At the turn of the new millennium, nearly a dozen U.S., Russian, and Japanese robot missions have been sent to Mars...all in preparation for the first humans who will walk on the Red Planet.

Now science fiction master Gregory Benford, recipient of multiple honors including two Nebula Awards and the United Nations Medal in Literature, presents a powerful and realistic novel that captures the conflict, suspense, and drama of this coming adventure, and of the new century's great space challenge...

THE
MARTIAN
RACE

For American John Axelrod, it's not about nationalism or personal fame. k's about the money: the Mars Prize, a $30 billion purse offered for the first successful manned mission to the Red Planet. When NASA becomes bogged down in politics and bureaucracy, businessman Axelrod and a conglomerate of backers seize their chance.

But for astronauts Julia; her husband, Viktor; Marc; and Raoul—Axelrod's team of exNASAnauts—it's not about wealth or media attention. It's about courage, discovery, and facing the unknown. It's about Mars... and staying alive. For the prize rules clearly state that the winning team can't just grab a rock and leave. Their mission will keep them on the barren planet for almost two years, a genuine opportunity for biologist Julia and the others to research, learn, adapt, and search for clues to the Red Planet's greatest mystery: Did life ever exist there?

This isn't, however, a NASA mission with backups, fail-safes, and Mission Control. The astronauts know that Axelrod has cut corners and that theirs is a high-stakes, high-risk return to the oldest rule of exploration: Succeed or die. Now four people are trapped on a frigid, alien world that can kill them in countless ways. And a time will come when—to survive—Julia, Viktor, Marc, and Raoul must embrace everything that makes them human.

And everything that will make them Martian.

GREGORY BENFORD is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine; a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a fellow at Cambridge University; and an adviser to the Department of Energy, NASA, and the White House Council on Space Policy. Dr. Benford is also one of the most honored authors in science fiction. His eighteen novels, including the classic Timescape, have won two' Nebula Awards, the John W. Campbell Award, and the United Nations Medal in Literature.

Jacket design by Don Puckey
Jacket illustration by Steve Youll

 

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