White Mars

It was a time of colour-coded Mars Red, Green, Blue Mars, for instance so it is hardly surprising to find one that offers yet another twist on the spectrum. But the novels subtitle, The Mind Set Free, indicates that it is also a nod to the utopian writings of H.G. Wells.Martian colonists live in self-sufficient domes while the majority of Mars is left in a state of nature for scientific research. But when economic collapse on Earth cuts the colony off, the leader of the community tries to establish a utopia, while others dream of terraforming the entire planet.Surprisingly few writers have seen Mars as a potential setting for a utopia, so this novel by Aldiss, written in collaboration with the physicist Roger Penrose, marks an interesting experiment.