Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Air | 1983 | Kim Stanley Robinson | Buy |
| 2 | Green Mars (novella; in Asimov’s) | 1985 | Kim Stanley Robinson | Buy |
| 3 | Mother Goddess of the World (in Asimov’s) | 1987 | Kim Stanley Robinson | Buy |
These early individually published pieces represent Robinson’s short fiction work outside his main collections. Black Air appeared in 1983 and showed an unexpected side of his writing: a historical fantasy set during the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, told from the perspective of a young sailor. The story won the World Fantasy Award in 1984, Robinson’s first major recognition, and it remains one of his more unusual works given his later reputation as a hard science fiction writer.
The novella Green Mars, published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 1985, is not the same as the later trilogy novel of that name but was an earlier, separate exploration of Martian themes that won the Hugo Award for Best Novella. It was part of Robinson’s ongoing engagement with Mars that eventually became the trilogy, and it shows him developing the scientific and social ideas that would expand into Red Mars and its sequels.
Mother Goddess of the World appeared in Asimov’s in 1987 and draws on the Himalayan settings Robinson also explored in Escape From Kathmandu, though in a more serious register. These three pieces together show Robinson in his formative period, working across different settings and genres while developing the concerns (environmental, political, and scientific) that would define his career.