Moving Mars by Greg Bear

Moving Mars is my introduction to Mr. Greg Bear. And if you're a fan of the Science Fiction genre, you'll like this book. I'm hoping to read more of him, but I enjoyed the novelty and sciencey-fiction and fictionalized science to this one. And what sci-fi nerd doesn't like a story of an oppressed Martian society bullied by a more powerful Earth establishment with corporate lobbyists and pure capitalist interests; only to begin a technologically unbeatable uprising to prove independence and prosper with fun Martian quasi-Utopian ideals?

Personally, that's sci-fi at its finest. Ever wonder what would happen if a Martian extremist teenager tried to prove a point in a demonstration by removing the helmet on her space suit in an act of defiance? The very blood vessels of her eyeballs bursting in the extreme low-pressure of Martian atmosphere, only to be burnt by a dry-ice sort of cold in the unEarthly sub-zero temperatures...Yes, things like this grab my attention. But it is what the scientists do to prove their point to Earth and defeat the power hungry machine. Sure, they're clever and can use their tools in ways others can't, but because this book is a creative in the genre to which it belongs, it is those tools are that give the book its quality.

What tools? Well, without giving away too much the team of Martian scientists have found away to alter the smallest known particles, subatomic in size, in their identity to those of particles nearby. But due to conservation of energy, mass, et cetera, nothing is created only substituted and replaced. The particles have a sort of binary data set to their descriptors, and changing these descriptors between 2 known points can act as a sort of teleportation mechanism. 2 particles next to each other, AB&CD, can be re-written if their descriptors are known, to CD&AB, in other words. Meaning they can move known objects of mass up to a certain size. They do this to displace the Martian moon Phobos near Earth in a show of muscle power (or brain power) and scare tactics. Earth calls their bluff and many lives are lost in the revolution but, never despair, scientists have this shit locked down.

Life on Mars highlighted this book for me, but so did the characters. Even though it is a very socio-politically charged novel with clear political ideology favouring representation from smaller parties who suffer from corporate lobbyists and large scale, high income "best interest" groups, it still is an interesting take on living in a totally alien world to us and is made enjoyable by some pretty factual and horrifying realities about living on our red neighbor.

Looking forward to more of Mr. Bear and I'd say this Nebula winning sci-fi book from '93 comes recommend, although not highly recommended, it is a solid story that well represents the genre though.