Events of Martian Rails: The Terrans Cometh!

Martian Rails (2009), the board game made by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of events that players can respond to in order to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

The Terrans Cometh! -- The hungry refugees from Earth need to be fed. Sam Parkhill, CEO of Sam’s Hotdogs, will pay for the first delivery of Bachelor Chow and Soylent Red to the corporate headquarters in Hinkston Creek.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Mars and Martian SF!

10 Stories you wouldn’t know are Martian Science Fiction, Volume 5

This is Volume 5 of a project whose goal is to compile a long list of stories you wouldn’t know are about Mars or Martians by simply reading the titles. Some of the stories you can read online or purchase through sites such as Fictionwise, but most you cannot. The Locus Index to Science Fiction and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database are good tools for obtaining citations that you can take to your local library. If your library does not have the anthology or magazine mentioned in the citation, ask your librarian about an “Interlibrary Loan Request.” I’ve been able to borrow old anthologies and get photocopies of stories from old pulp magazines with few problems.

Here are the ten stories that comprise Volume 5:

Review: Forthcoming reprint of Ian McDonald’s 2001 novel Ares Express

Publishers Weekly has a positive review of Pyr’s forthcoming reprint of British science fiction author Ian McDonald’s 2001 novel Ares Express, concluding “McDonald’s fantastic Mars is vividly detailed and owes much to Bradbury’s Martian stories. Despite a bit of hand waving around technology that is glibly indistinguishable from magic, this sequel is entirely worthy of its rightly lauded predecessor." The follow-up to Desolation Road (1988; Pyr 2009), McDonald’s acclaimed debut novel, Ares Express is scheduled to be released in April 2010.

Pictured: Cover for Ares Express (2010).

Comic adaptation of Fredric Brown’s 1955 novel Martians, Go Home shelved

Sad news from artist Mike Manley. Martians, Go Home, a new six-issue comic book adaptation of science fiction author Fredric Brown’s classic 1955 paranoia Sci-Fi novel, has been shelved because of the “shitty economy.” Written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Manley, the first issue was scheduled to be released by Sequential Pulp Comics a few weeks ago. Hopefully, when the economic picture improves, the project can be brought to fruition. Meanwhile, check out some of the beautiful artwork that Manley, a fan of artist Kelly Freas, created for Issue #1.

SF&F writers will be well represented at GBS fairness hearing on February 18th

New York Law School Prof. James Grimmelmann of the blog The Laboratorium reports that United States District Court Judge Denny Chin has announced the line-up of twenty-six individuals and groups who have requested to speak at the Google Books Search settlement fairness hearing on February 18th in New York City. Speaking in opposition to the proposed settlement, we have lawyers for Amazon at the #3 spot (shhh!), followed by the attorney representing SFWA and the American Society of Journalists and Authors at #4 (yeahhh!), with esquire Cindy Cohen of the Electronic Frontier Foundation speaking on behalf of the “Privacy Authors and Publishers” (Michael Chabon, Cory Doctorow, Annalee Newitz) in the #7 slot (boooo!). Rumor has it that the proceedings will be accompanied by Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken on the organ.

“Rule 18,” a 1938 Earth-Mars football story by Clifford D. Simak

Originally published in the July 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, “Rule 18” was the first short story author Clifford D. Simak wrote for editor John W. Campbell. Set in the year 2479, the story's plot revolves around the annual Earth-Mars football game, in which Earth’s coach cheats by using a time tunnel to recruit players from the past. According to When the Fires Burn High and the Wind Is from the North: The Pastoral Science Fiction of Clifford D. Simak (2006), by Robert J. Ewald:

“Rule 18” did not make very much impact on the readers, except for its influence on an eighteen-year-old fan and budding writer named Isaac Asimov. Asimov, in a letter to Brass Tacks, gave “Rule 18” a very low rating for its “incoherent” style. He received a letter from Simak asking for details so that Simak could profit from Asimov’s criticism. Asimov, on a closer rereading, found nothing wrong except for Simak’s technique of writing the story in separate scenes without explicit transitional passages. He wrote Simak to explain and apologize, then adopted the same device in his own stories. He also made use of what he called Simak’s “cool, unadorned style," and later credited Simak with being the major influence on his style.

According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, Simak's "Rule 18" has never been reprinted.

“The Poets of Mars,” a new piece of flash fiction by Ian Sharman

The blog Elephant Words, where short fiction is based upon images, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “The Poets of Mars” (2010), by British writer Ian Sharman. Based upon the photo “Mission Bar,” here are the opening lines: “The Mission Bar was one of the most notorious drinking establishments on Mars.”

Animated SF rom-com movie Mars to premiere at SXSW Film Festival

Texas filmmaker Geoff Marlett’s animated science fiction romantic-comedy movie Mars will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin in mid-March. A Swerve Pictures production told in the style of a graphic novel, the film stars Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson and Cynthia Watros as three astronauts on the first manned mission to Mars, during which they experience “life threatening accidents, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel.” Here’s the two-minute trailer:

MARS - The Movie [HD Trailer] from Geoff Marslett on Vimeo.

Macmillan CEO’s home in Brooklyn once owned by JFK assassination photo expert

According to New York City public records (ACRIS) and other online sources, Macmillan CEO John Sargent’s $3.8 million home at 37 Garden Place in Brooklyn was once owned by renowned photographer David B. Eisendrath, who served as a consultant in technical and scientific photography to the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA, Reports) in the mid 1970s. Eisendrath lived at 37 Garden Place, a brownstone built in 1901, for several decades until his death in 1988. His widow, Barbara T. Eisendrath, sold the house to John Sargent and his wife Connie in 1992.

The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson to include three Mars stories

The table of contents for The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson, edited by Jonathan Strahan and to be published in the United States by Night Shade Books, has been released. Comprised of 23 short stories and novellas spanning Robinson’s entire career, the 300-page volume will include three stories previously published in Robinson's collection, The Martians (2000):

• "Arthur Sternbach Brings The Curveball To Mars" (1999)
• "Sexual Dimorphism" (1999)
• "Discovering Life" (2000)

The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson is scheduled to be released in mid-2010.

[via KimStanleyRobinson.info]

Authors Guild launches anti-Amazon "Who Moved My Buy Button?" website

In the wake of the U.S. Dept. of Justice's rejection of the revised Google Books Search settlement (GBS 2.0), the Authors Guild is "pleased to announce" the launch of the website WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com, which allows authors to keep track of whether Amazon has removed the "buy buttons" from any of their books! Memo to Guild executive director Paul Aiken: Isn't it time for the Guild to increase financial assistance to indigent authors?

The Martian Way and Other Stories, a 1955 collection by Isaac Asimov

The Martian Way and Other Stories, by Isaac Asimov (1955)

Pictured: Paperback (New York: Signet Books / New American Library, 1957), #S1433, 159 p., 35¢. Cover art by Richard Powers.

Originally published as a hardcover edition by Doubleday in 1955 and later reprinted several times in paperback, this collection contains four works by Grand Master Isaac Asimov: “The Martian Way,” “Youth,” “The Deep,” and “Sucker Bait.”

Only one work, the title novelette “The Martian Way,” pertains to Mars. An anti-McCarthyism piece, the story is about a ruthless Earth politician who threatens the pioneers on Mars by cutting off their water supply, spurring a daring spaceman to make a desperate journey to ice-ringed Saturn. Asimov’s autobiography, In Memory Yet Green: the Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 (1979), describes the origin of the story:

The year 1952 saw McCarthyism at its peak in the United States. At no time did it affect me directly in any way, but the spectacle sickened me. [...]

So I set about giving my opinion of McCarthyism in a science-fiction story. I called it “A Piece of Ocean” at first, then changed the name to “The Martian Way.” It dealt with Martian colonists with a problem, who were victimized out of a solution by a McCarthy-style politician and who were in this way forced to find a still better solution. I finished it on June 10. I did the 18,000 words in four weeks. [...]

The November 1952 Galaxy included “The Martian Way,” which got the cover -- with my name misspelled.

Somehow I thought that the story would elicit a mass of mail denouncing my own portrayal of McCarthyism, or supporting it, but I got nothing either one way or the other. It may be that my satire of McCarthy was so subtle that everyone missed it.

If readers did not appreciate the satire, they must have enjoyed the story, for “The Martian Way” later appeared in the collections Worlds to Come (1967), The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973), The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973), and Prisoners of the Stars (1979).

New novel: Martian Queen: The Adventures of Stewart John Jones of Mars, by John Cosper

Here’s an interesting new novel that isn’t caught up in the Amazon-Macmillan e-book pricing dispute: Martian Queen: The Adventures of Stewart John Jones of Mars, by John Cosper (CreateSpace, 2010). The product description from Amazon:

A fantastic memoir by an all-American geek who accidentally found himself on the planet Mars. Video gamer and all around slacker Stewart John Jones rescues the princess of the Martian city of Barris, a place populated by slackers living the easy life. But when Stewart is forced into an arranged marriage after the princess is kidnapped by a barbarous king, he must set out on the quest of a lifetime to save the girl -- and the planet! A hilarious sci-fi adventure that will have you turning pages waiting for more!

Read more about Martian Queen: The Adventures of Stewart John Jones of Mars at Cosper's blog.

John Cosper is the founder of Righteous Insanity, a drama and film ministry providing resources to churches and ministries around the world. He is an award-winning script writer and director and an avid fan of science fiction and comic books. He lives in Indiana with his wife and children.

Dept. of Justice: GBS 2.0 fails to address antitrust and copyright concerns

Reuters reports that the United States Dept. of Justice has objected to the revised Google Books Search settlement (GBS 2.0) because the proposed deal fails to address antitrust and copyright concerns. "At this time, in the view of the United States, the public interest would best be served by direction from the court encouraging the continuation of settlement discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, guidance as to those aspects of the ASA (amended settlement agreement) that need to be addressed," the DOJ said in a court filing.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin has scheduled a fairness hearing on GBS 2.0 for February 18th.

Reading of Gustavo Bondoni’s 2008 flash fiction “The Elcano Syndrome”

Beam Me Up, a science fiction podcast website maintained by fan Paul Cole, recently produced Episode #193, which includes a reading by Argentinean author Gustavo Bondoni of his 2008 piece of flash fiction, “The Elcano Syndrome.” A story about a 21st-century gentleman explorer and his desire to scale Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system, “The Elcano Syndrome” won the 2008 Marooned Award for Best Flash Fiction. Bondoni’s reading starts shortly after the 7:30 minute mark of the podcast.

[via John DeNardo of SF Signal]

New memo from Macmillan CEO John Sargent

Tor.com, the SF&F website which until recently was publisher agnostic and sought to provoke, encourage, and enable interesting and rewarding conversations among editors, authors and readers but now serves as an unrepentant sock puppet for the corporate suits at publishing behemoth Macmillan and their master back in Stuttgart, just published the latest memo from Macmillan CEO John Sargent.

Robert J. Sawyer’s 2005 hard-boiled detective novella “Identity Theft” available as audiobook

"Identity Theft" (2005), a Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated hard-boiled detective novella written by Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer and set on the Red Planet, is now for sale as a downloadable audiobook from Audible.com. Narrated by Anthony Heald and produced by Blackstone Audio, "Identity Theft" is about 25,000 words long and the audiobook runs about 2.5 hours. According to a post on Sawyer’s blog, “A motion-picture version of "Identity Theft" is in the works from Snoot Entertainment in Los Angeles.”

Spanish fan wins copy of Gilbert and Edgar on Mars, the new novella by Eric Brown

Editor Peter Crowther of United Kingdom-based PS Publishing announced that Tomás Sánchez Tejero of Spain, “a self-described bibliophile and sf book collector,” won a copy of Gilbert and Edgar on Mars (2009), the new novella written by British science fiction author Eric Brown, in one of the publisher's recent randomly-drawn email newsletter subscriber contests. Congratulations, Tomás!

Interested in a little taste of Gilbert and Edgar on Mars? Read the first 15 pages (pdf) for free!

Five things about Macmillan CEO John Sargent

As a publishing industry outsider, I’m embarrassed to admit that before last weekend’s e-book pricing dispute erupted between Internet retailing giant Amazon and publishing behemoth Macmillan, the only John Sargent I had ever heard of was the famous portrait painter, John Singer Sargent. But, in an effort to learn more about Macmillan CEO John Sargent, I surfed over to the publishing house’s website, expecting to find a respectable biography and a decent photo of the guy who made Amazon’s Jeff Bezos blink. Apparently, Macmillan, “the new face of publishing,” doesn’t publish bios of its top executives. So, I had to go compile my own biographical notes on John Sargent. Here are five interesting things that I learned:

Commodities of Martian Rails: Bricks

Martian Rails, the recent board game made by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of cool commodities that players can transport to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Bricks -- Made from the desert regolith of Mars. Certain geographical areas have the material to make superior bricks.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Mars and Martian SF!

Most viewed items in Mars cover art database

Here is a list of the most viewed items in the Mars cover art database over on Flickr, from its inception in November 2009 through the end of January 2010:

1. Gunner Cade (1979, French), by Cyril Judd

2. Martians, Go Home (2000, French), by Fredric Brown

3. Warriors of Mars gaming rule book (1974), by Brian Blume and Gary Gygax

4. "Thia of the Drylands" (1932), by Harl Vincent

5. The Martian Sphinx (1965), by Keith Woodcott

6. Martianthology (2003), compiled by Forrest J Ackerman, edited by Anne Hardin

7. The Sword of Rhiannon (1978, German), by Leigh Brackett

8. The Alternate Martians (1965), by A. Bertram Chandler

9. The Martian Missile (1960), by David Grinnell

10. The Caves of Mars (1965), by Emil Petaja

The database has nearly 450 covers. New records are being added on a regular basis.

Tor.com chooses corporate loyalty over SFF community discussion

Congratulations to “Management Services” at Tor.com for successfully preventing any SFF community discussion about the e-book pricing dispute between publishing house Macmillan, its parent company, and Internet retailer Amazon. Apparently, Tor.com’s philosophy of “publisher agnosticism” is nothing more than corporate jargon, for the message from Macmillan CEO John Sargent still stands proudly atop Tor.com’s blog and the page is still closed to comments. Keep up the good work, folks!

P.S. I’m shopping for a copy of Kage Baker’s novel The Empress of Mars (Tor, 2009) ... over at AbeBooks.

Struggling to remain relevant, Authors Guild leaps into Amazon-Macmillan fray

Fearing that its naked attempt to rewrite copyright law through the proposed Google Books Search settlement 2.0 will be rejected by both the Dept. of Justice and a federal judge later this month, scrambling to demonstrate that its high-brow New York literary club represents more than just a law firm for multi-millionaire authors, and struggling to remain relevant in the flat world of 21st-century publishing, the antiquated Authors Guild has leaped into the Amazon-Macmillan e-book pricing fray by posting this statement on its website: “The Right Battle at the Right Time.”

“The Crowded Colony” a 1950 short story by Jerome Bixby

Over at the Internet Archive, you can read or download the Fall 1950 issue of Planet Stories magazine, which contains “The Crowded Colony,” a new-to-me short story written by Jay B. Drexel (pseud. of Jerome Bixby). The plot revolves around conquerors on Mars. Apparently, colonization is a healthy thing, a noble mission in time and space. Here are the opening lines:

WHEN the Martians had built the village of Kinkaaka there had been water in the canal, a cool, level sweep of green water from the northern icecap. Now there was none, and Kinkaaka clung to the upper swell of the bank and curved its staggered residential terraces like tragic brows over the long slope of sand and clay, the dead wall baked criss-cross by the sun, that bore at its deep juncture with the opposite bank the pitiful, straggling trench cut by Mars’ last moving waters an untold time ago...

According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, "The Crowded Colony" has never been reprinted in an anthology.

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

Top 10 Marooned posts for January 2010

The Top 10 Marooned posts for January 2010:

1. Red/shift, a new SF/F novelette written by Geoffrey Thorne

2. Mischief Goes to Mars, a set of 1950s British biscuit trading cards

3. A review of the 1952 film Zombies of the Stratosphere

4. “Death-Wish,” a 1950 short story written by Ray Bradbury

5. New graphic novel adaptation of 1961 Twilight Zone episode “Real Martian Please Stand Up"

6. Test your cover art knowledge, guess the novel !

7. Review of The Asylum’s film Princess of Mars, starring Traci Lords

8. Nancy Kress contemplates Theodore Sturgeon's 1959 short story “The Man Who Lost the Sea”

9. Cities of Martian Rails: Atmosphere Plant

10. “Empty Nest,” a new piece of flash fiction by Richard Zagorski

New poem: “Spirit at Troy” by Mary A. Turzillo

Award-winning science fiction writer and poet Mary A. Turzillo just had an interesting new poem entitled “Spirit at Troy” published on the website of The New Verse News. She cleverly works some Greek tragedy into the recent fall of NASA’s rover Spirit at the Martian crater named Troy. Here are the opening lines of the poem: "Two able rovers, one called Opportunity, the other Spirit, launched as the Achaeans did to conquer Troy."

Tor.com is publisher agnostic?

As a curious fan who followed this past weekend’s fireworks over the e-book pricing dispute between Internet retailer Amazon and publishing house Macmillan, I was surprised to see a lack of discussion over at Tor.com, one of my favorite SF&F websites. The only piece of news on the Amazon-Macmillan issue was “A Message from Macmillan CEO John Sargent,” posted by Management Services on Sunday, January 31st, with the note “This page is closed for comments.” Understandable, perhaps, considering Tor.com and Tor Books are controlled by Macmillan. Still, it doesn’t quite gel with Tor.com’s stated philosophy:

"Tor.com, a site for science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers, presents original short fiction, new sequential art, extensive art galleries, and commentary on science fiction and related subjects by a wide range of writers from all corners of the science fiction and fantasy field; both professionals working in the genres and fans. Its aim is to provoke, encourage, and enable interesting and rewarding conversations with and between its readers. Tor.com’s philosophy is one of publisher agnosticism, and as such, boasts contributors and content from many different SF/F publishers, as well as fans from all corners of fandom."

Publishers Weekly: GBS deal is in jeopardy

Publishers Weekly just posted a lengthy but excellent article by Andrew Richard Albanese entitled “If the Google Settlement fails, what's next?” It’s all about the proposed Google Books Search settlement 2.0. Award-winning science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin is prominently featured and her picture appears with what has now become a famous quote: “The Guild cannot and does not speak for all American writers.”

Author Kage Baker (1952-2010)

SFWA reports that well-known American science fiction and fantasy author Kage Baker has passed away at her home in Pismo Beach, California while battling cancer. Baker wrote several works of Martian SF, including the award-winning novella “The Empress of Mars” (2003), which she later expanded into the novel The Empress of Mars (Tor, 2009), and the novella “Where the Golden Apples Grow” (2006).

Podcast of "Martian Chronicles," the new YA Mars story by Cory Doctorow (Part 9 of 9)

Thanks to Canadian blogger, copyright activist and SF author Cory Doctorow, you can listen to Part 9, the conclusion, of his podcast of “Martian Chronicles,” a new Young Adult short story that he is writing for Australian editor Jonathan Strahan's forthcoming YA Mars anthology, Life on Mars (2010). According to Doctorow, “It's a story about the colonization of Mars by free-market absolutists and the video-games they play.” Download Part 9 (MP3, 10 min) from Archive.org, or stream it through this toolbar:



In case you missed them, here are the links to download the MP3 files for Part 1 (7 min.), Part 2 (15 min), Part 3 (14 min), Part 4 (22 min), Part 5 (27 min), Part 6 (13 min), Part 7 (20 min) and Part 8 (15 min).

Review of Jean de La Hire’s 1911 French novel The Nyctalope on Mars

Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction #31 (Winter 2009) has a refreshing review of The Nyctalope on Mars (1911), an old French pulp novel written by Jean de La Hire that was translated into English by Brian M. Stableford and published in 2008 by Black Coat Press. The reviewer concludes: “But for me this [novel] wasn’t just of historical interest. It was exciting, amusing, eccentric and quite unique, and I’d recommend it highly to anyone who prizes those qualities.”

Pictured: The Nyctalope on Mars (2008).

Author Michael Chabon interviewed by ERB critic Richard A. Lupoff

There’s an awesome interview between Edgar Rice Burroughs critic Richard A. Lupoff and award-winning science fiction author Michael Chabon posted on ERBzine. Recall that Chabon is in the process of rewriting the script for the long-awaited Disney/Pixar film John Carter of Mars (2012) and Luopff is the fellow who wrote the controversial introduction to the 1964 Ace paperback reprint of Edwin L. Arnold’s novel Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (1905). Here is a snippet from the interview:

Lupoff: Back to the movie world. Are you aware of the recent movie, Princess of Mars with Traci Lords?

Chabon: I've seen the trailer for it.

Lupoff: What's your comment about it?

Chabon: It's hilarious. It made me laugh. When I watched the trailer I burst out laughing. It was not purely scornful laughter -- there's a certain element of delight in something that goes "over the top." It just looks like a hoot.

No word on whether Lupoff or Chabon have ever seen the infamous film New Wave Hookers (1985).

[via JCOM Reader]

Book, newspaper and magazine stock watch

Here’s an update to the list of book, magazine, newspaper and publishing stocks I’m watching, ranked by performance since January 1, 2009:

1. Books-A-Million (+ 149%)

Born Under Mars, a 1967 novel by John Brunner

Born Under Mars (1967), a novel by John Brunner

Pictured: Paperback (New York: Ace Books, 1977), 157 p., $1.50. Cover art by Michael Herring. Here's the promotional piece from the back cover:

Ray Mallin returned from the stars to find that his home planet Mars had fallen into shocking decay and apathy. Once Mars had been the great hope of the Solar System. Once men came from Earth to test their strength and adaptiveness on a harsh new world - now the progress of mankind had passed Mars by, and she had become a second-class planet, her Mars-born humans only dead-end mutations. But Ray Mallin had little time to worry about the problems of his home planet, for as soon as he landed he was abducted by agents of Earth's newer and more advanced colony planets, agents who would stop at nothing to gain information they thought he had. Though brutally tortured, and surrounded by treachery, intrigue and danger, he managed to escape. How long would it be before he realized that he was the key to a secret that would change the future of the human race!

In reviewing one of Brunner’s works in 2006, John McCarthy of Albedo: Ireland’s Magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror remarked in passing: “Born Under Mars seems like a low-budget rip-off of Dune, until one discovers that it predated Herbert's classic.”

Popeye the Sailor in “Rocket to Mars”

Here’s a hilarious episode of the classic cartoon series starring Popeye the Sailor: “Rocket to Mars” (1946). It starts with Popeye and Olive Oyl visiting a technical museum on Earth and ends with our spinach-eating hero battling hostile natives on Mars.



Love the war plants on Mars: Bayonet Grass and Grape Shot!

New flash fiction: “Red Dunes” by a Welles fan

The Welles fan who maintains the blog Empty Funeral wrote a new piece of flash fiction titled “Red Dunes.” It’s about a man who tries to erase the memories of the first person to be buried on Mars. Here's the first line: "I am not supposed to remember any of this."

Cover art for Ian McDonald’s novel Desolation Road nominated for BSFA award

The exquisite cover art for the recent Pyr reprint of British science fiction author Ian McDonald’s acclaimed debut novel Desolation Road (1988) has been nominated for a British Science Fiction Association award in the category of Best Artwork. Illustrated by Stephan Martinière with jacket design by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke, the artwork for Desolation Road depicts a mammoth train on Mars.

Pictured: Desolation Road (Pyr, 2009 reprint)

Swiss watchmaker’s pricey objet d’art features meteorite from Mars

Swiss luxury watchmaker Louis Moinet unveiled an expensive objet d’art last weekend at the Geneva Time Exhibition. Entitled Meteoris and priced at about 5 million Swiss francs, the elaborate piece of art includes a planetarium and four tourbillon wristwatches. One of the tourbillons contains a meteorite from the planet Mars, “finely inlaid into a hand-engraved dial and adorned with an astrolabe-type appliqué, serving as a reminder of the ties between man and the cosmos.” According to the promotional literature (pdf), the Martian meteorite is Jiddat al Harasis 479, discovered in 2008 by the Sultanate of Oman and authenticated by the Russian Academy of Science.

Pictured: Tourbillon Mars. The case of this unique watch is “crafted from 18-carat white gold set with 56 baguette-cut Top Wesselton VVS diamonds totalling 3.46 carats.”

On the road with author D.B. Grady

D.B. Grady, a self-professed “first-time ‘small’ author,” has been on the road in Louisiana and Texas promoting Red Planet Noir (Brown Street Press, 2009), his new retro Sci-Fi detective novel that reads like a Raymond Chandler mystery set in a Robert Heinlein world. Everything was going according to plan as Grady traveled to the Dallas-Fort Worth area last weekend for a television interview and a book signing at Hastings Books in Waxahachie. But then the Google Maps application on Grady’s iPhone nearly led him to... the Big Sleep!

Read Chapter 1 (PDF) of Red Planet Noir.

Review of 1953 film Invaders From Mars

The Sci-Fi Dude just reviewed the classic 1953 science fiction film Invaders From Mars, starring Jimmy Hunt, Helena Carter and Arthur Franz. Giving the film 2 stars out of 5, the dude concludes: “Overall, Invaders From Mars was decent entertainment but left a lot to be desired. Though there were some saving graces, they’re not enough for me to recommend it... unless you’re a fan of not-so-good Science Fiction movies from the 1950’s.”

Pictured: Promotional poster for Invaders From Mars.

[via the Classic Science Fiction Channel]

Estate of author Richard Wright opposes proposed Google Book Settlement 2.0

In a stinging blow to the Authors Guild’s Steinbeck-Guthrie strategy for convincing thousands of less-prominent writers that the proposed, revised Google Books Search settlement (GBS 2.0) is in their best interest, The New York Times reports that the estate of African-American author Richard Wright strongly opposes the revised settlement. In a two-page statement released earlier today, representatives of Wright's estate called GBS 2.0 “grievously flawed.”

Cities of Martian Rails: Barrakesh

Martian Rails (2009), the recent board game made by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of interesting cities that players can utilize to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Barrakesh -- A small, low canal-side settlement in the southeast section. All sorts of crime, sins, and evil can be found here. Earthmen aren’t welcome.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Mars and Martian SF!

“Under the Sand-Seas,” a 1941 novelette by Oliver E. Saari

Over at the Internet Archive, you can read or download the January 1941 issue of Super Science Stories magazine, which contains “Under the Sand-Seas,” a little-known novelette penned by Oliver E. Saari. The plot revolves around a scientific expedition on Mars which is “assaulted by a semi-intelligent form of life resembling prairie tumble-weed.” I haven't had a chance to read the story, but here are the opening lines:

FRED WELLS sighed. A pair of firm hands were passing over his body, swiftly and efficiently. They slid along his limbs, fondled his collar bone, and passed on into the regions of his lower ribs.

“That’s far enough,” he muttered, trying to get up on elbow, opening his eyes.

He saw a face -- a face that was made of furrowed leather and white bristle -- a face that was as dry as the desert itself, and as old. The eyes squinted down at him in quiet approval.

“You’ve got luck, son,” said the face. “You can thank old Mars’ gravity for that. Not a bone broken..."

“Under the Sand-Seas” was reprinted in the anthology Great Science Fiction Stories about Mars (1966), edited by T. E. Dikty.

DC's comical Frankenstein kicks ass on Mars

In Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #2, written by Grant Morrison, drawn by Doug Mahnke and published by DC Comics in 2005, a heroic Frankenstein somehow makes it to the Red Planet, where he “follows a trail of death and human misery to the demon-haunted Tombs of B'aal B'zaar and the largest seam of gold in the solar system. Carnivorous horses, a new kind of slave trade, the secret origin of Melmoth the Wanderer and the unstoppable menace of Red Zombies await!”

The War of the Worlds trivia contest

To celebrate publishing house Penguin’s 75th anniversary, Waterstone’s, the United Kingdom’s leading bookseller, just launched a Writers' Table in which 50 Penguin authors name and explain their favourite books from the publisher’s classic backlist. The opening chapter, as posted on the website of The Times of London: British author Will Self explains why he has picked H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel The War of the Worlds.

More rewarding is this contest tie-in: The Times has “the full set of 50 books to win, if you can name the home town (in Surrey) of the narrator of The War of the Worlds. E-mail the answer to bookscomp@thetimes.co.uk with your name, address and telephone number. One entry per person. UK and RoI residents only. Entries must be received by noon on Monday, February 1.”

Authors Guild embraces populism, uses John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie to sell settlement

In a sign of how desperate the Authors Guild is to convince its dwindling base of 8,000 members and tens of thousands of non-member writers that the proposed Google Books Search settlement is in their best interest, the high-brow New York literary organization has embraced two populist American icons. On Thursday, the Guild sent an email to its membership trumpeting the news that the estates of author John Steinbeck and songwriter Woody Guthrie, which vociferously opposed the proposed settlement just months ago, now support the initiative. The email contained a lengthy letter from Gail Steinbeck, daughter-in-law of the author, who, not coincidently, praised the Guild. Given John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie’s political views and the themes portrayed in their major works, one wonders how they would feel about being reduced to commercial fodder by the Authors Guild and their heirs.

Podcast of "Martian Chronicles," the new YA Mars story by Cory Doctorow (Part 8)

Thanks to Canadian blogger, copyright activist and SF author Cory Doctorow, you can listen to Part 8 of his podcast of “Martian Chronicles,” a new Young Adult short story that he is writing for Australian editor Jonathan Strahan's forthcoming YA Mars anthology, Life on Mars (2010). According to Doctorow, “It's a story about the colonization of Mars by free-market absolutists and the video-games they play.” Download Part 8 (MP3, 15 min.) from Archive.org, or stream it through this toolbar:



In case you missed them, here are the links to download the MP3 files for Part 1 (7 min.), Part 2 (15 min.), Part 3 (14 min.), Part 4 (22 min.), Part 5 (27 min.), Part 6 (13 min.) and Part 7 (20 min.).

Forthcoming: A Wizard of Mars, a new YA novel by Diane Duane

A Wizard of Mars, the ninth book in American science fiction and fantasy author Diane Duane’s Young Wizards Series, is scheduled to be published as a hardcover by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April 2010. A voluminous novel of more than 550 pages, here’s the promotional piece for A Wizard of Mars:

Young wizards Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan are part of an elite team investigating the mysterious "message in a bottle" that holds clues to the long-lost inhabitants of Mars. But not even wizardry is enough to cope with the strange events that unfold when the "bottle" is uncorked and life emerges once more to shake the Red Planet with its own perilous and baffling brand of magic.

The good news is that the Martians seem friendly. The bad news is that now they’re free to pick up on a long-dormant plan that could change the shape of more than one world -- and they don't mind using their well-intentioned rescuers to achieve their goals. Kit’s fascination with all things Martian unexpectedly enmeshes him in a terrible age-old conflict, turning him into both a potential key to its solution and a tool that in the wrong hands threatens the human race.

Only Kit has a shot at defusing the threat. But when he vanishes from the Mars of here and now, his fellow wizards are uncertain where his true loyalties lie. Nita’s determination to find the truth -- and Kit -- sends her into battle against an implacable enemy who may be conquerable only by violating wizardry’s most basic tenets. As the shadow of interplanetary war stretches ever more darkly over both worlds, Kit and Nita must master the strange and ancient synergy binding them to Mars and its last inhabitants. If they fail, the history that left Mars lifeless will repeat itself on Earth.

Diane Duane is the author of nearly fifty SF&F novels. Four of her Star Trek novels have been The New York Times bestsellers.