The Callahan Kids: Tales of Life on Mars

What would it be like to live on Mars? Find out in The Callahan Kids: Tales of Life on Mars, an anthology for middle-school readers created by science fiction writers and a team of engineers at 4Frontiers Corporation.

The stories take place at Bradbury Base, a realistic Mars settlement that is full of surprises for the first kids growing up there. The nine original tales in the book are beautifully illustrated by Michael Carroll whose artwork has flown in space.

Proceeds from sales of the books will support educational projects to promote the human settlement of the space frontier (by the kids who read this book!).

Please send any comments about this website to Marianne Dyson. Direct questions about individual stories to their authors--or Marianne will forward for you. For information about 4Frontiers Corporation, please visit www.4frontierscorp.com.

Note that the Crazy4Mars tab above leads to a website with games and a cool animated tour of the Mars settlement featured in the book! (However, that website is not being updated, so look for fresh content and news here!)

About 4Frontiers' Authors

Contributors include Hugo-winning author Ben Bova, young adult authors Jim Denney and Rebecca Rowe, artist Phil Smith, former NASA flight controller Marianne Dyson, space scientist Brian Enke, and aerospace engineer Tom Hill. Read more about each of them below.

Ben Bova
Author

Dr. Ben Bova, The Water Thief

The author of more than 125 novels and nonfiction books, Bova has been involved in science and high technology since the beginning of the space age. He has earned six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year (Titan, 2006). President emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Bova received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005 “for fueling mankind’s imagination regarding the wonders of outer space.” www.benbova.com.

Michael Carroll
Artist/Author

Michael Carroll, The Haunted Airlock, cover & story art

Carroll is an astronomical artist and science writer. He's done work for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His art has appeared in several hundred magazines throughout the world, including Time, National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, Asimov’s, Smithsonian, Astronomy, Ciel Et Espace, Analog, Omni, and Odyssey. Carroll is a founding member of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts. One of his paintings is on Mars in a DVD aboard the deck of the Phoenix lander. Mike and his wife, Caroline, have coauthored nearly twenty children's and adult trade books. Recent titles include Eat My Martian Dust and Drifting on Alien Winds.http://stock-space-images.com.

Jim Denney
Author

Jim Denney, Fear Above, Terror Below; & Is Anyone Listening

Denney is the author of the Timebenders science fiction series for young readers: Battle Before Time, Doorway to Doom, Invasion of the Time Troopers, and Lost in Cydonia. He has written books with celebrity authors including Super Bowl champion Reggie White (In the Trenches), supermodel Kim Alexis (A Model for a Better Future), and actress Grace Lee Whitney (The Longest Trek). "I became hooked on space travel at age five," Denney says. "As a boy, I dreamed of going to Mars. Now I go spacefaring through my stories." Check out his blog at jimdenny.wordpress.com.

Marianne Dyson
at Johnson Space Center
Author

Marianne Dyson, Martian Mice, & Dropping the Martian Ball

Dyson has a degree in physics and was one of NASA's first women flight controllers. Her first children’s book, Space Station Science (Scholastic/Windward), won the Golden Kite Award for best nonfiction book of 1999. Home on the Moon (National Geographic), then won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in 2004. A frequent contributor to the National Space Society’s magazine, Ad Astra, Dyson also teaches astronomy, reviews books, visits schools, photographs cats and flowers, travels with her pilot husband, and goofs off on Facebook. Dyson has flown all the NASA simulators, the “Vomit Comet,” and hopes the Callahans will invite her to visit Mars again soon. www.mdyson.com.

Brian Enke
Author

Brian Enke, Meet the Martians, Ghost Story

Enke is a Senior Research Analyst in the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute. Enke holds a M.S. degree in computer science from Northwestern University, specializing in software algorithms and artificial intelligence. He is also the author of Shadows of Medusa, a mystery/thriller novel about near-future Mars exploration. Enke volunteers as a technical adviser to 4Frontiers, Mars-One, and the MarsDrive Consortium, he mentors the high school robotics team in Nederland, Colorado, and he writes on-line articles as the Denver Space Industry Examiner. www.shadowsofmedusa.com.

Tom Hill
Author

Tom Hill, Fire in the Sky

An aerospace engineer, Hill's experience covers the spectrum of military and civil space efforts. He's worked for the Air Force in satellite control centers, at space and missile warning sites, within launch control bunkers, and supporting headquarters efforts to procure the latest weather satellites. Hill works as a civilian contractor supporting government space. Past experiences includes work with geostationary weather satellites and land survey satellites. In the space activism community, Hill leads projects for The Mars Society, writes books (including Space: What Now)and articles, blogs, and gives talks. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children. http://spacewhatnow.com/SWN

Rebecca Rowe
(Photo courtesy Rowe)
Author

Rebecca K. Rowe, Yo-Yo: The Gift

Rowe is an author and science education enthusiast. Her novel, Forbidden Cargo, received critical acclaim from The Washington Post and The New York Review of Science Fiction. She also writes science poetry and short stories, inspired by her overseas travels and frequent armchair explorations at the keyboard. With a master's in mass communications/journalism from the University of Denver and a master's in international relations from the University of Southern California, Rowe’s fiction reflects a hard social science dimension. She's on the Speculative Literature Foundation staff and is a member of the Denver Woman's Press Club. Her newest book is Circle Tide. www.rebeccarowe.com.

Phil Smith
(Photo courtesy Smith)
Artist

Phil Smith, Character portraits

Smith is a senior space analyst with The Tauri Group supporting the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (in DC) by day and a freelance artist by night. He was previously a communications director for the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the peaceful uses of space; an analyst for Futron supporting FAA, NASA, & NSSO; an analyst for SAIC supporting DoD; and a USAF cruise missile specialist and bioenvironmental engineering technician. He has a degree in political science from the University of Nebraska and a graduate degree in space studies from the University of North Dakota. By including the human element in his art, he hopes to provide a connection between the familiar and the extraordinary. www.philsmith.us.