A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of editing The Martian for Andy Weir, before he sold it to Crown and it became the big hit it is now. One great thing about the story is that it is reviving enthusiasm in so many people about going to space and traveling the solar system. I just edited an anthology called Mission: Tomorrow for Baen Books that has similar stories, but it also occurs to me that fans of The Martian might be looking for more. So the following suggestions are great places to start, in no particular order.

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Winner of the Nebula for Best Novel, is set in 2312, obviously, in which advances in science and tech have opened gateways and Earth is no longer humanity’s only home because new habitats now exist on moons, planets and throughout our solar system. Then an unexpected death on Mercury leads to the discovery of a plot to destroy worlds. Written by a scientist with lots of science, tech, and intrasolar system travel.

(Amazon Link)

Rescue Mode by Ben Bova and Les Johnson (Baen)

Co-written by one of the most award-winning writers and editors in the SF business and a NASA scientist, this novel tells the tale of the first manned mission to Mars which meets disaster when a meteorite strikes the space craft. While the astronauts fight to either nurse their ship to Mars or return to Earth, politicans at home fight over the future of the space program.

(Amazon Link)

Red Thunder by John Varley (Ace)

Seven surburban misfits construct a spaceship out of old tanker cars in an effort to beat the Chinese to Mars. Can they make history or are they insane? Either way, they have to science the crap out of it to succeed.

(Amazon Link)

The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick (Ace)

Written by two SF powerhouse, this near-future thriller imagines that NASA is keeping secrets about the Apollo program, until a PR guy discovers a tape that seems to prove NASA put a man on the moon six months before Neil Armstrong’s “one small step.” Then more and more evidence begins appearing, calling into question everything he believes in.

(Amazon Link)

Titan by Stephen Baxter (Harper Collins)

The first in a trilogy of novels, Titan finds possible signs of organic life discovered on Saturn’s largest moon with a daring group of visionaries planning a one-way mission that will cost them everything to prove it. Then they get to Titan’s icy surface and the real adventure begins.

(Amazon Link)

Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes (Open Road Media)

Co-written by a man who actually walked on the moon and a legendary SF writer, Encounter tells the tale of a father and son who go searching for the stars in an age when the U.S. has decided it no longer needs astronauts, but then they finally get their chance and discover evidence of an ancient alien civilization and fight to unlock the secrets of the universe.

(Amazon Link)

Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (Bantam Spectra)

An all-time classic of SF, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke’s best novels–it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious object appears in space, headed toward the sun. Humans send a ship to investigate before the craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts rendezvousing with it decipher some but not all of the vehicle’s extraterrestrial puzzles and find evidence of an advanced civilization. But who, what and where are they and what do they want with us?

(Amazon Link)

Mars Crossing by Geoffrey Landis (Tor)

Written by an actual NASA scientist and SF writer, this novel takes place in the late twenty-first centure, when humans have twice been to Mars but never successfully returned. Now a third expedition sets out on barely scraped together resources, but from the moment they land, everything begins to go wrong.

(Amazon Link)

End in Fire by Syne Mitchell (Roc)

I have not read as much hard science fiction by female authors, but there is a lot out there if you find it and I need to read more. Here’s a good example. A female astronaut is living her dream working on the space station, when two days before her mission ends, Earth becomes engulfed in nuclear war. Stranded, cut off, she refuses to give up hope and fights to survive.

(Amazon Link)

Powersat by Ben Bova (Tor)

Part of the author’s famed Asteroid series but a standalone prequel of sorts, Powersat tells the story of an experimental low-orbit spaceplane that breaks up on reentry and falls to Earth, threatening the most important mission in the history of space. America needs energy, and Dan Randolph is determined to give it to the by creating an array of geosynchronous powersats, satellites which gather solar energy and beam it to generators on Earth, freeing America from its addiction to fossil fuels and breaking the power of the oil cartels forever. The crash leaves his company fighting to survive. Can they recover and launch a new mission? Or is someone deliberately trying to bring them down?

(Amazon Link)

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (Bantam)

Also, it’s not a novel but does have some fictionalized elements but The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (Bantam) is not to be missed. An absolutely riveting account of the early test pilot and astronaut program that led to sending our first man from the U.S. into space. Well researched and reads like a novel, a classic. And if you like science in your science fiction, I also highly recommend the classic The Listeners by James Gunn (Del Rey) which Carl Sagan called “One of the very best fictional portrayals of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence ever written.” No space travel, but all about observatories and scientists spending their lives listening and trying to understand messages from space. Fascinating and well done.

(Amazon Link)

And for short stories along the same lines, be sure and check out my new anthology Mission: Tomorrow which Locus called “outstanding!” and Library Journal said “will appeal to a wide range of readers.” It’s out now from Baen Books and you can find it in local bookstores or at Amazon.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and Hugo-nominated editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. As book editor he is the main editor for Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s WordFire Press where he has edited books by such luminaries as Alan Dean Foster, Tracy Hickman, Frank Herbert, Mike Resnick, Jean Rabe and more. He was also the first editor on Andy Weir’s bestseller The Martian. His anthologies as editor include Shattered Shields with co-editor Jennifer Brozek, Mission: Tomorrow, Galactic Games and Little Green Men–Attack! (forthcoming) all for Baen. He is also coediting anthologies with Larry Correia and Jonathan Maberry set in their New York Times Bestselling Monster Hunter and Joe Ledger universes.

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