always adds to the experience.

Really enjoyed this!

You can read it yourself here: https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journa...

[easofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet family story about a mother and son, who are going to do a fireworks display on Mars. A mishap occurs that almost stops the display, and they have to find a way to fix it.

Also, there’s a minor point in the story about how the fireworks make less noise on Mars, so that was neat as well.

[Kasey Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

1973. Man is colonizing Mars on punchcard technology. But this isn't just a short tale of a space colony. It's really about family and community. It's about seeing a retired and aging parent as still being useful and strong. That's what is beautiful about Mary Robinette Kowal's works; they empower those society has often dismissed as weaker, and they always leave me smiling.

[Anna Hepworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Argh. The last two short stories I read in this series have had a female protagonist, hiding a medical condition while having to be twice as good. This is male protagonist who just gets a little bit of a thing to deal with, no extraneous medical details.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 Free story available on the author's website 📚

Despicably sweet and cozy and revoltingly short. This is an outrage!

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful short Lady Astronaut story... with family and a pyrotechnic show complete with punch-cards!

[chvang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and heartwarming story about building a community in Mars, with FIRE ... works.

It's short and freely available on the author's website, so why don't you just read it.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel short story to the Lady Astronaut of Mars. Read in the Word Puppets collection. A sort of down-to-earth family bonding story, but in Mars.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely.

[Maury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Tor short story

[Norman Edelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this quick story. Tears in my eyes at the end.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

[Ken Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fireworks on Mars! Kowal shows us the importance of communities working together to solve problems in this tale of messed up punch cards.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story. Hit me just right, maybe because of some resonant themes with my life right now.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Lady Astronaut series and this little short story tasted just like a yummy picnic.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, what a sweet story. It shows that Kowal can do what she does best, even in a short story.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cool short story set in the Lady Astronaut universe about an old dog that manages to teach a new one a new trick.

[Ulrike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on the author's blog.

[Else · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this story

[Nicol · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Las calles de la colonia estaban repletas de gente celebrando el vigésimo aniversario del Día de la Llegada. Era difícil creer que ya era 1974."

Una historia paralela (?) a The Lady Astronaut Universe, o antes de concretar la misma, ya que en la linea de tiempo original, la Primera Expedición de Marte llegó en 1963 y la segunda aen 1970 y definitivamente no deberían tener los medios para ya tener un show de fuegos artificiales.

"1954 a 1974", está supuesta base Bradbury ya está llena de naves para viajes interplanetarios y puede costearse importar un show de fuegos artificiales de la Tierra!!