Ben Bova’s trilogy of Mars novels recorded as unabridged audiobooks

Blackstone Audio has recorded as unabridged audiobooks a trilogy of Mars novels written by six-time Hugo Award-winning science fiction author
Ben Bova. All of the works feature character Jamie Waterman, a geologist, and are read by voice actor Stefan Rudnicki.

Mars (1992/2009), the first audiobook in Bova's trilogy, is comprised of 15 CDs and is about 18 hours long. Here’s a detailed description, taken from the website of Blackstone Audio:

This grand epic adventure from six-time Hugo Award–winning author Ben Bova tells the irresistible story of man’s first mission to that great unconquered frontier, Mars. Technically plausible and compellingly human, Bova’s story explores the political, scientific, and social repercussions of our greatest quest yet: the search for evidence of life beyond Earth’s boundaries.

Half-Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman has been selected for the ground team of the first manned expedition to our mysterious neighbor planet. Joining an international team of astronauts and scientists, he endures the rigors of training, the dangers of traveling an incredible distance in space, the challenges of an alien landscape, and the personal and political conflicts that arise when the team must face the most shocking discovery of all.

Return to Mars (1999/2009), the second audiobook in Bova's trilogy, is comprised of 13 CDs and is about 16 hours long. Here’s a detailed description, taken from the website of Blackstone Audio:

Six years after the first manned Martian expedition, a second has been announced, one motivated purely by its profit potential. Jamie Waterman, half-Navajo, half-Anglo geologist, is commander of the new exploratory team and thus must contend with a bitter rivalry, a disturbing new emotional attraction, and deadly “accidents” that appear to be sabotage, all of which could doom the mission to failure. But there is more at stake than these concerns for there are still great secrets to be uncovered on this cruel and enigmatic world, not the least being something he glimpsed in the far distance during his first Martian excursion: an improbable structure perched high in the planet's carmine cliffs, a dwelling that only an intelligent being could have built.

Mars Life (2008/2009), the third audiobook in the Bova's trilogy, is comprised of 10 CDs and is about 12 hours long. Here’s a detailed description, taken from the website of Blackstone Audio:

Jamie Waterman has made an important discovery on Mars. A cliff dwelling reveals the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet sixty-five million years ago, only to be driven into extinction by the crash of a giant meteor. But now the exploration of Mars is itself under threat of extinction, as the ultraconservative New Morality movement gains control of the U.S. government and cuts off all funding for the Mars program.

Meanwhile, Carter Carleton, an anthropologist who was driven from his university post by unproven rape charges, has started to dig up the remains of a Martian village. Science and politics clash on two worlds as Jamie desperately tries to save the Mars program and uncover who the vanished Martians were.

You can listen to samples of all three audiobooks or purchase them from Blackstone Audio in other formats, such as tape or MP3-CD.

Thanks to the blog SFFaudio for the tip!