GATES OF MARS

The Halo Trilogy #1

by

CLARK HAYS AND KATHLEEN McFALL

Genre: Science Fiction / Detective (hard-boiled)

Publisher:  Pumpjack Press on Facebook

Date of Publication: June 16, 2020

Number of Pages: 336

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IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE, HOW CAN A PERSON GO MISSING? 

The year is 2187. Crucial Larsen, a veteran of the brutal Consolidation Wars, is working as a labor cop on Earth. The planet is a toxic dump and billions of people are miserable, but so what? It’s none of his business. He’s finally living a good life, or good enough. But then Essential, his beloved kid sister, disappears on Mars. When Halo—the all-powerful artificial-intelligence overseeing Earth and Mars on behalf of the ruling Five Families—can’t (or won’t) locate his sister, Crucial races up-universe to find her.

In the Choke, the frigid, airless expanse outside the luxury domes, Crucial uncovers a deadly secret from Essential’s past that threatens to shatter his apathetic existence … and both planets. Blending science fiction with the classic, hard-boiled detective story, Gates of Mars is a page-turning, futuristic thrill-ride featuring a gritty, irreverent anti-hero, Crucial Larsen. The first book of the Halo Trilogy, Gates of Mars is the eighth novel by award-winning authors, Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall.

Amazon

Praise

“An indelible introduction to an interplanetary saga and its sublime characters.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The authors’ imaginations again run wild, this time a science fiction/detective series looking at what our lives may hold in the not too distant future if everything that can go wrong does go wrong. And they’ve done it with their trademark undercurrent of humor that lifts an otherwise dreary future into something resembling—do I dare say?—hope. Their best work to date. And the giraffes? You’ll have to read Gates of Mars to find out. I’m already wishing they could write faster.” —Renee Struthers, East Oregonian newspaper 

“With twists and turns true to some of the best noir detective pieces—but with an other-world setting and futuristic society—along with psychological insights and connections, Gates of Mars is a riveting, unexpected story, filled with intrigue and change. Sci-fi and detective story readers alike with find Gates of Mars one of a kind, worthy of avid pursuit.” —Midwest Book Review

FIVE QUESTIONS with Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays

What’s the premise of the new novel?

Set in 2187, Gates of Mars blends science fiction with a classic, hard-boiled detective story. Crucial Larsen, forty-one, a veteran of the brutal Consolidation Wars, is working as a labor cop on Earth. The planet is a toxic dump, and billions of people are miserable, but he doesn’t care—not his business. It took him a long time to get to the good life, or a good-enough life. But then Essential, his beloved kid sister, wins the Mars labor lottery. After only a week on the red planet, she disappears. When Halo—the all-powerful artificial-intelligence overseeing Earth and Mars on behalf of the ruling Five Families—can’t (or won’t) locate his sister, Crucial races up-universe to find her. In the Choke, the frigid, airless expanse outside the luxury Martian domes, Crucial uncovers a deadly secret from Essential’s past that threatens to shatter his apathetic existence … and both planets.

Why write about Mars now?

One of the coolest things about being a writer is you get to indulge your interests. The information beaming back to Earth from NASA’s Rover exploration, especially about the geologic features and the possibility of ancient water on the planet (beyond the current ice), is fascinating. Combine this curiosity with the fact that a handful of billionaires are deploying an enormous amount of personal treasure to meet their scientific fantasy of Mars colonization, and we were hooked.

Why tackle the rise of monopolies in your world-building?

At a certain market size, monopolies (and the wealth they generate for individuals) will be (are?) equivalent to nation-states in terms of their influence on the global stage. Right now, we are seeing a rise of monopolies across all markets. In Gates of Mars, we combine the current plutocratic fascination with Mars colonization with this market consolidation into monopolies and jump forward a century or so. In this imagined future, family-controlled monopolies get bigger and bigger, own more and more capital, and roll up small and mid-size businesses until the inevitable occurs. Militia-backed war becomes a means of negotiation for market territory, and eventually the monopolies are the government, de facto or otherwise. At the same time, climate change worsens, the temperature rises, and pandemics have their way with humans, creating successive waves of climate and virus migrations. Earth is a hot mess. Simultaneously, the potential for Mars colonization becomes a reality and, naturally, only the uber-wealthy ruling families can afford to go, so they abandon Earth to create a “gated community” on the red planet.

Sounds doomsday. Is it a warning?

Gates of Mars is fiction, and our overriding goal is to entertain our readers with a fun, futuristic thrill ride. But if readers see a glimpse of a bleak and probable future that, if we act now, could be crushed, that would be a good outcome. Although admittedly, we are alarmed by what seems like possible movement in this direction, given the now-worldwide collapse of small and mid-sized businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to seize power by a variety of totalitarian actors.

You’ve written award-winning alt-history and horror novels and are consistently called out for your humor. Is Gates of Mars funny?

Very funny (we hope). And irreverent. A bit uplifting, even. The story is told from the perspective of Crucial Larsen, a battle-weary, caustic, gritty mess. In addition to looking for his kid sister, his trip up-universe will force him to see the one woman he can’t ever seem to get over. She’s a revered scientist who is genetically recreating, among other creatures, giraffes.

Clark and Kathleen wrote their first book together in 1999 as a test for marriage. They passed.

Gates of Mars is their eighth co-authored book.

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TWO WINNERS: One Winner: First edition copy of A Very Unusual Romance 

One Winner: All four books in The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection 

June 29-July 8, 2020

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