Born on Mars

Jake resents being born on Mars in a failing colony abandoned by Earth. Sickness plagues his family and they lack vital resources to maintain their systems. Then a discovery puts Jake in contact with another colony that recently arrived, half a planet away. But visiting the newcomers is more perilous than he imagined.

The second colony offers tantalizing glimpses of what Jake longs for - meeting new people for the first time in his life, and finding technologies to help his family. Jake makes friends and enemies, but the exciting visit brings challenges. If the newcomers defy their masters on Earth to forge ties with Jake's home, they too will be abandoned on the hostile planet.

Watch the sun rise through the thin Martian atmosphere and smell the acrid soil that clings to surface suits. Join Jake on adventures far from home, where dangers conceal the resources his family needs. The new colony holds the key to survival, if only he can understand the conflicts among these Earth-borns from China and Africa.

Colonizing Mars belongs to today's headlines from NASA, Mars One, The Mars Society, SpaceX, and others. Follow the growing excitement for discovery and exploration away from the early fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs to Ben Bova [The Grand Tour Mars], Kim Stanley Robinson [Red Mars], and Andy Weir [The Martian]. To Kate Rauner's On Mars series - a near-future colony you might live in someday.