4Frontiers has engaged a number of authors, editors and illustrators to develop a series of children’s short stories about the Callahans, the first family on Mars. Many of these stories are currently available online, and can be read on the company’s kids website www.Crazy4Mars.com.
4Frontiers is also seeking a book publisher to produce the stories as a short story anthology.
Working Title:Adventures on the Martian Frontier – Vol I
Editors: TBD
Included Stories:
Martian Mice By Marianne Dyson
A prank goes awry, turning a science experiment into a desperate life-or-death situation. For Mariah, her cat Apollo, and twenty Martian Mice, survival depends upon Mariah trusting the one person she can’t easily forgive.
Ghost Story By Brian Enke
Fiction collides with the bitter realities of life on the Martian frontier as Tregon’s midnight horror movie takes a serious turn. Join Mason and Mariah as they face their deepest fears, aided by a master storyteller from a bizarre alien planet: Earth.
Yo-Yo: The Gift By Rebecca K. Rowe
A Chinese exchange family brings out the best – and worst – in the Mars settlers. Vicious remarks, a priceless painting, and a beautiful puzzle-box launch Mariah and her friends onto a dangerous trail of clues as they uncover a plot that could poison relations with the settlement’s nearest neighbors. The future depends upon a gift.
Fear Above, Terror Below By James Denney
While recording a documentary outside the settlement, Mason and Tregon make a shocking discovery, one that could completely change their understanding of Martian history and reality… if they live to tell anyone about it!
Fire in the Sky By Tom Hill
Mason and Mariah enjoy a fireworks display of cosmic proportions until a surprise arrival steals the show. They soon discover that on Mars, nature’s revenge can be swift and final.
The Haunted Airlock By Michael Carroll
The settlers hardly ever use the North Maintenance Airlock. Mason’s curiosity is aroused when he spots footprints leading from the hatch towards the power plant, a highly restricted area. Even more surprising… why don’t the footprints return?
The Water Thief By Ben Bova
On Mars, water is life and wasting water is strictly forbidden. When the Callahan family is accused of using too much water, Mason and Tregon suspect foul play. Someone is stealing their water… but how far will the boys go to catch the water thief?
Dropping the Martian Ball By Marianne Dyson
While visiting the Viking One landing site, mariah and Mason Callahan attempt to convince a skeptic on Earth that their family really does live on Mars. But in an age of powerful computers and effortless video editing, how can you convince anyone of anything? By relying upon basic science…
Is Anyone Listening? By James Denney
Tregon and Mason use their new airship’s keen video eyesight to film a documentary science project, “An Aerial Tour of Mars.” However, a hijacker wants the airship for its other senses. Will the boys give up their project for something far more important?
"There may be only a brief window of opportunity for space travel during which we will in principle have the capability to establish colonies (which could in turn establish further colonies). If we let that opportunity pass without taking advantage of it we will be doomed to remain on the Earth where we will eventually go extinct." - Richard Gott, "Implications of the Copernician Principle For Our Future Prospects," Nature, 1993
