White Mars

There are those as who would call Aldiss (along with JG Ballard) the finest science fiction writer since HG Wells. Certainly, Aldiss dizzying levels of invention, superb plotting and (unusual in the genre) elegant prose have always marked his books out as something special. The years show no sign of diminishing his powers, and White Mars (written in collaboration with Sir Roger Penrose, an authority on many areas of mathematical and theoretical physics) is one of his strangest and most beguiling outings. Set in the 21st century, the book deals with a society of a few thousand men and women who are marooned on the Red Planet. But the Mars in Aldiss and Penrose's vision is an unspoiled planet. Mars has been preserved as a planet for science - White Mars. Tom Jeffries, the novel's powerfully drawn protagonist, has a goal; to remove the antiseptic, dehumanized image of science and use it to make the lot of his fellow humans richer and more creative. But he also sets himself the task of freeing the minds of his colleagues from the negative things have held humankind back for so long. Needless to say, this latter endeavour leads to a massive crisis. While functioning as a brilliantly drawn narrative (with all the requisite scene-setting), this is more than just a compelling adventure. The authors have dealt with nothing less than the problems of building a new society from scratch, and part of their agenda is the creation of a whole new concept of human thinking. Aldiss' great predecessor HG Wells was accused of making his novel The Shape of Things To Come too utopian, and modern SF authors have carefully avoided this: part of this new book is the open-eyed realization that whatever astonishing scientific developments the human race can engineer for itself, there is always a price to be paid. (Kirkus UK)