Everyone on Mars invites you to join the expedition to a new world
Short story collection brings to life a speculative future for humanity
Mars, the temperature there may be well below zero, but it’s so hot right now. It’s the dream destination of Elon Musk and other entrepreneurs who have their gaze fixed on the stars; a red beacon of distant hope as the outlook for a sustainable future on Earth becomes cloudier.
Now, thanks to author Larry Buttrose, Mars is in reach for all of us and not just the billionaires. His new collection of 12 short speculative fiction stories, Everyone on Mars, considers the tales of those taking part in a human settlement of Mars… and what it might be like for those left behind.
“Until now much of this area has been in the arena of fantastic tales, Martian aliens and the like,” says Buttrose. “Now we could be a few decades, or, in the thinking of some a matter of years, from a human landing on Mars. Now it feels not so much a matter of if as when.”
Everyone on Mars envisages personal, psychological and existential stories of Mars pioneers, showing the humanity at the heart of colonising an inhospitable, alien world and the internal and external threats that pose a risk to the new colony. Stories include a memorable meeting for a famous author in residence, the unique proceedings of Mars’ first magistrate, a perilous encounter between two scientists working in a remote rover, the quirky proposal of a soon-to-be separated couple, a lethal epidemic on a luxury cruise to Mars and how the discovery of life on Mars irrevocably alters life back on Earth.
“My approach is to look at it on a very human level and explore the immense challenge that it would be for humanity to colonise Mars, not only technologically, but also psychologically. The distance is almost unimaginably vast, the isolation could be crushing for the soul, and yet we as humans will probably attempt it nonetheless and may indeed eventually succeed in establishing a human presence on Mars,” says Buttrose.
Larry Buttrose is a poet, playwright, novelist and journalist. He is the author of 17 books, including novels, poetry, travel and nonfiction. His fiction includes the novels The Maze of the Muse and Sweet Sentence and his nonfiction works include Dead Famous: Deaths of the Famous and Famous Deaths and Tales of the Popes. He ghost-wrote the international bestseller A Long Way Home, which was made into the acclaimed motion picture Lion, and has been a travel writer for both literary and travel magazines, writing about destinations including Africa, India, South East Asia and Japan. He also published a travelogue about crossing the United States. And now he’s heading to Mars!
“Is Buttrose actually a Martian? These stories are so deeply imagined he may as well have lived there. All the grit, and a little of the grandeur of the human lust for exploration is in these pages.” – Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.
“If, like me, you’d refuse to leave the Earth, Larry Buttrose will take you on a cosmic adventure instead. And there are so many surprises – Mars is not what you imagine. Take CARE!” – Robyn Williams, Host of the ABC Science Show.
Readers can book their ticket for an interplanetary journey when Everyone on Mars (RRP: AUD$29.95) is released in paperback by Puncher & Wattmann on 01 August 2024. For more details, visit everyoneonmars.com.
