Voyage To The Red Planet: Terry Bisson

The U.S. Government, bankrupt and desperate, has auctioned off its agencies to private enterprise. NASA is now a Disney subsidiary; The Nixon Orbital Space Station is a family theme park. Space still hides some secrets and one of them is about to be launched on an unsuspecting public: the Mars ship, Mary Poppins, built before the market crash and secreted in high orbit. Movie mogul Markson uses fast talk, creative accounting and out-and-out blackmail to persuade two of the Mars team to pilot the spacecraft on her maiden voyage to Mars. With two bona fide certified Hollywood Stars and a brilliant - if eccentric - midget cinematographer, Markson plans to shoot The Movie Of All Time...Cover art by Gerry Grace.