The Forge of Mars [Paperback]

Bruce Balfour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2002

NASA's made a monumental discovery in the caverns of Mars-alien artifacts that have already killed the first man who touched them. Now they're sending brilliant scientist Tau Wolfsinger to unlock the secrets of the artifacts.

But Tau's in for a big surprise. And not just the one waiting for him on Mars.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ace (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441009549
• ISBN-13: 978-0441009541
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,988,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Balfour was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1958. In response, the American government created the space program.

Balfour moved to Orange County, California when he was ten. An avid science fiction reader, he started writing short fiction when he was fourteen. Hundreds of short stories later, his first professional sales occurred in 1982, when he was finally able to beat the editor of Twilight Zone into submission with a flurry of manuscripts.

After living around Los Angeles for ten years, Balfour felt obligated to study film production(and business)at UCLA. When he realized that there were only about eight people in California who were actually employed in film production, he made the natural switch and became a computer science major at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Desperate for people with artificial intelligence training, NASA hired Balfour at Ames Research Center. When they needed someone to push computer buttons on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, a high‑altitude research aircraft, NASA put Balfour on a team to capture infrared images of the Space Shuttle on reentry.

He enjoyed pushing buttons, and there were a few occupations he hadn't worked at yet, so Balfour became a computer game designer/producer/director. Involved in early and successful efforts to bring extensive stories and deeper characters into computer adventure games, several of Balfour's original and adapted PC games -- such as Neuromancer, Wasteland, Outpost, and The Dagger of Amon Ra -- became award‑winning bestsellers.

While managing the development of his computer games, Balfour's first novel, Star Crusader, was published in 1995. A non-fiction book that explained the science behind his Outpost space simulation game - sometimes characterized as "Sim City in space" - was published in 1994. Adopted as a teaching tool by many high school science classes, the Outpost game and book remained in print until 2000.

Fearing that he might miss something during the dot-com boom, Balfour moved from the mountains near Yosemite and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area. As the director of product development for a large educational software company, he was a highly-paid cog in the machine of a multinational corporation, spending way too much time with high-tech executives, cultish software developers, and the possibilities of advanced Internet technologies, causing the darker themes of his next novels to ferment in his head. As you might expect, his natural response was to then get a degree in science journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Returning to the world of Big Science and Big Shiny Objects, from x-ray synchrotrons to supercomputers, Balfour took a job with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Infected with an apparent desire to work for every national lab in the country, Balfour then took a job with Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, where he works in Business Development and pretends to understand some of what's going on around him at the lab (which is much stranger than science fiction.

supporting young companies engaged in advanced transportation and renewable energy technology development (see www.igateihub.org for more information).

Balfour's recent novels, which explore such diverse subjects as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, international politics, the future of the Internet, and the future of marketing, have been well-received. The Forge of Mars, published by Berkley/Ace in September of 2002, was a national bestseller. The 2003 sequel, The Digital Dead, examined realistic near-future technologies that simulate immortality and how they might be used by unscrupulous marketers and politicians. As they say, some people would die to live forever. Prometheus Road was published by Berkley/Ace in October of 2004.

His most recent novel is Burning Season, a modern-day techno-thriller, published in January 2012. He is now working on a historical novel set in ancient Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III, as well as another modern-day thriller.

If you can stand it, read more about these books and their backgrounds, see photo galleries, and get the full experience at www.brucebalfour.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read!, August 27, 2002

By 

"apolloniajones" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forge of Mars (Paperback)

A near-future speculative fiction novel with a fast pace, well-drawn characters, realistic science, shadow governments, conspiracy, and a sense of wonder. If you mixed Ray Bradbury with Kim Stanley Robinson, shook them together with a dash of Robert Ludlum and a twist of Tony Hillerman, you'd have a novel in the style of The Forge of Mars. I particularly enjoyed the character of Kate McCloud and her inner journey that reflected the trials and tribulations of her outer journey as she moved from a sedate existence in San Francisco to an amazing discovery on Mars. I also enjoyed the detailed Russian background of General Zhukov. This kind of character development is sadly lacking in much of the speculative fiction I've read over the last few years, so it's refreshing to see a skilled new author who takes as much time with the characters as he does with the plot. I got my hands on an advance copy, but I'm buying more for my friends.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and realistic, September 26, 2002

By 

Phil Roth (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forge of Mars (Paperback)

I just stayed up till dawn to finish THE FORGE OF MARS, and I am still reeling from this magnificent book. I loved the contrast of Navajo culture with the high-tech of artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, and I didn't want the story to end.

In this book, Balfour creates a fully-realized world fifty years from now, with dark conspiracies behind the scenes and characters striving to come to grips with the modern world and forces beyond their control. The writing is extraordinary, compelling, and generates a sense of wonder. The stories of Tau, Kate, and Zhukov are exciting, disturbing, and enthralling.

Balfour carefully lays out several different strands of story and then braids them together with unerring skill -- the kind of plotting that trips up a lot of writers but looks easy when done by a master. On the surface, it is a gripping adventure story; but it is much more than that, for Balfour regularly brings us face-to-face with the moral dimensions of his characters. We care about their world, their struggles, and Tau's efforts to unravel the great mysteries.

I want more. Right now.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book, September 11, 2002

By 

Heather Wilson (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forge of Mars (Paperback)

I just finished reading "The Forge of Mars" by Bruce Balfour in about three sittings. I couldn't put it down. The story takes place in the near future. Two scientists, Tau and Kate, get caught up in political intrigue involving discoveries on Mars and their implications.

Normally I don't care much for hard science fiction because sometimes the plot is just an excuse to describe scientific principles that go right over my head, but in this case the plot is super interesting, the characters are complex, and the science makes complete sense. The bad guy is fascinating (I'd love to see more of HIM), and the women are capable and strong without being masculine. Balfour is a great writer and I'm sure we'll hear more from him.