Mars; A Traveler's Guide

Red Planet Adventures provides customized tours on Mars. Naturally, they have been optimized for safety. Soon, satellite coverage on the planet will even reach 100%! But what happens in the meantime ... ?

"Mars: A Traveler's Guide" was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in January 2008. It was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2009.

"Ruth Nestvold's clever story "Mars: A Traveler's Guide" is simply wonderful. Written as a series of encyclopedia entries being accessed by someone unseen, it explains the workings of the planetary world on which it takes place, but also slowly reveals the compelling story of the person accessing it. Brilliant." (Five Stars)

John DeNardo in SF Signal

"This one is great satire on the drawbacks of computerized help systems."
Sam Tomaino in SFRevu

"The style of this story is perfect. It allows the reader to piece together small clues in order to figure out what is going on. Very well done indeed!"
BestScienceFictionStories.com