About Emergent Mars
FINALIST – 2024 CYGNUS AWARDS IN SCIENCE FICTION
Gripping, realistic Mars colonization sci-fi where science, power, and humanity collide.
In 2059, trauma-scarred war correspondent Ailia Bax, lands on the stark, unforgiving Red Planet, hoping to escape her demons and embrace a fresh start. Instead, she’s quickly swept into the gravitational pull of high-stakes interplanetary intrigue, as tensions between Mars and Earth careen towards breaking point.
In the handful of aging research stations scattered across Mars, brave humans and sentient robots are struggling to shatter Earth’s repressive hold and carve out an independent future. Yet their quest to kickstart the boldest democratic experiment in the solar system is fraught with danger and teeters on a knife-edge. How far will Earth’s power brokers go to reclaim control? Can internal fractures among the Martian pioneers be mended before freedom slips away? And is anywhere safe, with a terrorist bomber stalking their fledgling society?
In this turbulent cauldron, Ailia will battle to find her place. She will be forced to choose sides, and as an outsider distrusted by all but a few eclectic Martians, she must make decisions and sacrifices that could alter the fate of a burgeoning world.
But right now, she doesn’t know any of that. Right now, she doesn’t realize that the bomber—and Mars itself—might be trying to kill her.
ABOUT EMERGENT MARS:
Gripping, realistic Mars-colony science fiction for fans of Red Mars, The Expanse, The Martian, Arthur C. Clarke, Greg Bear, and Brandon Q. Morris. Blending authentic, vivid depictions of the Martian landscape with political intrigue and philosophical depth, this slow-burn, character-driven narrative delivers meticulous, scientifically grounded speculation as humanity struggles to reinvent itself on a new world. Are you ready to take a riveting journey across the Red Planet, which may one day soon, become our second home?
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Author Bio:
Russell Kylford is the pen name of an indie author who writes hard, thought-provoking science fiction. Steeped in Asimov, Clarke, Le Guin and the modern masters (KSR, Banks, Bear, Stephenson), he blends rigorous technical knowledge — a career in applied science and technology policy — with the passion of a true futurist. Based in Canberra, Australia, he balances speculative futures with watching stand-up comedy and bushwalking.