My reactions to reading these two novellas in 1994. Spoilers follow.

“A Meeting with Medusa”, Arthur C. Clarke -- A neat story. It reminds me of another work that won a novel – Algis Budrys Hard Landing. Both works evoke emotions (more so in Hard Landing) and a sense of place and wonder (definitely more the case with this story) with sparse prose which merely seeks to sketch action and place yet still evokes more. I liked this story for its emphasis on lighter than air technology – first, the Queen Elizabeth dirigible and then an exploration of Jupiter’s atmosphere and evoking the wonders of place by such simple (and hard sf techniques) as stating that sound octaves are shifted upward due to the composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere; third, I liked Clarke mentioning (and he is fascinated by unexplained phenomena, particularly having to do with the sea) the mystery of spinning wheels – the so-called “Wheels of Poseidon” – and translating the mystery to Jupiter (and giving an explanation). The sadness of Howard Falcon, a cyborg alienated from the worlds of man and the future machines that will explore space, was nicely done, but, since it was an element only revealed at story’s end, not of major emotional impact.

“Green Mars”, Kim Stanley Robinson -- According to The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, this was Robinson’s first work in his series about transforming Mars into a habitable world via terraforming. (It has no connection to the novel of the same name.) Certainly there is little to contradict that notion, and the story certainly deals with with the same themes as the novel. Plot-wise, the story belongs to that sub-genre of sf dealing with climbing unearthly objects – here the Martian volcano Olympus Mons. The story is effectively told in the present tense. While I didn’t really achieve a much better understanding of the techniques of mountain climbing (and Robinson does climb as a hobby, so I assume the technical details are right), I did learn details of how climbers camp and go to the bathroom, and Robinson also did a nice job showing two of the attractions of climbing: the increased concentration and perceptions induced in climbers’ minds by their dangerous activity. The theme of long lived people who don’t remember much of their life is here like Robinson's Mars novels as is the political conflict between pro-terraforming Greens and anti-terraforming Reds (Protagonist Roger Clayborne is freakish in this respect. Though over 300 years old, he remembers all of his life. His fellow climber Eileen Monday doesn’t remember the romance they conducted while in their twenties though the two slowly start up another one.) After resigning from his post in a Green administration, a defeated, depressed, Red Clayborne hopes a climb up Olympus Mons will help him forget his troubles. But the constant sight of genetically engineered animals and terraformed land and climate only serve to remind Clayborne of the sublime beauty of the native Mars he has lost. (He ponders that few others his age don’t miss the unaltered Mars because they don’t remember it.) Monday tells him of philosopher Heidigger’s distinction between the Earth – the physical world itself without man’s influence – and the world – the social, political, and economic constructs that exist with the world – and says he loves the Earth but not the world. As the climb continues, particularly after the difficult climb of the mountain’s escarpment, Clayborne admits the additions of terraforming are beautiful but, as another climber tells him, he loves the sublime desolation of the old Mars. As they climb up the cone of Olympus Mons and into the upper reaches of the Martian atmosphere where no life exists, Clayborne is comforted to know the sublime world of Mars still exists despite terraforming – then he sees the ruins of a Tibetan Buddhist lamasery. The world – man’s presence – exists even on the rim of the caldera of the highest mountain in the solar system. Clayborne eventually accepts the beauty of man’s world and its seeming inevitability – he becomes a “new creature. One thing I really liked about this novella is Robinson’s very effective evocation – one of the best I’ve read – of an alien world, and he does so without fulsome, poetic language but with telling, simple, frequent details of life and landscape. ( )

At the beginning of Green Mars, a plucky group of adventurers gathers to climb Olympus Mons, the highest mountain on Mars (indeed, the book says, in the entire solar system). Eileen Monday is the spirited and competent expedition leader, but we see most of the journey through the eyes of Roger Claybourne, who is recently retired from his post as Minister of the Interior of the government of Mars. Will it be a daring climb, full of danger and despair? You betcha.

The book is thoroughly proficient in technical detail and captivating in the story of the climb, but what really drew me in was the larger story of the human experience. In the book, humans have extended their lifetimes to hundreds of years. With this extension, however, the maximum useful limit of human memory has been surpassed. In other words, though they can live very long times, most people can only remember specific experiences for a hundred or so years. People, places, and events of experience in the more distant past are simply forgotten. The limit varies from person to person, of course, and some people are blessed-or cursed-with being able to remember longer, sometimes far longer, than others. Roger is one of those people, and because of it he spends most of the book in a quiet gloom. And that is precisely what drew me in.

Roger, we are told, spent his career as an advocate of conserving Mars, of preserving its wild state. His opponents were in favor of terraforming it to fit the use of humans, and they slowly and steadily got their way. Now, the people around him can't remember Mars the way it used to be. They don't recognize what they've lost, but even more significantly, to them, Mars has always been green. They don't remember the arguments waged to preserve or develop Mars-arguments they themselves had with Roger, who can remember it all too clearly. Now, everyone is happy to find themselves on a green planet so full of potential, and only Roger remembers the pristine beauty that was lost.

Even worse, Eileen doesn't remember that she and Roger were graduate students together, and that they were more than friends-they were lovers.

Yes, the technical details of the climb and the harrowing storms and all were exciting, but what really held my attention was Roger's struggle to find peace with himself, how his ability to remember the past made him alone in a sea of humanity.

Kim Stanley Robinson is a successful science fiction writer, and he certainly doesn't need my endorsement, but I will give it nonetheless. Green Mars is a thoroughly absorbing book, with both the technical and human details imagined and presented in beautiful prose. Now that I've discovered Green Mars, I intend to explore the rest of mars through the works of Kim Stanley Robinson. You should join me there. ( )