Hard Science Fiction returns to the genre in this action-adventure Scifi novel with Foreword by Astronaut Scott Carpenter. In this dramatic account of life and death on a distant planet, two Mars colonies are pitted against one other. When communications with the earth is permanently lost and it becomes apparent that there will be no more re-supply, the Mars Wars begin. The moment the earth based links are lost, the clock begins ticking on the survival of two small pocket of humans isolated tens of millions of miles from earth. Set against the backdrop of a bitterly cold and lifeless desert, the American scientific colony becomes a military base as they prepare to defend themselves against the colonists of the Reunified Soviet Empire. The Americans have chosen regenerating life support systems that need few re-supplies. But the RSE base has chosen physical – chemical methods that require a constant stream of supplies from the home planet. The first war on! Mars is inevitable. For the human race to survive, a lot of people are going to have to die
From the Publisher
It is a pleasure to be able to make Science Fiction available with the same quality of hard science and the same excellence of writing as the classics. Dennis Chamberland has a well defined gift of page-turning storytelling. And he brings to the craft a deep personal knowledge not only of science and engineering, but also of real exploration. There has been a lack of serious science from the Scifi world in recent decades that has been replaced by a surfeit of fantasy and alien-lore. While there is a place for such tales, the dedicated Scifi reader has been avalanched by Fantasy Fiction inaccurately labeled Science Fiction and left wanting for the real thing. Dennis Chamberland has done much to correct that trend with Mars Wars – Abyss of Elysium. It is not enough to cover up a lack of technical knowledge with fantasy. It is also not enough to bring a wealth of technical knowledge and attempt to write fiction like a technical journal. Dennis Chamberland has successfully bridged the gap, balanced the creative high-wire and written a story of hard science in a breathtaking scope in a warm, engaging and wildly entertaining style.
From the Author
"I wanted to leave something positive on the bookshelves of the planet that did not feature an alien anywhere between its covers or even mention a skinny, pasty-skinned almond eyed creature anywhere in the story. The planet of Mars Wars – Abyss of Elysium is exactly like the images beamed back from Spirit and Opportunity: a cold, treacherous, lifeless desert. It is a real place – a dangerous place. Mars is represented by a complex, composite texture: a desert planet of frigidly cold temperatures, of often violent winds, a place whose pressure is nearly a vacuum but one that can whip up a windstorm of hundreds of kilometers per hour or spin up a tornado in the wink of an eye. Mars is truly an alien place; one of such bizarre environmental conditions that even a storybook alien cannot compete with its fantastic reality. In this setting the novel places real humans. I wanted to fashion a novel focusing on authenticity, using tough, impenetrable facts, based on good science, then weave into it a story of real humans acting just like real humans."
"Let’s face it, Mars is a place; a real place. One of these days, sooner than later, humans will set foot on Mars and settle it for themselves and for their children. Today we live in an age of false expectations. We have experienced false starts in space exploration where humans have gone for brief visits to the moon and orbital outposts and then have all come back home. But in the real world of tomorrow, mankind will go far out into deep space and stake their claim; not only for themselves, but for their children and their grandchildren. Unlike today’s space-campers, they will have no desire or intention of ever coming back to earth."
Description:
Hard Science Fiction returns to the genre in this action-adventure Scifi novel with Foreword by Astronaut Scott Carpenter. In this dramatic account of life and death on a distant planet, two Mars colonies are pitted against one other. When communications with the earth is permanently lost and it becomes apparent that there will be no more re-supply, the Mars Wars begin. The moment the earth based links are lost, the clock begins ticking on the survival of two small pocket of humans isolated tens of millions of miles from earth. Set against the backdrop of a bitterly cold and lifeless desert, the American scientific colony becomes a military base as they prepare to defend themselves against the colonists of the Reunified Soviet Empire. The Americans have chosen regenerating life support systems that need few re-supplies. But the RSE base has chosen physical – chemical methods that require a constant stream of supplies from the home planet. The first war on! Mars is inevitable. For the human race to survive, a lot of people are going to have to die
From the Publisher
It is a pleasure to be able to make Science Fiction available with the same quality of hard science and the same excellence of writing as the classics. Dennis Chamberland has a well defined gift of page-turning storytelling. And he brings to the craft a deep personal knowledge not only of science and engineering, but also of real exploration. There has been a lack of serious science from the Scifi world in recent decades that has been replaced by a surfeit of fantasy and alien-lore. While there is a place for such tales, the dedicated Scifi reader has been avalanched by Fantasy Fiction inaccurately labeled Science Fiction and left wanting for the real thing. Dennis Chamberland has done much to correct that trend with Mars Wars – Abyss of Elysium. It is not enough to cover up a lack of technical knowledge with fantasy. It is also not enough to bring a wealth of technical knowledge and attempt to write fiction like a technical journal. Dennis Chamberland has successfully bridged the gap, balanced the creative high-wire and written a story of hard science in a breathtaking scope in a warm, engaging and wildly entertaining style.
From the Author
"I wanted to leave something positive on the bookshelves of the planet that did not feature an alien anywhere between its covers or even mention a skinny, pasty-skinned almond eyed creature anywhere in the story. The planet of Mars Wars – Abyss of Elysium is exactly like the images beamed back from Spirit and Opportunity: a cold, treacherous, lifeless desert. It is a real place – a dangerous place. Mars is represented by a complex, composite texture: a desert planet of frigidly cold temperatures, of often violent winds, a place whose pressure is nearly a vacuum but one that can whip up a windstorm of hundreds of kilometers per hour or spin up a tornado in the wink of an eye. Mars is truly an alien place; one of such bizarre environmental conditions that even a storybook alien cannot compete with its fantastic reality. In this setting the novel places real humans. I wanted to fashion a novel focusing on authenticity, using tough, impenetrable facts, based on good science, then weave into it a story of real humans acting just like real humans."
"Let’s face it, Mars is a place; a real place. One of these days, sooner than later, humans will set foot on Mars and settle it for themselves and for their children. Today we live in an age of false expectations. We have experienced false starts in space exploration where humans have gone for brief visits to the moon and orbital outposts and then have all come back home. But in the real world of tomorrow, mankind will go far out into deep space and stake their claim; not only for themselves, but for their children and their grandchildren. Unlike today’s space-campers, they will have no desire or intention of ever coming back to earth."