Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Martians | 1999 | Kim Stanley Robinson | Buy |
The Martians (1999) appeared three years after Blue Mars concluded the main trilogy, gathering work Robinson had written at various points alongside the novels, plus new pieces written specifically for the collection. The book includes both conventional short stories and shorter experimental pieces: vignettes, field notes, lyric passages describing the Martian landscape. It is a companion volume in the fullest sense, meant to be read alongside or after the trilogy rather than as a standalone introduction.
Several stories revisit characters from the trilogy at different moments in their lives, filling in gaps or showing events from new angles. The alternate-history section is particularly interesting for readers who engaged with the trilogy’s debate between terraformers and “Reds” who wanted to preserve Mars as wilderness: Robinson lets those stories play out in a world where the preservationists won, giving the philosophical argument a concrete fictional form.
For readers who want more time in Robinson’s Mars after finishing Blue Mars, The Martians offers that without requiring a fourth novel. For readers curious about Robinson’s shorter work more broadly, it also shows the range of modes he uses, from hard science exposition to something closer to prose poetry.