Chromodynamics: Science and Colonialism in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy

Abstract

Deal table in the middle, plain chairs all round the walls, on one end a large shining map, marked with all the colours of a rainbow. There was a vast amount of red-good to see at any time, because one knows that some real work is done in there, a deuce lot of blue, a little green .... Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, the hefty volumes making up Kim Stanley Robinson's epic Mars trilogy, are only three of numerous recent publications, including novels, popularizations, and occasionally combinations of both, dealing with the planet Mars.' The following excerpts are taken from two such publications: