The Empress of Mars (Company) [Hardcover]

Kage Baker (Author)

Book Description

Series: Company | Publication Date: May 12, 2009

When the British Arean Company founded its Martian colony, it welcomed any settlers it could get. Outcasts, misfits and dreamers emigrated in droves to undertake the grueling task of terraforming the cold red planet--only to be abandoned when the BAC discovered it couldn't turn a profit on Mars.

This is the story of Mary Griffith, a determined woman with three daughters, who opened the only place to buy a beer on the Tharsis Bulge. It's the story of Manco Inca, whose attempt to terraform Mars brought a new goddess vividly to life; of Stanford Crosley, con man extraordinaire; of Ottorino Vespucci, space cowboy and romantic hero; of the Clan Morrigan, of the denizens of the Martian Motel, and of the machinations of another Company entirely, all of whom contribute to the downfall of the BAC and the founding of a new world. But Mary and her struggles and triumphs is at the center of it all, in her bar, the Empress of Mars.

Based on the Hugo-nominated novella of the same name, this is a rollicking novel of action, planetary romance, and high adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Baker seamlessly expands her 2004 Hugo and Nebula–nominated novella of the same title into tale of nonconformist survival. Widow Mary Griffith and her daughters relocate to an oddly anachronistic Mars, a world dominated by the badly run British Arean Company. Declared redundant by BAC, Mary establishes the first bar on Mars, which prevails despite the moralistic disapproval of her former bosses. Her customers are colorful characters who exist at the periphery of Martian society, from shyster Stanford Crosley to would-be space cowboy Ottorio Vespucci. Mary's family, friends and neighbors struggle to survive economic setbacks, the inhospitable climate and BAC's hostility to all forms of eccentricity. Though the international politics are sometimes threadbare, Baker's tale of individualists battling enforced conformity is a worthy evolution of her novella and will especially appeal to longtime science fiction fans. (May)
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Review

“Most writers’ alternate universes are fun to visit, but Kage Baker’s is one I wouldn’t mind moving to: the Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs . . . seen through the eyes of a writer far more poetic, vastly more scientifically literate, and with an infinitely superior sense of humor.  Even as science-fictional taverns go, the Empress of Mars is memorable, a joint I hope I’ll be able to return to many times.”
--Spider Robinson, author of Very Hard Choices

"For my money, The Empress of Mars is the one to read.”
--Mike Resnick, author of Starship: Rebel

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns on all of Mars, the Empress is the one to visit. Let's raise a round to Kage Baker.”
 --Jack McDevitt, author of The Devil's Eye

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318903
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318909
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beer as a Necessary Ingredient to Taming Mars, January 29, 2009

By 

Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Empress of Mars (Hardcover)

With a title evoking the romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs, you might expect this to be a rip-roaring adventure with little in the way of nuance or deep ideas. But Ms. Baker is a little more subtle than that, and what you actually get in this book is a scenario for really colonizing Mars in the face of strong bureaucratic pressure and bumbling plus a lack of interest and funding from Earth.

She peoples her planet with some strong if idiosyncratic characters, including a bar owner (the Empress) who also holds advanced degrees in biology, a lawyer (a lawyer? On Mars?) who seems bent on stymieing the bureaucrats just for the fun of it, an autistic mechanical/electronic genius, a one-eyed refugee from a certain religious persuasion, and a conman/gambler. Not quite the list of people you would normally make up as prime candidates for accomplishing the task of turning Mars into something at least marginally habitable.

There's quite a bit of satire and a fair amount of humor here, but running underneath it all is quite a statement about what makes and keeps people motivated to attempt the impossible, with some strong support for the concept of capitalism. As such, this book stands in counterpoint to Kim Stanley Robinson's excellent Red, Green, and Blue Mars set, which at least at its beginning was based more on the communistic ideal. Both books get their science right, which contributes a lot to the believability of the situation and the actions of the characters. Unlike Robinson's work, which bogged down in places in extreme technical and geographic detail (but which eventually contributed greatly to its scope and scale), this work gives just enough information about the conditions and science involved to keep the reader satisfied that this is a real world.

In all, this is a fun, easy reading romp with a lot hiding just below the surface, well worth your time.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great new entry in Baker's excellent Company series, May 20, 2009

By 

Stefan "Stefan" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Empress of Mars (Company) (Hardcover)

This is a great novel-length adaptation of the original The Empress of Mars novella (published by Nightshade Books a few years back). Most of the book is set in "The Empress of Mars", the only bar on the young Mars colony. Mary Griffith barely manages to keep the bar solvent, helped by her three daughters and a number of outcasts (some of whom you'll be familiar with if you've read Baker's short story in The New Space Opera).
Kage Baker really shows off her trademark wit and easy-flowing style in this funny and at times moving story. In the novella, there were some subtle links to Kage Baker's main Company series. The links are much clearer in the novel-length version, including the appearance of two Company operatives and a strong link to one of the main plot lines of the series.
If you've read Baker's Company books, I'd call this one a must-read - you will definitely enjoy this book. If you're not familiar with the series yet, it's actually not a bad place to start because it stands outside of the main plot, but I'd still recommend to start with In the Garden of Iden.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupendous, June 16, 2009

By 

Tim Lasiuta "Comic Fan 42" (Red Deer, Alberta) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Empress of Mars (Company) (Hardcover)

Comedy or Commentary?

Who wouldn't want to go to Mars and be a pioneer?

The settlement of a new planet administered by the British Arean Company attracted all sorts of settlers. Engineers, outcasts, cooks, labourers and dreamers traveled to terraform the Red Giant. Years into the project the BAC realized that they could not turn a profit , and they abandoned the settlers, leaving them to fend for themselves.

Mary Griffith, owner of the Empress of Mars, is trapped by her poverty and lease with the BAC. When a family friend (Cochevelou) offers to sell his 20 acre spread that happens to include a stable supply of barley, her future is nearly secured. While `working' a barren piece of land, she uncovers a rock that proves to be her fortune. As with any community, the local watering hole becomes a central home for barter, news, and networking. The `Empress' matron, Mary, and her daughters, Manco Inca, Ottorino Vespucci, and the Dutch agent, Mr De Wit form an entertaining, complex web of characters that keep you laughing, and yet, yearning to be a pioneer at the edge of change.

There is no stopping a population that sniffs opportunity. Cast off geniuses have a knack for creating big things out of nothing. Consider the biis (drones)(bees?), the magma well, and the unique Clan Morrigan structures.

Keen readers of Martian novels will recognize scores of cultural references. There is Uncle Tars Tarkas, thoats, the `Empress of Mars' even , Barsoom day, Gwynned, Santa Claus, Amadeus, H P Lovecraft, J K Potter, and many others that display a keen knowledge of contemporary and classic literature. I think Edgar Rice Burroughs would be pleased with the compliment, but I'm not sure that Tars Tarkas was really `cute' and thoats were comparable to reindeer.

I was very keenly interested in the novel from a thematic sense as well. As a Canadian, I live in a country that was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company and in a province whose land was granted by the Queen. Just like this novel, mineral rights and leases are controlled by a foreign concern, that knows nothing of the territory except the profit and loss.

This, however, is beneath the surface, and the rich characters drive the book. Kage Baker is an amazing novelist with a gift that few authors posess.

Bring them on!

Tim Lasiuta