How to Mars
David Ebenbach
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
The Hollywood Reporter What to Watch, Play, and Read in 2021 How to Mars is Andy Weir's The Martian infused with poetry." --Booklist What happens when your dream mission to Mars is a reality television nightmare? This debut science-fiction romp with heart that follows the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, with a hints of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Real World, and Mythbusters. For the six lucky scientists selected by the Destination Mars! corporation, a one-way ticket to Mars--in exchange for a lifetime of research--was an absolute no-brainer. The incredible opportunity was clearly worth even the most absurdly tedious screening process. Perhaps worth following the strange protocols in a nonsensical handbook written by an eccentric billionaire. Possibly even worth their constant surveillance, the video of which is carefully edited into a ratings-bonanza back on Earth. But it turns out that after a while even scientists can get bored of science. Tempers begin to fray; unsanctioned affairs blossom. When perfectly good equipment begins to fail, the Marsonauts are faced with a possibility that their training just cannot explain. Irreverent, poignant, and perfectly weird, David Ebenbach's exciting debut science-fiction outing, like a mission to Mars, is an incredible trip you will never forget.
Product Details
Price
$16.95
$15.76
Publisher
Tachyon Publications
Publish Date
May 25, 2021
Pages
240
Dimensions
5.4 X 8.2 X 0.8 inches | 0.6 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781616963569
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
David Ebenbach writes. He has been writing ever since he was a kid, when he kept his whole family awake by banging away on an enormous manual typewriter, and he's never wanted to stop. He is the author of eight books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, and his work has picked up awards along the way: the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, the Juniper Prize, the Patricia Bibby Award, and more. A Philadelphia native, these days David does most of his writing in Washington, DC, where he lives with his family--because he uses a laptop now, he doesn't keep them awake with his typing--and where he works at Georgetown University, teaching creative writing and literature.
Reviews
A Nerd Daily Fantasy & Sci Fi Book to Look Out For "David Ebenbach's new novel wittily dismantles the classic space adventure story. In it, the first colonists on Mars struggle not only with the technical and existential challenges of living on another world, but also with much more familiar conundrums: boredom, cabin fever, a crazy coworker, an unplanned pregnancy, corporate incompetence. Funny and wonderfully inventive, How to Mars is equal parts an absurdist cautionary tale and a warm-hearted exploration of those things, good, bad and indifferent, that make us human."
--Emily Mitchell, author of Viral Stories "Six Marsonauts must survive on the red planet after their reality TV show is canceled in this delightfully unconventional novel.Two years after having been chosen to receive one-way tickets to Mars for a lifetime of research--all while living under constant surveillance for TV--six scientists are finding life undeniably monotonous, especially since their show was canceled because of low ratings. 'After a while even scientists can get bored of science. Especially here. Mars, I can tell you, is pretty much rocks, rocks, rocks, ' according to Josh, a psychologist. But when Jenny, the astrophysicist, realizes she's pregnant after having begun a romantic relationship with Josh--although the Destination Mars! Handbook repeatedly stresses that sex is strictly forbidden--the small community must come together to resolve the looming issues associated with welcoming a newborn into their cramped habitat. Not surprisingly, once the TV producers are made aware of Jenny's pregnancy, the show is brought back and ratings soar. Told from the perspectives of various characters--even ethereal Martian life-forms that refer to themselves as the Patterns--and complemented with excerpts from the Destination Mars! handbook and Jenny's humorous research notes, the story has a strong sense of whimsy, but Ebenbach also creates depth by exploring issues like engineer Stefan's feelings of estrangement and violence and Jenny's guilt over her sister's suicide years earlier. A poignant examination of what it means to be human."
--Kirkus Praise for David Ebenbach On The Guy We Didn't Invite to the Orgy David Ebenbach inhabits a series of minds that most of us would classify as unknowable; he does so with empathy and wisdom, and often with humor as well. . . . Ebenbach is more at home in the minefield of ambiguity than most of us are in our houses.
―Roy Kesey, author of Any Deadly Thing and Pacazo If The Guy We Didn't Invite to the Orgy were a clothing pattern, it would be plaid, and it would be plaid that used a lot of colors―maybe all the colors―and one of the colors would think, 'All of the other colors go great together, but I don't fit in.' And each of the other colors would be thinking the same thing.
―Monkey Bicycle On Autogeography Wit, tenderness and an earnest attention.
--Jennifer K. Sweeney, award-winning author of How to Live on Bread and Music and Salt Memory Unsettling, spiritual, real, and relevant.
--Jonathan K. Rice, editor and publisher of Iodine Poetry Journal On Into the Wilderness [A] lush, honest and beautifully written collection.
--Karen Paul-Stern, CurrentMom With charm, insight, and humor, Ebenbach reveals a deeper meaning to everyday events that by their very ordinariness rush by unnoticed, moments typically experienced without thought or examination.
--Washington Independent Review of Books On Miss Portland Ebenbach delivers an absorbing, suspenseful story of emotional depth and complexity.
--Fiction Southeast A complex, intimate, and deeply humane portrait of a person whose experience of the world is both alternate and poignantly familiar.
--Foreword Reviews Anybody who has ever tried (again) to make a fresh start, to begin again (again), to give it all another shot someplace else (again), will adore Miss Portland.
--Peter Orner, author of Peter Brown and Other Stories
--Emily Mitchell, author of Viral Stories "Six Marsonauts must survive on the red planet after their reality TV show is canceled in this delightfully unconventional novel.Two years after having been chosen to receive one-way tickets to Mars for a lifetime of research--all while living under constant surveillance for TV--six scientists are finding life undeniably monotonous, especially since their show was canceled because of low ratings. 'After a while even scientists can get bored of science. Especially here. Mars, I can tell you, is pretty much rocks, rocks, rocks, ' according to Josh, a psychologist. But when Jenny, the astrophysicist, realizes she's pregnant after having begun a romantic relationship with Josh--although the Destination Mars! Handbook repeatedly stresses that sex is strictly forbidden--the small community must come together to resolve the looming issues associated with welcoming a newborn into their cramped habitat. Not surprisingly, once the TV producers are made aware of Jenny's pregnancy, the show is brought back and ratings soar. Told from the perspectives of various characters--even ethereal Martian life-forms that refer to themselves as the Patterns--and complemented with excerpts from the Destination Mars! handbook and Jenny's humorous research notes, the story has a strong sense of whimsy, but Ebenbach also creates depth by exploring issues like engineer Stefan's feelings of estrangement and violence and Jenny's guilt over her sister's suicide years earlier. A poignant examination of what it means to be human."
--Kirkus Praise for David Ebenbach On The Guy We Didn't Invite to the Orgy David Ebenbach inhabits a series of minds that most of us would classify as unknowable; he does so with empathy and wisdom, and often with humor as well. . . . Ebenbach is more at home in the minefield of ambiguity than most of us are in our houses.
―Roy Kesey, author of Any Deadly Thing and Pacazo If The Guy We Didn't Invite to the Orgy were a clothing pattern, it would be plaid, and it would be plaid that used a lot of colors―maybe all the colors―and one of the colors would think, 'All of the other colors go great together, but I don't fit in.' And each of the other colors would be thinking the same thing.
―Monkey Bicycle On Autogeography Wit, tenderness and an earnest attention.
--Jennifer K. Sweeney, award-winning author of How to Live on Bread and Music and Salt Memory Unsettling, spiritual, real, and relevant.
--Jonathan K. Rice, editor and publisher of Iodine Poetry Journal On Into the Wilderness [A] lush, honest and beautifully written collection.
--Karen Paul-Stern, CurrentMom With charm, insight, and humor, Ebenbach reveals a deeper meaning to everyday events that by their very ordinariness rush by unnoticed, moments typically experienced without thought or examination.
--Washington Independent Review of Books On Miss Portland Ebenbach delivers an absorbing, suspenseful story of emotional depth and complexity.
--Fiction Southeast A complex, intimate, and deeply humane portrait of a person whose experience of the world is both alternate and poignantly familiar.
--Foreword Reviews Anybody who has ever tried (again) to make a fresh start, to begin again (again), to give it all another shot someplace else (again), will adore Miss Portland.
--Peter Orner, author of Peter Brown and Other Stories
