Red Mars was published by HarperCollins in 1992 and won the Nebula Award. It follows the “First Hundred” — a carefully selected international crew of one hundred scientists and engineers who land on Mars in 2026 to begin permanent colonization.
Robinson structures the novel around the ideological conflicts that immediately emerge: John Boone (first man on Mars, charismatic politician) wants a democratic, egalitarian Martian society. Frank Chalmers (his American co-leader) is a Machiavellian realist who believes power must be managed, not shared. Maya Toitovna (Russian, emotionally volatile) navigates between them. Arkady Bogdanov (Russian, anarchist) wants to sever all ties with Earth. Sax Russell (small, quiet, obsessive) wants to terraform Mars as quickly as possible. Ann Clayborne (geologist) wants Mars preserved in its natural state and opposes all terraforming.
The novel spans roughly forty years, ending with a failed revolution in 2061 — the First Hundred have fractured, John Boone has been assassinated (by Chalmers), and the megacorporations of Earth (the “transnats”) have seized control of Mars’s resources. Robinson’s achievement is to make planetary science — areology, atmospheric chemistry, genetic engineering, orbital mechanics — as dramatic as the political intrigue.
Collecting Red Mars
First edition (HarperCollins, London, 1992): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- UK first edition, fine in jacket: $200–$500
- US first edition (Bantam): $100–$300
- Signed first: $400–$800