The tranquility of Mars is disrupted by humans who want to conquer space, colonize the planet, and escape a doomed Earth.

Soon after the American Civil War, Confederate soldier John Carter joins the gold rush in Arizona. After striking a vein of gold, Carter runs into trouble with the natives of the area. In attempts to evade their pursuit, Carter hides in a cave, unaware of its magical properties. Mysteriously, Carter is transported to Mars, which the planet inhabitants call "Barsoom". When Carter discovers that the gravity difference between Mars and Earth has granted...

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive -- and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though,...

"Mankind has long dreamed of reaching out to live on other planets, and with the establishment of the Mars Endeavour colony, that dream has become reality. The fledgling colony consists of 120 scientists, astronauts, medical staff, and engineers. Buried deep underground, they're protected from the harsh radiation that sterilizes the surface of the planet. The colony is prepared for every eventuality except one--what happens when disaster strikes Earth?"--...

Wyman Ford is tapped for a secret expedition to Cambodia... to locate the source of strangely beautiful gemstones that do not appear to be of this world. A brilliant meteor lights up the Maine coast... and two young women borrow a boat and set out for a distant island to find the impact crater. A scientist at the National Propulsion Facility discovers an inexplicable source of gamma rays in the outer Solar System. He is found decapitated, the data...

Five-time Hugo Award-winner Larry Niven weaves together time travel and fantasy through short stories and a novella to create an utterly unique book on the origin of the Martian "canals." Hanville Svetz was born into a future earth that matches the sorriest predictions of Greenpeace. With most of Earth's original species extinct, Svetz travels back and forth in time retrieving them. Svetz learns that Mars was inhabited, and how the sapient Martian...

In Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson imagined a near future where humankind established the first colonies on Mars and began to make the planet inhabitable for humans. In this stunning sequel to that Nebula Award-winning novel, Robinson takes the colonization of Mars to a new generation, with a new set of problems and concerns. The initial Martian pioneers had fierce disagreements about how the planet should be used by humans. This led to a war that...

Blue Mars is the final volume in Robinson's seminal science fiction trilogy which began with Red Mars and continues with Green Mars. The once red and barren terrain of Mars is now green and rich with life-plant, animal, and human. But idyllic Mars is in a state of political upheaval, plagued by violent conflict between those who would keep the planet green and those who want to return it to a desert world. Meanwhile, across the void of space, old,...

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...

"A young astronaut is trying to find life on Mars, but he's made a very big oversight"--