The Martian Race

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The Martian Race

Author: Gregory Benford
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Publisher: Aspect
At the turn of the new millennium, nearly a dozen U.S., Russian, and Japanese robot missions have been sent to Mars…all in preparation for the first humans who will walk on the Red Planet. Now science fiction master Gregory Benford, recipient of multiple honors including two Nebula Awards and the United Nations Medal in Literature, presents a powerful and realistic novel that captures the conflict, suspense, and drama of this coming adventure, and of the new century’s great space challenge…The Martian Race. For American John Axelrod, it’s not about nationalism or personal fame. It’s about the money: the Mars Prize, a $30 billion purse offered for the first successful manned mission to the Red Planet. When NASA becomes bogged down in politics and bureaucracy, businessman Axelrod and a conglomerate of backers seize their chance.

But for astronauts Julia; her husband, Viktor; Marc; and Raoul-Axelrod’s team of ex-NASAnauts-it’s not about wealth or media attention. It’s about courage, discovery, and facing the unknown. It’s about Mars…and staying alive. For the prize rules clearly state that the winning team can’t just grab a rock and leave. Their mission will keep them on the barren planet for almost two years, a genuine opportunity for biologist Julia and the others to research, learn, adapt, and search for clues to the Red Planet’s greatest mystery: Did life ever exist there?

This isn’t, however, a NASA mission with backups, fail-safes, and Mission Control. The astronauts know that Axelrod has cut corners and that theirs is a high-stakes, high-risk return to the oldest rule of exploration: Succeed or die. Now four people are trapped on a frigid, alien world that can kill them in countless ways. And a time will come when-to survive-Julia, Viktor, Marc, and Raoul must embrace everything that makes them human.

And everything that will make them Martian.

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Reviews

Amazon.com

Esteemed Mars guru Bob Zubrin calls The Martian Race “one of the finest novels about human exploration of the Red Planet ever written. “But then again, Bob is a character in the book (albeit in the briefest of cameos), so what else could he possibly say? That notwithstanding, Zubrin’s right—he couldn’t have picked a better book to show his face in. By popular assent, Martian Race deserves top honors among the millennial wave of Mars exploration tales, propelled as it is by the skillful storytelling of physics doyen Gregory Benford, a Campbell and two-time Nebula winner.

Martian Race is near-future SF, set in the twenty-teens (just before Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars saga kicks off), which may contribute to its being a bit of a slow starter; this is realistic, nuts-and-bolts speculation on a mission using pretty basic technology. But the pace picks up considerably as our heroes—the likable Julia and her Russky hubby Viktor and crew, backed by the Mars Consortium and its biotech billionaire CEO John Axelrod—begin to duke it out with a Euro-Sino concern to claim the $30 billion Mars Prize and, of course, get back from the Red Planet in one piece. Benford’s work throughout is engaging and thorough, exploring every aspect of why we should make this trip at all (and even a few arguments against it, like Mars Bar marketing tie-ins). —Paul Hughes

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