The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries. Ultimately more utopian than dystopian, the story focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars, while Earth suffers from overpopulation and ecological disaster.

The three novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and Blue Mars (1996). The Martians (1999) is a collection of short stories set in the same fictional universe. The main trilogy won a number of prestigious awards. Icehenge (1984), Robinson's first novel about Mars, is not set in this universe but deals with similar themes and plot elements.

Plot[link]

Red Mars — Colonization[link]

Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares, the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built (interestingly, from clustered space shuttle external fuel tanks which, instead of incinerating in the atmosphere, have been boosted into orbit until enough had been amassed to build a ship and also used as landing craft) and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. The mission is a joint Russian-American undertaking, and the First Hundred are mostly drawn from these countries (excepting one Michel Duval, a French psychologist assigned to observe their behavior). The book details the trip out, construction of the first settlement on Mars (eventually called Underhill) by Nadia Chernyshevski, as well as establishing colonies on Mars' hollowed out asteroid-moons Phobos and Deimos, the ever-changing relationships between the colonists, debates among the colonists regarding both the terraforming of the planet and its future relationship to Earth. The two extreme views on terraforming are personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell, who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and that it is humanity's obligation to spread life as it is the most scarce thing in the known universe, and Ann Clayborne, who stakes out the position that humankind does not have the right to change entire planets at their will.

Russell's view is initially purely scientific but in time comes to blend with the views of Hiroko Ai, the chief of the Agricultural Team who assembles a new belief system (the "Areophany") devoted to the appreciation and furthering of life ("viriditas"); these views are collectively known as the "Green" position, while Clayborne's naturalist stance comes to be known as "Red." The actual decision is left to the United Nations Organization Mars Authority (UNOMA), which greenlights terraforming, and a series of actions get underway, including the drilling of "moholes" to release subsurface heat; thickening of the atmosphere according to a complicated bio-chemical formula that comes to be known as the "Russell cocktail" after Sax Russell; and the detonation of nuclear explosions deep in the sub-surface permafrost to release water. Additional steps are taken to connect Mars more closely with Earth, including the insertion of a geosynchronous asteroid "Clarke" to which a space elevator cable is tethered.

Against the backdrop of this development is another debate, one whose principal instigator is Arkady Bogdanov of the Russian contingent (possibly named in homage to the Russian polymath and science fiction writer Alexander Bogdanov). Bogdanov argues that Mars need not and should not be subject to Earth traditions, limitations, or authority. He is to some extent joined in this position by John Boone, famous as the "First Man on Mars" from a preceding expedition and rival to Frank Chalmers, the technical leader of the American contingent. Their rivalry is further exacerbated by competing romantic interest in Maya Katarina Toitovna, the leader of the Russian contingent. (In the opening of the book, Chalmers instigates a sequence of events that leads to Boone being assasinated; much of what follows is a retrospective examination of what got things to that point.)

Earth meanwhile increasingly falls under the control of transnational corporations (TransNats) that come to dominate its governments, particularly smaller nations adopted as "flags of convenience" for extending their influence into Martian affairs. As UNOMA's power erodes, the Mars treaty is renegotiated in a move led by Frank Chalmers; the outcome is impressive but proves short-lived as the TransNats find ways around it through loop-holes. Things get worse as the nations of Earth start to clash over limited resources, expanding debt, and population growth as well as restrictions on access to a new longevity treatment developed by Martian science -- one that holds the promise of lifespans into the hundreds of years. In 2061, with Boone dead and exploding immigration threatening the fabric of Martian society, Bogdanov launches a revolution against what many now view as occupying TransNat troops operating only loosely under an UNOMA rubber-stamp approval. Initially successful, the revolution proves infeasible on the basis of both a greater-than-expected willingness of the Earth troops to use violence and the extreme vulnerability of life on a planet without a habitable atmosphere. A series of exchanges sees the cutting of the space elevator, bombardment of several Martian cities (including the city where Bogdanov is himself organizing the rebellion; he is killed), the destruction of Phobos and its military complex, and the unleashing of great flood of torrential groundwater freed by nuclear detonations.

By the end, most of the First Hundred are dead, and virtually all who remain have fled to a hidden refuge established years earlier by Ai and her followers. (One exception is Phyllis Boyle, who has allied herself with the TransNats; she is on Clarke when the space elevator cable is cut and sent flying out of orbit to a fate unknown by the conclusion of the book.) The revolution dies and life on Mars returns to a sense of stability under heavy TransNat control. The clash over resources on Earth breaks out into a full-blown world war leaving hundreds of millions dead, but cease-fire arrangements are reached when the TransNats flee to the safety of the developed nations, which use their huge militaries to restore order, forming police-states. But a new generation of humans born on Mars holds the promise of change. In the meantime, the remaining First Hundred -- including Russell, Clayborne and Chernyshevski -- settle into life in Ai's refuge called Zygote, hidden under the South Polar ice.

Green Mars — Terraforming[link]

Green Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed plants to grow. It picks up the story 50 years after the events of Red Mars in the dawn of the 22nd century, following the lives of the remaining First Hundred and their children and grandchildren. Hiroko Ai's base under the south pole is attacked by UN Transitional Authority (UNTA) forces, and the survivors are forced to escape into a (less literal) underground organization known as the Demimonde. Among the expanded group are the First Hundred's children, the Nisei, a number of whom live in Hiroko's second secret base, Zygote.

As unrest in the multinational control over Mars' affairs grow, various groups start to form with different aims and methods. Watching these groups evolve from Earth, the CEO of the Praxis Corporation sends a representative, Arthur Randolph, to organize the resistance movements. This culminates into the Dorsa Brevia agreement, in which nearly all the underground factions take part. Preparations are made for a second revolution beginning in the 2120s, from converting moholes to missiles silos or hidden bases, sabotaging orbital mirrors, to propelling Deimos out of Mars' gravity well and out into deep space so it could never be used as a weapons platform as Phobos was.

The book follows the characters across the martian landscape, which is explained in detail. As Russell's character infiltrates the transnat terraforming project, the newly evolving martian biosphere is described at great length and with more profound changes most aimed at warming up the surface of Mars to the brink of making it habitable, from continent sized orbital mirrors, another space elevator built (using another anchored asteroid that is dubbed "New Clarke"), to melting the northern polar ice cap, and digging moholes deep enough to form volcanoes. A mainstay of the novel is a detailed analysis of philosophical, political, personal, economical, and geological experiences of the characters. The story weaves back and forth from character to character, providing a picture of Mars as seen by them.

The book ends on a major event which is a sudden, catastrophic rise in Earth's global sea levels not caused primarily by any greenhouse effect but by the eruption of a chain of volcanoes underneath the ice of west Antarctica, disintegrating the ice sheet and displacing the fragments into the ocean.

Blue Mars — Long-term results[link]

Blue Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed atmospheric pressure and temperature to increase so that liquid water can exist on the planet's surface, forming rivers and seas. It follows from the end of Green Mars and has a much wider scope than the previous two books, covering an entire century after the second revolution. As Earth is heavily flooded by the sudden melting of the Antarctic ice cap, the once mighty Metanats are brought to their knees; as the Praxis Corporation paves a new way of "democratic businesses". Mars becomes the "Head" of the system, giving universal healthcare, free education, and an abundance of food. However, this sparks illegal immigration from Earth, so to ease the population strain on the Blue Planet, Martian scientists and engineers are soon put to the task of creating asteroid cities; where small planetoids of the Belt are hollowed out, given a spin to produce gravity, and a mini-sun is created to produce light and heat.

With a vast increase in sciences, technologies, and spacecraft manufacturing, this begins the "Accelerando"; where humankind spreads its civilization throughout the Solar System, and eventually beyond. As Venus, the Jovian moons, the Saturnian moons, and eventually Triton are colonized and terraformed in some way, Jackie Boone (the granddaughter of John Boone, the first man to walk on Mars from the first book) takes an interstellar vessel (made out of an asteroid) to another star system twenty light-years away, where they will start to terraform the planets and moons found there.

The Martians — Short stories[link]

The Martians is a collection of short stories that takes place over the timespan of the original trilogy of novels, as well as some stories that take place in an alternate version of the novels where the First Hundred's mission was one of exploration rather than colonization. Buried in the stories are several hints about the eventual fate of the Martian terraforming program.

Story elements[link]

Corporations[link]

Trans-national Corporations, nicknamed "Transnats", are extremely powerful multinational corporations that first emerge in the mid-21st century. Robinson tracks the evolution of the transnats into what he terms "Metanats" (metanational). These multinational corporations have grown so large as a result of globalization that they have sufficient economic power to take over or strongly manipulate national governments, initially only relatively small third-world governments, but later, larger developed governments too, effectively running whole countries. In Robinson's future history, the metanational corporations become similar to nation-states in some respects, while continually attempting to take over competitors in order to become the sole controller of the interplanetary market. As the Mars trilogy draws to a close in the mid-22nd century, the metanational corporations are forced by a global catastrophe to concede more democratic powers to their workforces.

Although there are many transnational and metanational corporations mentioned, two play an active role in the development of the plotline. Praxis, a largely benevolent and relatively democratic firm, and Subarashī, which plays a large role in the maltreatment of the citizens of Mars.

Genetic engineering[link]

Genetic engineering is first mentioned in Red Mars; it takes off when Sax creates an alga to withstand the harsh Martian temperature and convert its atmosphere into breathable air. Eventually this is done on a massive scale, with thousands of types of GE algae, lichen and bacteria being created to terraform the planet. In Green Mars, GE animals began to be created to withstand the thin Martian atmosphere, and to produce a working planetary-biosphere. By Blue Mars, GE is commonly being done on humans, willingly, to help them better adapt to the new worlds; to breathe thinner air (e.g. Russell), or to see better in the dimmer light of the outer planets.

Other themes[link]

The books also speculate on the colonization of other planets and moons in the solar system, and include descriptions of settlements or terraforming efforts on Callisto, Mercury, Titania, Miranda and Venus. Toward the end of the last novel, humans are taking sub-light colony ships to other stars, taking advantage of the longevity treatments to survive the trip to their destinations.

A great portion of Blue Mars is concerned with the effects of extreme longevity on its protagonists, most of whom have lived over two hundred years as a result of repeated longevity treatments. In particular, Robinson speculates on the psychological effects of ultra-longevity including memory loss, personality change, mental instability, and existential boredom.

Characters[link]

The First Hundred[link]

The initial colonists from the Ares who established a permanent colony. Many of them later become leaders or exemplary figures in the transformation of Mars or its new society. The "First Hundred" actually consisted of 101, with Coyote being smuggled aboard the Ares by Hiroko

John Boone[link]

An American astronaut, who was the first human to walk on Mars in the year 2020. He returns a public hero and uses his considerable influence to lobby for a second mission, this time one of colonization. Boone received a large amount of radiation on his first trip to Mars, more than the recommended dosage according to medical regulations. However, his celebrity status allows him to skirt this. On the second voyage, Boone is one of the "First Hundred" colonists sent to permanently colonize Mars. His accomplishments and natural charm yield him an informal leadership role. In the first chapter of Red Mars, John Boone is assassinated in a plot instigated by Frank Chalmers. The narrative then steps back to the First Hundred's voyage to Mars aboard the spaceship Ares. His ideas continue as a point of reference for the remainder of the trilogy. Boone's character portrayal is complex; in one light, Boone is a stereotypically simple, heroic figure, an everyman hero: his first words on his first trip to Mars are "Well, here we are." He is almost uniformly cheerful and good-natured, and approaches everything he undertakes with hale bonhomie. But later in Red Mars, Robinson switches to Boone's point of view, and it is in this section that it is revealed that late in life, Boone is addicted to omegendorph, a fictional drug that is based on endorphins in the human brain. In addition, it reveals that at least some of his seeming simplicity might simply be an act designed to further his political goals. Overall, Boone is presented as larger-than-life.

Frank Chalmers[link]

Head of the American contingent, he is Machiavellian in his use of power. However, his cynicism is later shown to be a form of self-defense; Chalmers is at least partly driven by a hidden idealistic side. Early in the voyage to Mars, he becomes sexually involved with Maya Toitovna, the leader of the Russian contingent of the mission. During the second-half of the voyage, Toitovna becomes involved with Boone. Already bitter that Boone became the first to walk on Mars instead of him as they were both candidates for the mission and that he was allowed to join the colonization trip despite his manipulations, Chalmers further despises Boone because of Toitovna's affection. His dislike culminates in his involvement in a plot to assassinate Boone, which ultimately succeeds and allows him to take over handling major affairs on Mars, which ultimately became his undoing as his ruthless goverance and aggressive diplomatic work backfire on him during the revolution of 2061. In the final chapters of Red Mars, Chalmers flees with Toitovna and other members of the First Hundred to join the hidden colonists at the polar ice cap but dies along the way when he is caught outside their vehicle during an aquifer flood in Valles Marineris.

Maya Toitovna[link]

An emotional woman who is at the center of a love triangle between Boone and Chalmers, she begins as head of the Russian contingent. The novels hint that she used both wit and seduction to rise through the ranks of the Russian space agency to become the leader of the first colonization mission. After the first revolution, she flees with other members of the First Hundred to the hidden colony in the pole. She becomes a school teacher of the children of the hidden colonists but later becomes a powerful political force. After the deaths of Chalmers and Boone, she falls in love with Michel Duval. She suffers heavily from bipolar disorder and from memory-related psychological disorders with growing age, which often lead her to isolate herself from others and sometimes turn violent.

Nadezhda "Nadia" Chernyshevski[link]

A Russian engineer who started out building nuclear reactors in Siberia, during the voyage and initial exploration of Mars, she does her best to avoid the squabbles of the other members of the First Hundred. Instead, she busies herself by building the first permanent habitation of Mars, Underhill, using programmed automated robots. She also helps to construct a new and larger habitat, and research facility in a nearby canyon. In the later books, she becomes a reluctant politician. Chernyshevski is in love with Bogdanov and is devastated when he is killed in an attack by anti-revolutionary forces associated with UNOMA, the transnationals and Phyllis Boyle during the first Martian revolution. In retaliation for Bogdanov's murder, she activates his hidden weapon system, built into Phobos, which causes the entire moon (a UNOMA/transnational military base) to decelerate in orbit and destructively aerobrake in Mars' atmosphere, utterly destroying it. In Green Mars, she falls in love with Art Randolph, with whom she eventually starts a family. After Martian independence, she grudgingly becomes the first president of Mars.

Arkady Bogdanov[link]

A mechanical engineer with anarchist leanings, possibly based on Russian futurists, Alexander Bogdanov (the character's ancestor) and Arkady Strugatsky, he is regarded by many other members of the First Hundred, particularly Boyle, as a troublemaker. He leads the team which establishes an outpost on the moon Phobos, and leads an uprising against the transnational corporation towards the end of first novel. Like Boone (whom he was really good friends with), his political ideas (later known as Bogdanovism) weigh heavily on characters later in the series. In love with Nadia Chernyshevski, he is killed during the first Martian revolution in 2061.

Saxifrage "Sax" Russell[link]

An American physicist, he is a brilliant and creative scientist, and is greatly respected for his intellectual gifts. However, he is socially awkward and often finds it difficult to understand and relate to other people. Russell is a leader of the Green movement, the goal of which is to terraform Mars. During Green Mars, Sax suffers a stroke while being tortured by government security forces and fellow member of the First Hundred, Phyllis Boyle. He subsequently suffers from Expressive aphasia and has to relearn how to speak. Originally apolitical, this event and a growing attachment to Mars itself leads Russell to become the physical architect of the second revolution. He is also secretly in love with Ann Clayborne, who cannot stand him at first but, after decades on Mars, eventually reconciles. Saxifrage means "stonebreaker" and is the name for an Alpine plant that grows between stones.

Ann Clayborne[link]

An American geologist, Clayborne is one of the first areologists and maintains a stalwart desire to see Mars preserved in the state it holds when humans arrive. Clayborne early on debates Saxifrage Russell over the proper role of humanity on Mars and though initially apolitical, this stance marks her as the original "Red," while Russell's hands-on terraforming reflects the antithesis of these views. Clayborne is shown to prefer solitude during much of the series, and even her relationship with fellow First Hundred settler Simon (with whom she has a child) is subject to introspection silence in most cases. Simon's death and the estrangement she finds from their son Peter when the latter emerges as a leading moderate "green" drive her to further isolation. Clayborne's relationship with Russell is shown to be complex, the two of them taking early opposite views but the situation slowly changing as Russell comes to appreciate what has been unleashed and what has indeed been lost as science gives way to commercial exploitation that he cannot control. During the events of Blue Mars, Russell intervenes to save Clayborne's life; later, the two are revealed to have once shared an attraction that went astray because of a casual misinterpretation between them.

Hiroko Ai[link]

A Japanese expert on biology, agriculture, and ecological systems, it was Ai who smuggled Desmond "Coyote" Hawkins onto the Ares (the two were friends and lovers as students in London). She is the charismatic leader of the farm team, one of the important work groups and cliques among the First Hundred. She thus becomes the focus of many of the trilogy's central themes. Most importantly, she teaches the importance of maintaining a respectful relation with one's planet. On Mars, this is called the Areophany. In the secret colony Zygote, which Hiroko established, the first generation of children of the First Hundred, the ectogenes, are all the product of artificial insemination outside of any human body. Hiroko uses the ova of the female members of the First Hundred as the female genetic material and uses the sperm of the male members of the First Hundred to fertilize the ova. Although Hiroko is seldom at the center of the narrative, her influence is pervasive. She disappears for the final time in Green Mars. Her ultimate fate is left unresolved. In Japanese, ai means love.

Michel Duval[link]

A French psychologist pivotally involved in early psychological screening of First Hundred candidates in Antarctica, Duval is assigned to accompany the Mars mission and is treated as an observer rather than as a member of the team during the early events of Red Mars. His aloof personality enforces this ostracism and also subverts his relationships with others, but in time is becomes clear that Duval is struggling with his own psychological issues perhaps more than anyone else from the expedition. During the first disappearance of the farm team, he is invited by Hiroko to flee with the farm team and establish Zygote, the first hidden colony. Duval desperately wants to return to Provence as he remembers it, although after visiting as a part of the Martian diplomatic mission to Earth, he becomes even more homesick. Duval falls in love with Maya Toitovna and guides her through particularly challenging psychological episodes throughout most of the series, dying late in Blue Mars when Maya displays signs of very heavy temporary memory loss.

Vladimir "Vlad" Taneev[link]

Nearly sixty when he arrives on Mars, a Russian biological scientist who is the oldest of the First Hundred. Taneev heads medical treatment and most research projects on Mars, becoming famous as the creator of the gerontological treatment used to regenerate human cellular systems and ushering in a new era of longevity. He lives in Acheron on the Great Escarpment in the north of Mars before fleeing to the hidden colony after the First Revolution but later returns to his research, falling victim to "quick decline" late in the events of Blue Mars. For much of his Mars-centric life, Taneev lives in a ménage à trois with Ursula and Marina, the exact nature of which is never resolved.

Phyllis Boyle[link]

A Christian-American geologist with a harsh personality that does not win her many friends among the First Hundred and gains particular enmity from Ann Clayborne. As the Mars situation develops, Boyle sides against most of the First Hundred in favor of the increasingly authoritarian United Nations Office of Mars Affairs (UNOMA) and its successor, the corporate/quasi-fascist United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTA). Her influence is strongest during the later events of Red Mars, where by the 2061 revolution she has been placed in charge of the asteroid Clarke that serves as the counterweight of the First Space Elevator. The events of the revolution send Clarke (and Boyle) spinning off into the outer Solar System at the end of Red Mars; Green Mars finds her back in the equation, but her influence is greatly reduced against the backdrop of a much-expanded UNTA presence. Boyle engages in a brief sexual relationship with Saxifrage Russell (who despises her) while the latter is living under an assumed identity and is singularly capable of discerning who he really is, turning him over the UNTA. She is later present at a session in Kasei Vallis where Russell is being tortured, and is killed by Maya Toitovna. Later, as his memory recovers, Russell reveals that Boyle had been opposed to his torture and was demanding that he be released at the time that Maya's team freed him.

Desmond "Coyote" Hawkins[link]

A Trinidadian stowaway, he is a friend and supporter of Hiroko, and a fervent anarchist communist. Present in Red Mars only as a shadowy figure who blends effortlessly into the Martian background, he is not even identified as anything more than the Coyote until the beginning of Green Mars. He becomes a leading figure in the underground and an unofficial coordinator of a developing gift economy.

Their descendants[link]

Since the trilogy covers over 200 years of human history, later immigrants and the children and grandchildren of the First Hundred eventually become important characters in their own right.

The Martians use the same terminology for different generations as Japanese Americans. People who immigrated from Earth are called issei, the first generation born on Mars are nisei, and the second-generation Martians are sansei. Third-generation Martians are called yonsai.

Kasei

Kasei is the son of Hiroko and John Boone and the father of Jackie Boone. Kasei is the leader of the Kakaze, a radical Red faction. His name is Japanese for the planet Mars. He dies during the second revolution, after an unsuccessful attack on the second space elevator.

Nirgal

The son of Hiroko and the Coyote, he is raised communally by Hiroko and her followers in Zygote. He is a good-natured wanderer who eventually becomes a political leader advocating ties with Earth. He is one of the founders of the Free Mars movement and is famous for his running technique that allows him to run all day for days on end. As Nadia's assistants, he and Art are instrumental in getting the Martian constitution written. Later he is sent on a diplomatic mission to Earth but nearly dies from an infection. His name is ancient Babylonian for Mars.

Jackie Boone

The granddaughter of Hiroko and John Boone (raised with Nirgal), she emerges as a leader of the Free Mars movement, but is seen to change her platform based on whatever keeps her in power (e.g. changing from banning Earth immigration to allowing almost unlimited immigrants). After her daughter Zo's death, she retires in grief and joins an one-way expedition to an extrasolar planet near Aldebaran.

Peter Clayborne

Peter Clayborne is the son of Ann Clayborne and Simon Frazier, being one of the first children born on Mars. Peter holds a position of older brother to all of the following first generation. Many revolutionary and later political decisions of the Mars First movement are influenced by his opinions and judgment. He works part-time as an engineer and a green politician.

Zoya "Zo" Boone

Jackie's daughter; she has feline traits (purring) inserted into her genome via the gerontological longevity treatment. In Blue Mars, she travels the solar system running political errands for Jackie, although the two do not get along particularly well. Her character is portrayed as hedonistic and explicitly nihilistic, making sexual satisfaction a priority and seemingly having little regard for the feelings of others. On the other hand, she apparently has a conscience, risking her life to rescue a man on Mercury and later dying in an attempt to save a distressed flier.

Nikki

The daughter of Nadia and Art.

Other characters[link]

Arthur "Art" Randolph

A representative of the Praxis corporation sent to contact the Martian underground movement on a quasi-diplomatic mission in an attempt to create a system of ecological capitalism based on democratic corporations. Like the other metanationals, it takes on intensive economic and political ties with governments, but Praxis aims for partnerships rather than exploitive relationships.

Zeyk Tuqa and his wife Nazik

They are Bedouin nomads who originally emigrated from Egypt and respected figures in the Arab Martian community. Zeyk is a close friend of Chalmers. His eidetic memory becomes a minor plot point.

William Fort

He is the founder of Praxis, one of the huge multinational corporations. He embraces a fusion of Eastern and Western lifestyles.

Awards[link]

• Red Mars won the BSFA in 1992,^[1] Nebula Awards in 1993,^[2] and was nominated for the Hugo, Clarke, and Locus Awards in 1993.^[2]
• Green Mars won the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1994, and was nominated for the BSFA (1993)^[2] and Nebula Awards (1994).^[3]
• Blue Mars won the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1997,^[4] was nominated for a BSFA Award in 1996,^[5] and received nominations for the Campbell and Clarke Awards in 1997.^[4]

Adaptations and uses[link]

Screen adaptations[link]

The Mars trilogy rights were at one point held by James Cameron,^[6] who planned a five-hour miniseries to be directed by Martha Coolidge,^[7] but he passed on the option. Later Gale Ann Hurd planned a similar mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel, which also remained unproduced.^[8] Then, in October 2008, it was reported that AMC and Jonathan Hensleigh had teamed up and were planning to develop a television mini-series based on Red Mars.^[9]

On Phoenix spacecraft[link]

The content of Green Mars and the cover artwork for Red Mars are included on the Phoenix DVD, carried onboard Phoenix, a NASA lander that successfully touched down on Mars in May 2008. The First Interplanetary Library is intended to be a sort of time capsule for future Mars explorers and colonists.^[10]

Video games[link]

The Red Faction series bears remarkable similarity to the Mars trilogy, with a similar overarching storyline (the martian revolution) and many of the same techniques were used to change the surface.

Translations to other languages[link]

The trilogy has been translated into Spanish, French, German, Polish, Hebrew, Japanese, Romanian, and Serbian among others.

See also[link]

Novels portal

• Colonization of Mars
• Kava - The Mars Trilogy contains many references to kava and kavajava—kava mixed with coffee. The novels use kava as the social drink of choice for the human colonizers of Mars.
• Mars in fiction
• Red Star The 1908 utopian science fiction novel by Alexander Bogdanov about a technologically and socially advanced society on Mars. Referenced as an inspiration for the Mars Trilogy.
• Terraforming of Mars

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Mars trilogy at KimStanleyRobinson.info

Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson at the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005
Born	(1952-03-23) March 23, 1952 (age 60) Waukegan, Illinois
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	United States
Genres	Science fiction

Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research and lifelong fascination with the planet Mars.

Robinson's work has been labeled by reviewers as literary science fiction.^[1]

Biography[link]

Kim Stanley Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois, but grew up in Southern California. In 1974 he earned a B.A. in literature from the University of California, San Diego. In 1975, he earned a M.A. in English from Boston University and in 1982, he earned a PhD in English from the University of California, San Diego. His doctoral thesis, The Novels of Philip K. Dick, was published in 1984.

Robinson describes himself as a backpacker but not a mountain climber,^[2] though mountain climbing appears in several of his fiction works, most notably Antarctica, the Mars trilogy, "Green Mars" (a short story found in The Martians), Forty Signs of Rain, and Escape from Kathmandu.

In 1982 he married Lisa Howland Nowell, an environmental chemist, and they have two sons. Robinson has lived in Washington, D.C.; California; and during some of the 1980s in Switzerland. He now lives in Davis, California.

Robinson was an instructor at the Clarion Workshop in 2009. In 2010, Robinson was guest of honor at the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Melbourne, Australia. In April 2011 Robinson presented at the second annual Rethinking Capitalism conference, held at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among other points made, his talk addressed the cyclical nature of capitalism.^[3]

Important works[link]

[edit] Three Californias

This trilogy is also referred to as the Orange County trilogy. The component books are titled The Wild Shore (1984), The Gold Coast (1988) and Pacific Edge (1990). It is not a trilogy in the traditional sense; rather than telling a single story, the books present three different future Californias.

The Wild Shore portrays a California struggling to return to civilization after having been crippled, along with the rest of America, by a nuclear war. The Gold Coast portrays an over-industrialized California increasingly obsessed with and dependent on technology and torn apart by the struggles between arms manufacturers and terrorists. Pacific Edge presents a California in which ecologically sane, manageable practices have become the norm and the scars of the past are slowly being healed.

Though they initially appear unconnected, the three books work together to present a unified statement. The first shows humanity crippled by a lack of technology, the second humanity swamped and almost completely dehumanized by too much technology (along with the attendant environmental damage), and the third a workable, livable compromise between the two. Although the third is a utopian novel, there is still conflict, sadness, and tragedy. The stories all contain a common character, whose circumstances serve to put the three alternatives in perspective.

[edit] The Mars trilogy

This trilogy is Robinson's best-known work. It is an extended work of science fiction that deals with the first settlement of the planet Mars by a group of scientists and engineers. Its three volumes are Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, the titles of which mark the changes that the planet undergoes over the course of the saga. The tale begins with the first colonists leaving Earth for Mars in 2027 and covers the next 200 years of future history. By the conclusion of the story, Mars is heavily populated and terraformed, with a flourishing and complex political and social dimension.

Many threads of different characters' lives are woven together in the Mars Trilogy. Science, sociology, and politics are all covered in great detail, evolving over the course of the narrative. Robinson's fascination with science and technology is clear, although he balances this with a strong streak of humanity. Robinson's personal interests, including ecological sustainability, sexual dimorphism, and the scientific method, come through strongly.

[edit] The Martians

Billed as a companion piece, The Martians (1999) is a collection of short stories that involves many of the same characters and settings introduced in the Mars trilogy. Some stories occur before, during, or instead of the events of the trilogy; some expand on existing characters, and others introduce new ones. It also includes the Constitution of Mars and poetry written in character by a Martian citizen.

[edit] Antarctica

Antarctica (1997) follows very closely in the footsteps of the Mars trilogy, and it covers much of the same ground despite the differences in setting. It is set on the icy continent of the title, much closer to the present day, but it evokes many of the same themes, dealing as it does with scientists in an isolated environment, the effect that this has on their personalities and interactions, and economic systems.

As with all of Robinson's later work, ecological sustainability is a major theme in Antarctica. Much of the action is catalyzed by the recent expiration of the Antarctic Treaty and the threat of invasion and despoiling of the near-pristine environment by corporate interests.

[edit] The Years of Rice and Salt

The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) is a work of alternative history that concerns a world in which the Black Plague wiped out 99 percent of the European population (instead of the actual generally estimated 30 percent), leaving the world free for Asian expansion. It covers ten generations of history, focusing on the successive reincarnations of the same few characters as they pass through varying genders, social classes, and, in one notable example, species.

The Years of Rice and Salt features Muslim, Chinese, and Hindu cultures and philosophies.

Science in the Capital series[link]

The Science in the Capital series encompasses three novels: Forty Signs of Rain (2004), Fifty Degrees Below (2005), and Sixty Days and Counting (2007). This series explores the consequences of global warming, both on a global level and as it affects the main characters—several employees of the National Science Foundation and those close to them. A recurring theme of Robinson's is that of Buddhist philosophy, which is represented in the series by the agency of ambassadors from Khembalung, a fictional Buddhist micro-state located on an offshore island in the Ganges delta. Their state is threatened by rising sea levels, and the reaction of the Khembalis is compared to that of the Washingtonians.

Other novels[link]

• Icehenge (1984) tells the story of the discovery of a monument in the style of Stonehenge found carved from ice on Pluto and the subsequent investigation into its origin. The setting of this novel bears strong resemblances of the Mars trilogy, albeit with darker, more dystopian undertones.
• The Memory of Whiteness (1985) deals with a fantastic, unique musical instrument and the trials faced by its newest master as he tours the solar system; how it is described seems to contain the beginnings of many of the ideas later put to use in the Mars trilogy, although it is set centuries later.
• A Short, Sharp Shock (1990) one of Robinson's few fantasy stories, dealing with an amnesiac man traveling through a mysterious land in pursuit of a woman who features in his first memories.
• Galileo's Dream is a partially fictionalized biography of Galileo Galilei in which he is summoned by 29th century inhabitants of the Galilean moons who seek his advice. (UK release: August 6, 2009;^[4] US release: December 29, 2009).^[5]
• 2312 (2012)

Short stories[link]

Robinson published his first two short stories in Orbit 18 in 1976. Most are collected in The Planet on the Table (1986), Remaking History (1991), Down and Out in the Year 2000 (1992), and Vinland the Dream (2001). Four humorous novellas featuring American expatriates in Nepal are collected in Escape from Kathmandu (1989). The Martians (1999), discussed above, further explores the world of the Mars Trilogy. On August 1, 2010, Night Shade Books released a collection entitled, "The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson."

Selected story bibliography[link]

• "A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations" (in: Vinland the Dream, originally published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1991, revised for Remaking History)
• "A Martian Childhood"
• "A Martian Romance" (in The Martians)
• "A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions" (in Vinland the Dream)
• "A Transect"
• "An Argument for the Deployment of All Safe Terraforming Technologies" (in The Martians),
• "Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars" (in The Martians),
• "Before I Wake" (in Remaking History)
• "Big Man in Love" (in The Martians)
• "Black Air" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1983)
• "Coming Back to Dixieland" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Orbit 18)
• "Coyote Makes Trouble" (in The Martians)
• "Coyote Remembers" (in The Martians)
• "Discovering Life" (in Vinland the Dream and in The Martians)
• "Down and Out in the Year 2000"
• "Enough is as Good as a Feast" (in The Martians',
• "Escape from Kathmandu" (in Escape from Katmandu)
• "Exploring Fossil Canyon" (in The Martians)
• "Festival Night"
• "Four Teleological Trails" (in The Martians)
• "Glacier" (in Remaking History)
• "Green Mars" (in The Martians)
• "If Wang Wei Lived on Mars and Other Poems" (in The Martians)
• "Jackie on Zo" (in The Martians)
• "Keeping the Flame" (in The Martians)
• "Maya and Desmond" (in The Martians)
• "Mercurial" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Universe 15),
• "Michel in Antarctica" (in The Martians)
• "Michel in Provence" (in The Martians)
• "Mother Goddess of the World" (in Escape from Katmandu)
• "Muir on Shasta" (in Vinland the Dream)
• "Odessa" (in The Martians)
• "On the North Pole of Pluto"
• "Our Town"
• "Purple Mars" (in The Martians)
• "Remaking History" (in Remaking History and Vinland the Dream originally published in What Might Have Been, edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg)
• "Ridge Running" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1984 edition)
• "Salt and Fresh" (in The Martians)
• "Saving Noctis Dam" (in The Martians)
• "Sax Moments" (in The Martians)
• "Selected Abstracts from The Journal of Aerological Studies" (in The Martians)
• "Sexual Dimorphism" (in The Martians)
• "Some Work Notes and Commentary on the Constitution by Charlotte Dorsa Brevia" (in The Martians)
• "Stone Eggs" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Universe 13)
• "The Archaeae Plot" (in The Martians)
• "The Blind Geometer"
• "The Constitution of Mars" (in The Martians)
• "The Disguise" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Orbit 19),
• "The Kingdom Underground" (in Escape from Katmandu)
• "The Lucky Strike" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Universe 14)
• "The Lunatics"
• "The Memorial"
• "The Part of Us That Loves" (in Remaking History)
• "The Return from Rainbow Bridge"
• "The Translator" (in Remaking History)
• "The True Nature of Shangri-La" (in Escape from Katmandu)
• "The Way the Land Spoke to Us" (in The Martians)
• "To Leave a Mark"
• "Venice Drowned" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Universe 11)
• "Vinland the Dream" (in Vinland the Dream; originally published in Remaking History)
• "What Matters" (in The Martians)
• "Zürich"

Non-fiction[link]

Robinson's doctoral thesis examined The Novels of Philip K. Dick (1984). A hardcover version was published by UMI Research Press. He also edited and wrote the introduction of the anthology Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias (1994).

Major themes[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (March 2008)

Ecological sustainability[link]

Virtually all of Robinson's novels have an ecological component; sustainability would have to be counted among his primary themes. (A strong contender for the primary theme would be the nature of a plausible utopia.) The Orange County trilogy is about the way in which the technological intersects with the natural, highlighting the importance of keeping the two in balance. In the Mars trilogy, one of the principal divisions among the population of Mars is based on dissenting views on terraforming; It is heavily debated whether or not the seemingly barren Martian landscape has a similar ecological or spiritual value to a living ecosphere like Earth's. Forty Signs of Rain is entirely ecologically themed, taking as it does global warming for its principal theme.

Economic and social justice[link]

Kim Stanley Robinson speaking at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair on the social themes of his work.

Robinson's work often explores alternatives to modern capitalism. In the Mars trilogy, it is argued that capitalism is an outgrowth of feudalism, which could be replaced in the future by a more democratic economic system. Worker ownership and cooperatives figure prominently in Green Mars and Blue Mars as a replacement for traditional corporations. The Orange County trilogy explores similar arrangements; Pacific Edge includes the idea of attacking the legal framework behind corporate domination to promote social egalitarianism.

Robinson's work often portrays characters struggling to preserve and enhance the world around them in an environment characterized by individualism and entrepreneurialism, often facing the political and economic authoritarianism of corporate power acting within this environment. Robinson has been described as anti-capitalist, and his work often portrays a form of frontier capitalism that promotes ideals that closely resemble socialist systems, and faced with a capitalism that is staunched by entrenched hegemonic corporations. In particular, his Martian Constitution draws upon social democratic ideals explicitly emphasizing a community-participation element in political and economic life.^[6]

Robinson's works often portray the worlds of tomorrow as in a similar way to the mythologized American Western frontier, showing a sentimental affection for the freedom and wildness of the frontier. This aesthetic includes a preoccupation with competing models of political and economic organization.

The environmental, economic, and social themes in Robinson's oeuvre stand in marked contrast to the right-wing libertarian streak prevalent in much of science fiction^{[dubious – discuss]} (Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle being prominent examples), and his work has been called the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with a left-wing libertarian and anti-capitalist utopian vision since Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel, The Dispossessed.^[7]

Scientists as citizens[link]

Robinson's work often features scientists as heroes. They are portrayed in a mundane way compared to most work featuring scientists: rather than being adventurers or action heroes, Robinson's scientists become critically important because of research discoveries, networking and collaboration with other scientists, political lobbying, or becoming public figures. The Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt rely heavily on the idea that scientists must take responsibility for ensuring public understanding and responsible use of their discoveries. Robinson's scientists often emerge as the best people to direct public policy on important environmental and technological questions, on which politicians are often ignorant.

Awards[link]

Robinson's novels have won eleven major science fiction awards, and have been nominated on twenty-nine occasions.^[8]

Robinson won the Hugo Award for Best Novel with Green Mars (1994);^[9] and Blue Mars (1997);^[10] the Nebula Award for Best Novel with Red Mars (1993);^[11] the Nebula Award for Best Novella with The Blind Geometer (1986); the World Fantasy Award with Black Air (1983);^[12] a John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel with Pacific Edge (1991);^[13] and Locus Awards for The Wild Shore (1985), A Short, Sharp Shock (1991), Green Mars (1994), Blue Mars (1997), The Martians (2000), and The Years of Rice and Salt (2003).^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kim Stanley Robinson

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kim Stanley Robinson

• Kim Stanley Robinson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• KimStanleyRobinson.info – unofficial site
• ^{[dead link]}A podcast episode featuring Kim Stanley Robinson discussing his novel Sixty Days and Counting
• Short descriptions of K.S. Robinson's novels
• An interview with K.S. Robinson
• All of Kim Stanley Robinson's audio interviews on the podcast The Future And You (in which he describes his expectations of the future)
• Author's IBList.com Entry
• Guardian interview with K.S. Robinson
• "Comparative Planetology: an Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson" at BLDGBLOG
• Audio interview from IT Conversations – recorded 2006-01-01 covering the Science in the Capital series
• Complete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novel
• Interview on the SciFiDimensions Podcast

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)

Kim Stanley
Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1961
Born	Patricia Reid (1925-02-11)February 11, 1925 Tularosa, New Mexico, U.S.
Died	August 20, 2001(2001-08-20) (aged 76) Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
Alma mater	Actors Studio University of New Mexico
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–1985
Spouse	Bruce Hall (1945–1946; divorced) Curt Conway (1949–1956; divorced) 2 children Alfred Ryder (1958–1964; divorced) 1 child Joseph Siegel (1964–1967; divorced)

Kim Stanley (February 11, 1925 – August 20, 2001) was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances.

She began her acting career in theatre, and subsequently attended the Actors Studio in New York City, New York. She received the 1952 Theatre World Award for her role in The Chase (1952), and starred in the Broadway productions of Picnic (1953) and Bus Stop (1955). Stanley was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her roles in A Touch of the Poet (1959) and A Far Country (1962).

During the 1950s, Stanley was a prolific performer in television, and later progressed to film, with a well-received performance in The Goddess (1959). She was the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and starred in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), for which she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was less active during the remainder of her career; two of her later film successes were as the mother of Frances Farmer in Frances (1982), for which she received a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, and as Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). She received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance as Big Mama in a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985).

Last years[link]

She did not act during her later years, preferring the role of teacher, in Los Angeles, California, and later Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she died in 2001, of uterine cancer.

Early life[link]

Stanley was born Patricia Reid in Tularosa, New Mexico, the daughter of Ann (née Miller), an interior decorator, and J. T. Reid, a professor of philosophy and education at the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque.^[1] Her father was of Irish or Scottish descent, born and raised in Texas, where he met her mother (who was of German and English ancestry). She had three brothers (Howard Clinton Reid, a psychiatrist; Kenneth Reid, killed in pilot training during World War II; and Justin Truman Reid, a lawyer); and a half-sister, Carol Ann Reid.^[1] She was a drama major at the University of New Mexico and later studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and adopted her maternal grandmother's surname as her stage name.^[1]

Career[link]

Stanley was a successful Broadway actress with only a few film roles. She was singled out by The New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson for her early work. She eventually attended the Actors Studio, studying under Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg. She received the 1952 Theatre World Award for her performance as Anna Reeves in The Chase,^[2] and starred in such Broadway hits as Picnic (1953), playing Millie Owens (which she never felt received the credit it deserved) and Bus Stop (1955), playing Cherie.

She was nominated for the 1959 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for A Touch of the Poet and the 1962 Tony for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Elizabeth von Ritter in Henry Denker's A Far Country. Stanley also portrayed Maggie "The Cat" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the original London production of the play. She was a leading lady of live television drama, which flourished in New York City during the 1950s. Among her many starring roles was Wilma, a star-struck 15-year-old girl from the U.S. Gulf Coast of Texas in Horton Foote's A Young Lady of Property, which aired on The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse on April 5, 1953. Following a savaging by English critics after her London performance of "Masha" in an Actors Studio production of Anton Chekhov's play The Three Sisters (1965) she vowed never to perform on stage again, a vow she kept for the rest of her life.^{[citation needed]}

Film[link]

Her first film was The Goddess (1958), playing a tragic movie star modeled on Marilyn Monroe (though she and director, John Cromwell, would forever deny Marilyn's influence, using Rita Hayworth as being more accurate). She starred in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), winning both the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

A filmed version of Strasberg-directed Three Sisters (1966) opened with Stanley reprising the role of Masha, and is the only time one can see her perform in a film alongside Geraldine Page, Sandy Dennis, Shelley Winters and other well-known names of the Actors Studio. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her performance as Frances Farmer's possessive mother in Frances (1982). She also played Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). Stanley was the uncredited narrator in the drama film To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). As the narrator, she represents the character Jean Louise Finch ("Scout") as an adult. Mary Badham portrays Scout as a child in the film.

She received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her appearance in the episode, "A Cardinal Act of Mercy" (1963), of the television series, Ben Casey (1961–1966), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for her appearance in Tennessee Williams's Southern melodrama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985), this time as Big Mama.

Personal life[link]

Stanley was married four times – Bruce Hall (1945–1946), Curt Conway (1949– 1956), Alfred Ryder (1958–1964) and Joseph Siegel (1964–1967) – with all four marriages ending in divorce. She had three children, one by Conway, one by Brooks Clift (brother of Montgomery Clift) while she was married to Conway, and one by Ryder. During her marriage to Ryder, Stanley converted to Judaism.^[3]

Death[link]

Stanley died of uterine cancer while living in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, nursing home at the age of 76. She was survived by her first husband, Bruce Hall, her brother Justin, her three children, and several nephews and nieces. A biography, Female Brando: the Legend of Kim Stanley (2006), by Jon Krampner, was published by Back Stage Books, a division of Watson-Guptill.

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Film portal
	Theatre portal
	Television portal

• List of American film actresses
• List of American television actresses

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kim Stanley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kim Stanley at the Internet Movie Database
• Biographer Jon Krampner KimStanley.net Website
• Telegraph obituary
• Documentary film-in-progress THE NEEDS OF KIM STANLEY Kim Stanley at the Internet Movie Database