Comments on: MIND MELD: The Secrets Behind Speculative Fiction’s Love Affair With Mars

By: John C

John C — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:37:04 +0000

Great panel! Red Mars is my all time favorite. I was lucky enough to read it at that age when a book can really shape the person you become. I always hoped I would see humanity reach Mars in my lifetime.

By: Mike Martinez

Mike Martinez — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:12:43 +0000

Wow…excellent thoughts here from excellent writers. Having written a book that includes a couple different “flavors” of Mars, I definitely get the appeal. In thinking about hard sci-fi, it’s a logical next step after we go past the Moon, and the environment there isn’t too difficult in comparison to the rest of the Solar System. (Venus? Forget about it.) There’s potential resources to exploit, thus a real reason to go and stay.

Thinking about a more fantastical version of Mars, I think of Burroughs, naturally, but also all the mythology surrounding the red planet. I think about the canals that folks thought they saw there. Mars brings to mind extinct civilizations swallowed by rust-red deserts, leaving their ruins behind.

And really, how cool is that?

By: Dave Thompson

Dave Thompson — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:14:49 +0000

Great mindmeld – lots of fascinating thoughts in this one, expertly written!

By: Bastard

Bastard — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:07:58 +0000

I don’t know why, but Mars has never had much of an allure to me. I think most of it comes from Mars presenting plausibilities that other setting might not, particularly with evidence of water and life, either present or had been present.

But personally, never cared much for Mars.