Mars Life

Red Mars

Kim Stanley Robinson · 640 pages

Red Mars is the first novel of the Mars trilogy, published in 1992. It follows the beginnings of the colonization of Mars, from the arrival of the First Hundred to the First Martian Revolution.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Dennis E. Taylor · 322 pages

The Blighted Stars

Megan E. O'Keefe · 491 pages

Colony One Mars

Gerald M. Kilby · 240 pages

Foundation's Edge

Isaac Asimov · 426 pages

After the defeat of the Mule by the Second Foundation, Terminus enjoys a period of prosperity and stability which is publicly attributed to the Seldon Plan, but which some feel is the work of the Second Foundation. A search is begun to determine if the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, the Second Foundation finds that there is evidence of an independent force acting against the Mule to

Containment

Christian Cantrell · 287 pages

As Earth's ability to support human life diminishes, the Global Space Agency is formed with a single mandate: protect humanity from extinction by colonizing the solar system. Venus, being almost the same mass as Earth, is chosen over Mars as humanity's first permanent steppingstone into the universe. After a puzzling accident, Arik Ockley -- part of the first generation to be born and raised off-

Xenocide

Orson Scott Card · 562 pages

On Lusitania, Ender finds a world where humans and pequeninos and the Hive Queen could all live together. However, Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequeninos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entir

Man Plus

Frederik Pohl · 215 pages

From back cover Orb Trade paperback May 2011: **Earth is in crisis.** There simply isn't enough water and arable land to support the burgeoning population. As the threat of nuclear war looms, the United States looks to Mars for the precious resources that could save humanity. But somebody must actually journey to the Red Planet to effect a solution, and it would be far too difficult and cost

Revelation Space

Alastair Reynolds · 560 pages

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity.

Caliban's War

James S.A. Corey · 608 pages

The second book in the NYT best-selling Expanse series, Caliban's War shows a solar system on the brink of war, and the only hope of peace rests on James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante's shoulders. Now a Prime Original series. We are not alone. On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a

The Martian

Andy Weir · 383 pages

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 be

Old Man's War

John Scalzi · 319 pages

John Scalzi channels Robert Heinlein (including a wry sense of humor) in a novel about a future Earth engaged in an interstellar war against more advanced species. Citizens volunteer for the Colonial Defense Forces after retirement, in exchange for which they have their consciousness transferred into a young body, cloned from their DNA but enhanced. If, against the odds, they survive two years o

The Sky People

S.M. Stirling · 304 pages

The Smoke Ring

Larry Niven · 237 pages

Ammonite

Nicola Griffith · 397 pages

Change or die. These are the only options available on planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep—and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the comp

The Mote in God's Eye

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle · 560 pages

Science fiction classic about the rise, fall and subsequent rise of a civilization where the peak catastrophe is known as the "crazy eddy point". Introduces the concept of frictionless toilets that don't have any water in them but I suspect the authors didn't think it all the way through - I don't recall a negative air pressure that would keep odours in their rightfull place. Nevertheless a fascin

Marsbound

Joe Haldeman · 292 pages

A novel of the red planet from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of The Accidental Time Machine and Old Twentieth. Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime—they’re going to Mars. Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebe

Star Born

Andre Norton · 170 pages

When the oppressive global dictatorship of Pax took over Earth they put a stop to space exploration. Still, a few rebels escaped in the sleeper ships to found free new colonies -- or perish in the attempt. Those few colonists that reached inhabitable worlds were cut off for centuries, and in that isolation and freedom they developed the mysterious mental powers that ''civilization'' had all but de

The Clockwork Rocket: Orthogonal Book One

Greg Egan · 362 pages

A series of strange meteors enters a planetary system, and a world is in danger. Can space travellers from this world, travel in time and space, and return in time with the technology needed to avert the disaster? This is the first book of the Orthogonal trilogy, following the travellers on their mission.

Shades of Earth

Beth Revis · 369 pages

Leaving the walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind, Amy and Elder are ready to build a home on Centauri-Earth. But they must race to discover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together.

Coyote

Allen Steele · 424 pages

A group of political dissidents and their families escape the repressive world of twenty-first-century Earth to seek new lives as interstellar colonists, placing themselves in cold sleep for a two-century odyssey to the habitable world of Coyote.

Ultima

Stephen Baxter · 538 pages

Hailed as “one of the most inventive writers that science fiction has ever produced" (SF Site), Stephen Baxter builds on the massive success of Proxima with a career-defining novel of big ideas.... On the planet of Per Ardua, alien artifacts were discovered—hatches that allowed humans to step across light-years of space as if they were stepping into another room. But this newfound freedom has c

Out of the Silent Planet

C.S. Lewis · 174 pages

The first book in Lewis's Space Trilogy, *Out of the Silent Planet* tells the story of Dr. Elwin Ransom, a philologist who likes to explore the English countryside on foot. Seeking out a place to stay the night, he ends up at the estate of a colleague who is away in London. However, the house is not empty. Ransom stumbles upon the plot of a megalomaniacal scientist and his collaborator, who jus

The Dispossessed

Ursula K. Le Guin · 336 pages

E-book extra: In-depth study guide.Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to t