The Sunborn

The Sunborn (2005) is the second SF novel in the Martian Race series. In the previous novel, Julia and Marc find life in the vented caverns under Gusev crater. The Marsmat is a symbiotic collection of single-celled organisms closely related to archaebacteria. When the ERV tests failed for the second and final time, Julia and Viktor volunteered to remain behind while Marc and Raoul returned in the Airbus nuclear vehicle. In this novel, Shanna Axelrod is the daughter of John Axelrod, The Man Who Sold Mars and the organizer of the Consortium. Born to Axelrod's second wife, she had conflicts with the two later wives and finally moved back in with her mother. Shanna had a long standing admiration for Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered the planet Pluto. When the ISA announced their intentions to send a ship to investigate strange changes in the Pluto/Charon system, Shanna was determined to become one of the crew members. She was already a working astronaut in the commercial fleet with biologist/medic training. Although she was well qualified, so were other candidates. She called on her father for aid and he named her as the Consortium selection for the Proserphina crew. When the Captain of the Proserphina was later killed in an accident, Shanna became his replacement. Julia and Viktor are being continually pressured by the quirks of the Consortium. A new manager is sent from the Moon to coordinate the Martian science effort. She is very abrasive and both Julia and Viktor try to avoid her. They sneak out on an excursion to Vent R, a newly discovered pressure relief vent from the Marsmat caverns beneath the surface. Shanna discovers intelligent life on Pluto and rides the lander down to establish contact with the creatures. During a long conversation with the Old One, she learns that the zand are being killed off by the Darksiders. After a second landing, she discovers that the Darksiders are machines sent by some things beyond Pluto. Shanna uses a jury-rigged weapon to repel an assault by the machines, but they still damage the lander and it crashes. The Darksiders force their way aboard the ship, but soon withdraw after repairing the damaged hull. Shanna almost freezes to death. Axelrod sends a new fusion drive vessel to Mars and arranges for Julia and Viktor to take it to Pluto. Even before they arrive, Shanna has strong aversions to their presence. She is particularly envious of Julia, a fellow biologist with a well established reputation. This novel incorporates some speculations concerning life within and between the stars. It even ties in the Marsmat with the huge Beings dwelling beyond Pluto. However, conflict results from the mutual ignorance of various lifeforms. Highly recommended for Benford fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space exploration, scientific inquiries and strange Beings within the Oort Cloud. -Arthur W. Jordin

_The Sunborn_ by Gregory Benford is an excellent "hard" science fiction novel, set in the year 2044, a future in which humans live in stations orbiting the Earth, on the Moon, and have had for around two decades a scientific research station on Mars. Though the only ones who live on Mars are scientists, engineers, support personnel, and administrators, the time is coming soon when settlers will begin arriving in earnest, aided by improved surface habitats on Mars, bioengineered life forms that can survive in domes, capable of handling the reduced sunlight, increased ultraviolet radiation (even with shielding), still relatively thin air, harsh Martian soil (even after it has been turned into soil of a type usable by terrestrial plants), and reduced gravity. Also aiding the appeal of the Red Planet are the lives, trials, and tribulations of the Martian explorers themselves, nearly every moment of their lives visible to many millions of people, thank in part due to the evolving culture (an outgrowth of today's reality TV and 24-hour media cycles) but also in part because that while there is a strong governmental and scientific component to Martian (and solar system) exploration, there is also a very strong commercial component as well, outgrowths of such incentives into space as the X-Prize and the fact that private industry has such a huge role off the Earth's surface. Corporations and consortiums involved in the solar system relentlessly seek profit in their expeditions, exploiting everything from movie rights to memorabilia to odd Martian minerals to new chemicals with industrial and medical applications. Part of that appeal - eagerly trumpeted by the corporation in charge on Mars as well as the news media at large - are the lives of the two most famous Martian residents, Julia and Viktor, the "Mars Couple," members of the first expedition over 20 years ago who remained on Mars, almost every moment of their lives played out before everyone on Earth. People have grown up witnessing their triumphs, such as the discovery of complex anaerobic life on Mars (the interesting and enigmatic Marsmat, something dubbed by one of the characters as the "Stromatolite Empire"), their tragedies, such as the death of various team members, and even their simple good luck (many label their apparent good health and youthful appearance as a result of something dubbed the "Mars Effect," a concept the corporation was not above exploiting back on Earth). Unable to survive back on Earth due to decades in the lighter gravity of Mars and unwilling to go to administrative posts on the Moon when pressured by their bosses, Viktor and Julia jump at the change to go on a brand new fusion spaceship, the _High Flyer_, the first of its kind, rocketing at high speed to the "far dark," the edge of the solar system, the planet Pluto. They are to join Captain Shanna Axelrod and the crew of the ship _Proserpina_, the first ship to reach Pluto, where they made an amazing discove

Ah, I am a virgin to true science fiction, one of stories written of outer space and its realms. And I was not disappointed. This is partly due to the fact that Benford is a professor of physics himself, so he is well versed in his field and the logic behind other fields. The Zand are an altogether great fictional alien race, one that captivated me from the beginning. The Darksiders not so much, and the Beings had to warm me up before I accepted and believed in them. All in all it is a believable future, a believable notion of the sciences involved in interplanetary exploration and discovery. The book itself focuses more on plot than it does character development, as the characters are rather one sided. As well at times the plot moved forward too easy. The Beings would say or do something, and the next chapter was the cosmonauts, within the first few paragraphs, talking about exactly that. Or at times the alien races are not alien enough. The cosmonauts looked upon the Beings as dragons when they first encountered them, and then the Beings called the spaceships dragons. Huh? Why use the same notion twice, especially when it is an alien race using it? I expect there is some kind of sequel in the works. Why else would Benford have Instigator, in the last few pages, mention an altogether different Being named Venturer, who there was no mention of at all, that went inbound and was lost just the same as Incursor? I suspect the insinuation is that Venturer is the Being behind Earth's life, just as... Well I won't spoil the story for anyone. Minor inconsistencies, though. All in all, the book was enjoyable and I was involved with it, felt like continuing to read the book from beginning to end. Benford does a great job in marrying science to fiction. Although character development is lacking, the science goes well with the story, which compensates. I would recommend this book to anyone. In fact, time to try another of Benford's books! 3.5 Stars.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends Gregory Benford's THE SUNBORN as the second saga that started with THE MARTIAN RACE. Hard science fiction has to be plausible to grab & transport the reader into the author's brave new world. Gregory Benford does exactly that. He is a Grand Master of this genre, opening our minds to new concepts & possibilities. THE SUNBORN takes us way beyond the ruddy terrain of Mars to the fringes of our knowledge & solar system. Outstanding!

Two decades have passed since married astronaut scientists Julia and Viktor landed on Mars and discovered we are not alone when they found the living huge Marsmat (see THE MARTIAN RACE). Over the subsequent years, they learned a lot about the strange, anaerobic natives to include their seemingly weird abilities involving magnetism. However, a new exploration opportunity has surfaced with a chance to go to Pluto, which has suddenly for no reason has begun heating up though still way below zero Fahrenheit and data shows the forming of an atmosphere. Julia and Viktor leap at the prospects to be part of the expedition exploring the coldest known planet in the solar system. Shockingly, a previous expedition led by Captain Shanna has found life, the humongous intelligent zand, on the frozen orb that can communicate with humans. The zand warn that the dangerous mechanical Darksiders are coming on "iceteroids," from the Oort cloud. This sequel contains a wonderful story line on the vast possibilities of alternate life forms in the solar system. However, the human members of the cast seem shallow. Julia and Viktor have not seemed to have aged in spite of the harshness of their work although twenty years have passed and can do no wrong. Shanna at times is a genius and at other moments a jealous chick lit bimbo instead of a courageous brilliant explorer (the next generation Julia). Other characters are one dimensional unless they happen to be a Marsmat, a zand, or the Darksiders. The scientific discussion that underlies the novel is superb and highlights Gregory Benford's ability to simplify without dumbing down extremely complex theories and do it inside a strong story line that overcomes the prime players. Harriet Klausner