New Serial: Marsbound by Joe Haldeman

Scheduled to be published as a novel by Ace Books in August 2008, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Joe Haldeman’s Marsbound can be read as a three-part serial in Analog: Science Fiction and Fact.

We missed Part I (January/February 2008) and Part II (March 2008), but we read Part III, the conclusion, in the April 2008 issue. Marsbound is an interesting story with a lot of hard science and passing references to a spaceship named John Carter, presumably named after Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character.

As Analog described Marsbound in its January/February 2008 issue, “The title lends itself to at least two interpretations, both of which are at least partly applicable. And while the story does involve Martians, they are, as Joe puts it, ‘not your grandfather's Martians.’ You'll see that as soon as you meet them, and likely find them among the most intriguing aliens you've ever encountered. But there's much more to them than meets the eye. …”

Both Chrome Bits and Jason Sanford’s blog provide specific descriptions of the story line and offer comments. Also, a post on Fantasy Book Critic states that Haldeman is in the process of writing Starbound, a sequel to Marsbound.