Mars Frontier Novel - New web location

Ian Flint · 2005-06-12 18:38:49

Just finished volume 10.

It's still kind of dry, ok, really dry. But hey I like getting your view of the big picture (govt., Macro-economics, etc.).

Keep it coming.

Rxke · 2005-06-13 02:34:59

Rik, which volume do you want as a single pdf? I can make that in a few minutes, I think, and email it to you. I should have your email somewhere.
-- Rob

I'll probably have to re-read everything from the start, bbeen aawhile since I last sat back and have a good look at the story (last thing I recall is about the gold mining, so that's been a long while ago.)

In other words: don't bother, I'll try and do it myself, just found a nice function in Firefox (on OSX, at least,) that let you export any page to a .pdf, i'll probably do it that way, save a series of .pdfs and print them out.

RobS · 2005-07-04 14:53:45

Good news! After three weeks--almost four--I have gotten some of volume 11 on the website. Here's the address:

http://rsmd.net/MarsFrontier/11/index.h … /index.htm

I just put up seven chapters, and I'll try to get more up soon.

-- RobS

Ian Flint · 2005-07-27 16:32:51

Still reading...

Keep it coming!!!

RobS · 2005-07-29 01:39:35

I'll try to get more up soon. Right now work is so demanding on my time, it is hard to write more of the story, let alone edit it for posting.

-- RobS

RobS · 2005-11-07 11:30:40

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a very long time. I have been writing, though. I thought the novel would die with volume 15, but it's now half way through 17. I hope it stops soon! I've also been going back and rewriting; I need to repost almost everything.

I've been thinking about the issue of selling Martian land, and now my novel will use the following formula:

The base value of Martian land (far from anyone and anything) is $400 per square kilometer (that's $4 per hectare and $1.50 per acre). That would make the entire planet worth $50 billion. In contrast, in the remote areas of the United Statesland is worth about $1,000 per square mile (that's also about $4 per hectare and $1.50 per acre). I think the land is NOT worth that much right now, by the way. It MIGHT be worth that much, howeverm a decade or so after a permanent outpost is established somewhere, especially if the availability of natural resources is better known and a transportation system is established.

The base value of the land is increased by proximity to improvements. Starting 150 kilometers from an outpost, the value of land increases by the inverse square of proximity. Thus land at 150 kilometers is still worth $400 per square kilometer, but at 75 kilometers (half as far away) the value has quadrupled to $1,600 per square kilometer and at 15 kilometers (a tenth as far away) the land's value increases 100 times to $40,000 per square kilometer ($400 per hectare, $150 per acre). By this system of calculation, land 1 kilometer from the outpost (and therefore very, very likely to be used!) would be worth 150 times 150 = 22,500 as much as base value ($90,000 per hectare or $9 per square meter; $34,000 per acre). I have no idea whether this is reasonable, but I suspect it at least gives us a way to figure worrth. By this system, an outpost adds something like $30 million to the value of Martian land; not much.

Clearing "roads" (dirt trails) would also rase the value of land. I used the rule of thumb that distant from an outpost, a trail quarduples the value of adjoining land. At 5 kilometers distance the value of land merely doubles; at ten kilometers from the road, the land value is no more than the base value.

To this "formula" you have to add to value based on scenic beauty (land on the top edge of Valles Marineris, for example, if there's an access road especially) and subtract value based on property conditions (the edge of the escarpment will be worth more, but the scree pile at the base of the escarpment, where there are frequently falling rocks that could occasionally be larger than houses, may be worthless). The presence of nickel-iron, copper, water (if otherwise rare), etc., will raise the value of land, potentially a lot.

-- RobS

Rxke · 2005-11-07 17:41:58

RobS, you really should put a link to your novel in your sig. I'm pretty sure a lot of new people to the boards do not really know what this is all about!

RobS · 2005-11-07 19:29:32

Good idea; I've updated my profile.

-- Rob

Rxke · 2005-11-15 07:42:00

BTW Robert, I started reading again; are you still interested in the 'proofreading' reports I used to annoy you with? It's little or no trouble for me (I actually enjoy it) but if you are going to re-post a lot of stuff, it would be unneccesary...

RobS · 2005-11-25 18:46:27

Yes, definitely, I could use proof reading! I am constantly going back over the novel to fix or adjust things. There are a few things I can't fix easily; at one point I referred to a U.S. presidential election and it was the wrong year. I have rewritten vhapter 1 of volume 1 a dozen times. I need to re-post much of the text that's already up, as well as put up more.

-- RobS

Martian Republic · 2005-11-25 21:01:53

BTW Robert, I started reading again; are you still interested in the 'proofreading' reports I used to annoy you with? It's little or no trouble for me (I actually enjoy it) but if you are going to re-post a lot of stuff, it would be unneccesary...

Oh, you do proof reading. I wrote a book of about forty pages or so, but it more of a political story rather than a space story. However, it does have some interesting twist to it though. One of my friends that read it, said it twist like a pretzel and has a lot of intrigue to it.

Larry,

Rxke · 2005-11-26 01:54:58

as well as put up more.
-- RobS

yes pretty please!

Larry, it's not 'real' proofreading, no annotationmarks in the sidebar etc, I just read it, with a Texteditor open in the background, and when I find a typo, inconsistency, something I think is wrong.... I just cut and paste the sentence, with a pointer from where it came, with corrections/comments addeed... For starters, I'm Dutch-speaking, so not really that well fit for English proofreading

it's just like I feel it's returning a favour to Rob, because I'm thankful for putting this excellent story online...

RobS · 2005-11-29 09:39:58

I did it! In a marathon session last night (8 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.!) I got all the rest of the chapters in volume 11 re-read, edited (lightly) and ready for the web. Chapters 10-11-12 probably have the most typos, by the way; I was sleepiest. I also added in small print to the beginning of each chapter the date of the chapter. Thanks, Rik, for that suggestion. I already had it in the summary, but it is easier to have it in the chapter itself.

I'll try to get time, maybe next week, to upload updated chapters for the earlier volumes. I'm constantly tinkering with the text and catching little things. Sometimes I even add an incident or punch up the dialogue. Then I'll turn to volume 12, where the Commissioner visits Earth (among other things). Meanwhile, volume 17 is moving along better than I thought.

At some point I need to update or create reading aids; a list of characters (which I have), a map (I have a crude one, but really have no computer skills to create a good one), an equipment appendix, etc.

-- RobS

RobS · 2006-08-21 06:22:21

I've finally added more volumes to my website, but rather than html-ing individual chapters and linking to each one, I have pdf-ed entire volumes at a time. They are all about a meg in length, which isn't too hard to download nowadays. I put up volumes 11, 12, and 13, and will add more later. Over the summer I was able to proofread all the way up to the end (mid volume 18 ) so I can add more volumes quickly if people want.

Volume 18 covers the mid 2050s and the main characters--Will and Ethel--are getting pretty old, so I will probably write a volume or two focusing on their son--Marshall--who is on the first expedition to Titan. Their daughter, a professional dancer, spent two years on Mercury (same gravity!) with her geophysicist husband and now is back on Mars and starting a family.

Upcoming volumes--15 and 16 I think--cover Marsian independence, which alas is followed by an economic meltdown on Earth, a temporary collapse of launch capacity to low Earth orbit, and drastic measures to keep everything functioning on Mars. On the bright side, the price of gold skyrockets and their exports are worth a lot; but they can't import anything for a while!

Note that the web address has changed (see signature below). That's because I am now putting a different novel up as well, so I have two, and that required a change in structure of the website.

-- RobS

Rxke · 2006-08-21 06:25:09

Great news!

For a moment I was afraid you stopped writing...

RobS · 2006-08-22 15:36:39

I have basically stopped writing the series, but I think I will pick it up in a few months and write something about Titan. But first I have to imagine the geography better and I have to shape the characters and their conflicts better. So there's some planning to do. My other novel, "The Pioneers," is consuming a lot of time as well, but it may slow down soon.

-- RobS

RobS · 2007-02-12 00:07:17

I've been busy proofreading and cleaning up the novel again, and I just put volumes 14 and 15 up on the website! Volume 15, "The Cinnamon Revolution," covers Marsian independence. I have just proofread 16 and 17 as well and can get them up in a few weeks. The plot stalled a while in the middle of volume 18 and I think I finally have some ideas for making it move again. I've wanted to write about the landing on and exploration of Titan, but (1) I felt I needed more conflict in the plot (now I have some ideas), and (2) I wanted to wait for the surface of Titan to be defined and mapped a bit better before I sent my crew down (now the maps are on the web and the surface features are better known, so I think there's enough information available).

Someone suggested I add to one of the earlier volumes, when the Aram Outpost has a catastrophic dome failure, more about what was done to rescue people during the actual crisis. I have gone back and added a half dozen pages to flesh out that plot. I've even gone back as far as volume 1 to modify my mission architecture, tone down didactic language, and add a few more details to Ethel's life.

Note that pdfs of all the volumes are now available. They are updated as well; when in doubt, don't read the individual html chapters, the text of them has not been updated. I hope pdfs of entire volumes is usable.

-- RobS

Rxke · 2007-02-12 13:22:03

Yay and double yay

Great to see you're writing again, RobS! Too bad I probably don't have time to read it rightaway

How's the other novel going? I liked that one too.

malfunkshun · 2007-03-18 15:31:16

Is this novel a method of encouraging the public awareness of the bahai faith? I haven't read any of it yet, but I did notice that the bahai faith is mentioned here and there and might even play a prominent role in the plot.

I'm just curious because it would help me to decide whether or not to read it, because I really don't want to subject myself to someone else's propganda concerning their religious faith.

Please don't take offense at this post, I am not trying to be offensive and I apologize if I come off that way.

Rxke · 2007-03-19 11:21:52

Bahai does feature in it, but a lot of other religions too. It really doesn't bother me, the novel is good enough on other sides (lots of *very* clever hardware ideas, for instance)

I'm secular, and it doesn't bother me at all.

OTOH, before this novel I'd never even heard of Bahai, so I thought it was even intersting to read some stuff about it.

so

Is this novel a method of encouraging the public awareness of the bahai faith?

yes, in fact, I guess. But not overly.

RobS · 2007-03-19 12:49:48

I have been a Baha'i 33 years and can't write a novel without including Baha'i ideas, one way or another. I suppose raising people's awareness of Baha'i teachings is one result of the novel. But I wanted to write a novel carrying through the scenario of settling Mars and this is what resulted. I have other novels with much more overtly Baha'i plots. It plays a relatively small role in this novel, unless you consider "hospitality" a Baha'i teaching (which it is) and the role it plays in volume 1. On the other hand, there is a French movie called the Taste of Chocolate with a similar plot (emphasizing hospitality) and it isn't Baha'i at all.

-- Robert Stockman

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