Chuck Rosenthal, The Heart of Mars

The Heart of Mars

Chuck Rosenthal

Hollyridge Press, Apr 2007, $23.95

ISBN: 0977229858

The Return of the Nutions, as it is called now, happened when Earth was almost destroyed. The Nutions, who originally settled the planet, found a world in the throes of global warming and the rise of the oceans, which if not checked, will turn the globe into a new Ice Age. The amphibious Nutions stabilized the orb and these sentient beings benevolently ruled the Earth except for the Wild Zones where feral humans live.

Fish farms operate on Ghost Moon (Europia) run by Nutions (like everything else in the galaxy). A freighter from there containing fish heads for Earth is hijacked and reported headed to Mars. Marl, a half-breed human-Nution, investigates, starting with a trip to Europa to mollify the angry locals and hopefully find some clues amidst the dolphins and whales who do not want to keep working for the Nutions. He learns of a Kurtz involved in the hijacking and much more as a volatile Mars contains competing ethnic cultures battling for control of the planet and fomenting galaxy-wide revolution.

This exciting science fiction can be read on several levels. On the surface it is a simple detective story of a hybrid man working a stolen shipment case. On a deeper level, the plot is a cautionary tale warning people about that "Inconvenient Truth." Even more profound is humanity's place in the universe. Chuck Rosenthal entertains his audience as he says we get what we ask for in this fascinating space thriller seen through the eyes of Marl.

Harriet Klausner