The premise behind these two books is that two hundred million years ago (early in the Jurassic period), Somebody terraformed Mars and Venus, then seeded both planets with life from Terra. The Somebody - dubbed the Lords of Creation - came back from time to time, presumably to tweak things as needed and also to carry more Terran life to the other planets: more dinosaurs, birds, early mammals, later mammals, humans....SF of the '30s depicted Mars as an ancient, dying planet, and Venus as an energetic, young world of great swamps and jungles. In TSP, Venus was inhabited by both dinosaurs and mammals (bringing to mind the Pellucidar stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and the highest human civilisation was a bronze-age city. The Mars of CK, on the other hand, was ruled by a world-wide empire 30,000 years ago; the surviving city-states are in some ways more advanced technologically than the people of Terra.
The prologue takes place on Labor Day, 1962, at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. A lot of big names in SF are there, though the only surname mentioned is Burroughs (and ERB wasn't there, having died in 1950). Ted is the Guest of Honour; Fred is there, as are Poul, Bob, Isaac, Arthur, Jack, Beam, "young Larry from LA," Sprague and Catherine, Leigh, and others. Science fiction isn't on their mind at the moment, though; they're all gathering in front of the TV to see the first pictures sent from Mars by the Viking lander.
It was crowded, but virtually none of the fans were there. Not today, though that young friend of Beam's was off in a corner....
The first Soviet probe to reach the surface of Venus had sent back pictures showing humans; now everyone is waiting eagerly to see what will be found on Mars.
SF of the '30s depicted Mars as an ancient, dying planet, and Venus as a world of great swamps and jungles. In TSP, Venus was inhabited by both dinosaurs and mammals (bringing to mind the Pellucidar stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and the highest human civilisation was a bronze-age city. The Mars of CK, on the other hand, was ruled by a world-wide empire 30,000 years ago; the surviving city-states are in some ways more advanced technologically than the people of Terra.
The story proper begins on Mars, in May 0f 2000, eleven years after the end of TSP. Archaeologist Jeremy Wainman is setting out to search for the ruins of the ancient city of Rema-Dza, lost thousands of years ago when the world-wide empire fell; Teyud za-Zhalt, a professional practitioner of coercive violence, has hired on as guide and bodyguard. Teyud turns out to be more than she at first appears, however, and soon other Martians are coming after her, looking to earn the rewards offered for her capture, or at least for the delivery of certain portions of her.
Each chapter begins with an "excerpt" from the 20th edition (1998) of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, providing more background information on the planet, its people, their technology and customs, &c. Martian tembst (technology) is largely based on bioengineereing. When Jeremy and an associate first enter the city of Zar-tu-kan, for instance:
Each passenger reached into the slot and dropped something as they went by; Sally Yamashita added two inch-long pieces of silver wire.
"One tenth shem," a voice in accented Martian said, through a grill on the side of the stone post.
"Correct weight for two foreigners and up to fifteen zka-kem of noncommercial baggage," the functionary added. "You may pass."
"Doesn't anyone ever try to stiff the tax man?" he murmured to her. "Slipping in copper for silver?"
"There's a mouth with teeth below that slot," she said. "It can taste the purity of metals with its tongue. And if the weight or composition's wrong, it bites down and holds you for Mr. Revenue Service to beat on with his Amazingly Itchy Electro-Rat."
True to the traditions of ERB and Kline, Martians do most of their fighting with swords; they do have guns, but - being bioengineered critters - these are nowhere as powerful as the "radium rifles" used by John Carter. Instead, the weapons generate methane which is stored in a bladder and can then be ignited to propel a poisoned dart.
There's a wild encounter with feral engines (yes, those are bioengineered, too) in the tunnels below Rema-Dza, and the explorers also meet up with more ordinary Martian wildlife:
... just after dawn they'd passed a herd - or flock - of four-footed flightless hump-backed birds that scampered off with black-and-white tails spread, caroling fright with a sound like a mob of terrified bassoons.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book - perhaps even more than I did The Sky People.
As usual with Stirling's books, you can test-drive it before you buy; the prologue and the first six (of fifteen) chapters can be found here.
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, by S M Stirling; Tom Doherty Associates, 2008.
Available from Amazon here, from Amazon UK here, and from Barnes & Noble here.
* Ted Sturgeon, Fred Pohl, Poul Anderson, Robert A Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Jack, H Beam Piper, Larry Niven, L Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, Leigh Brackett. And Beam's young friend, I think, is Jerry Pournelle.
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