Old Mars

Considered by many to be the natural heir to Harry Turtledove’s title of King of the Alternate History novel, fast-rising science fiction star S. M. Stirling is author of the Island in the Sea of Time series (Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Tide of Years, On the Ocean of Eternity), in which Nantucket is cast back to the year 1250. He’s also produced the New York Times bestselling Change series: a first trilogy (Dies the Fire, The Protector’s War, A Meeting at Corvallis), followed by The Sunrise Lands, The Scourge of God, The Sword of the Lady, The High King of Montival, The Tears of the Sun, and Lord of Mountains, and his most recent book, The Given Sacrifice. Another alternate history series, The Lords of Creation, has two volumes: The Sky People and In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, set in a universe in which Mars and Venus were terraformed by mysterious aliens in the remote past. Most recently, he started a new series, Shadow-spawn, which consists of A Taint in the Blood, The Council of Shadows, and Shadows of Falling Night. He has also written stand-alone novels such as Conquistador and The Peshawar Lancers, and collaborated with Raymond F. Feist, Jerry Pournelle, Holly Lisle, and Star Trek actor James Doohan, as well as contributing to the Babylon 5, T2, Brainship, War World, and Man-Kzin War series. His short fiction has been collected in Ice, Iron and Gold. Born in France and raised in Europe, Africa, and Canada, he now lives with his family in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

If something important is stolen from you, sometimes you have to go to extreme lengths to get it back, no matter how dangerous the quest—or how many corpses you have to pile up along the way …

Swords of Zar-tu-Kan S. M. STIRLING

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20th editionUniversity of Chicago Press, 1998 Mars—Parameters:

Orbit: 1.5237 AU Orbital period: 668.6 Martian solar days Rotation: 24 hrs. 34 min. Mass: 0.1075 x Earth Average density: 3.93 g/cc Surface gravity: 0.377 x Earth Diameter: 4,217 miles (equatorial; 53.3% x Earth) Surface: 75% land, 25% water (incl. pack ice) Atmospheric composition: Nitrogen 76.51% Oxygen 20.23% Carbon dioxide 0.11% Trace elements: Argon, Neon, Krypton. Atmospheric pressure: 10.7 psi average at northern sea level The third life-bearing world of the solar system, Mars is less Earth-like than Venus …

Zar-tu-Kan: Avenue of Deceptive Formalities

“WELCOME TO ZHO’DA,” SALLY YAMASHITA SAID.

“I’ve been on Mars over a month now!”

“Kennedy Base is on Mars, but it isn’t really on Zho’da,” she said.

The Demotic word meant something like The Real World.