Title: The Forge of Mars
Author: Bruce Balfour
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
List Price: $6.99
Publisher: Ace Books (September, 2002)
ISBN: 0-441-00954-9About This Book:
In 2054, new life has taken root on Mars. International cooperation has resulted in Vulcan's Forge, the first permanent colony on the red planet - or so they think. Construction crews discover an ancient network of tunnels full of alien machinery that could shift the balance of power between the nations of Earth, but the key to their secrets lies within the complex mind of an alien artificial intelligence. There is only one specialist who might be able to understand the AI, and he's not interested.
Tau Edison Wolfsinger, a young Navajo molecular designer, is busy fighting the NASA bureaucracy for approval to build a prototype city using his new technique of controlling microscopic nanomachines with a powerful AI. But vast forces are lining up against him. Underground military installations unused since the Cold War are being reactivated to prepare for a new kind of threat, and shadowy international figures are using Tau as an unwitting pawn in their games of power.
Tau must find a way to reaffirm ancient Navajo traditions while finding a place for himself in a high-tech world seemingly at odds with those beliefs. He seeks the path to balance and beauty, and learns that he must fight to achieve those goals.
Discussion Questions:
1. Tau Edison Wolfsinger is a NASA scientist in San Francisco who sees the world through the filter of Navajo Indian traditions and experience. What similarities does he see between Mars and the Navajo Reservation? How do the old rituals and Navajo worldview help him succeed in the story?
2. How does Tau demonstrate his regard for the land, both on Earth and on Mars?
3. Tau is basically a non-violent man. What causes him to change later in the story? How is he able to reconcile these changes with his Navajo belief system?
4. Considering General Zhukov's history growing up in Russia, what motivates his actions on Mars?
5. Science fiction is often used as a metaphor to consider institutions and events in the present-day world. What parallels do you see between the future world as presented in this novel and the world of the present? From the perspective of white society, are there similarities between the way whites view Indian cultures, one country views another, or people on Earth would view an alien society?
6. With early colonization efforts established on Mars, how did the colonists adapt institutions from Earth to their new environment? How do you think human behaviors, social structures, and politics would change in such a situation?
7. Aristotle is an artificially intelligent computer that can learn new things and think creatively. Do you think it's possible to model human behavior and creativity with a computer? How does Aristotle's character change after he's exposed to intelligent machines with minds far more powerful than his own?
8. The NASA organization that appears in this story has become an institution with much less federal funding, receiving most of its budget from corporations with business interests in the space program. What effect do you think such a funding method would have on NASA? How would it change the way that NASA operates?
9. The microscopic machines used in nanotechnology are powerful and versatile. The public fears the technology even though many people seeks its benefits. As a result, nanotechnology is just starting to work its way into common use in this story. Nanotattoos are an understandable and non-threatening implementation of this technology that helps it gain public acceptance. Can you think of other examples where a formerly "scary" and complex technology has become accepted by the public through everyday use?
10. Kate McCloud is a practical archaeologist fascinated by the study of the past. Why would she want to give up her life on Earth to explore the ruins of an alien culture on another planet?
11. Noting that this novel was written before the terrorist events of 2001, the real underground facilities built during the Cold War in Russia and the U.S. continued to operate after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and are now being upgraded and improved. Other countries have similar facilities. Is this a good idea? How is the balance of power affected by the presence of facilities considered by national governments to be "survivable" in the event of an attack with weapons of mass destruction? Is this an effective deterrent against terrorism? What are the similarities between these underground fortifications on Earth and the fictional tunnels built by the human colonists and the former alien civilization on Mars?
12. Mars was the Roman god of war. How does the title of the novel, The Forge of Mars, relate to the theme of the story?
