Why Mars? My reason to write a science fiction series set on the Red Planet

I have always been fascinated by the idea of travelling in space. That’s why I’ve become a science fiction fan since I was a child and lately I’ve become interested in real space exploration.

Sometimes the boundaries between the two don’t really exist in my mind, more or less like the boundary between memories of actual events and those of which I’ve just fantasised about.
In fact, writing for me is just an alternative way of experiencing a different life than mine, of travelling in places where I haven’t been or where I’d like to come back or I just can’t possibly go, like Mars.

And, well, Mars is one of the closest planets to Earth which has got what it takes to put human beings there.
I remember when the first NASA rover Sojourner landed on Mars, me watching with wonder those images of the Red Planet on TV and the magazines and realising how it looked like Earth. Yes, maybe a bit more deserted, but very similar!
This is something that makes your mind works, you know.

In the years I’ve been following with interested the other Mars missions, the various orbiters, Spirit and Opportunity, and of course Curiosity.
Curiosity carries a special chip in her including names submitted by really a lot of people from around Earth. And it includes my name as well.

So it was autumn 2011 when she was launched and in the same period, probably because of this launch, I was reading “First Landing” by Robert Zubrin, a novel about Mars exploration and colonisation.
And that’s when it happened. I thought, what if I write a story set on Mars? It would be cool. This way I could try to figure out how it would actually feel to go there. Writing a story about Mars is my way to experience Mars exploration on my skin even if it’s just in my head.
In a nutshell, I’ve written Red Desert to go to Mars.

That was my personal reason. Then I thought it was also an opportunity to use my craft to spread the word about actual Mars exploration among readers, to help raising interest about it.

The first three books in the Red Desert series are already available. Here are the links.

“Red Desert - Point of No Return”: Amazon, B&N Nook US, Nook UK, iTunes, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords, Oyster, and Scribd.

“Red Desert - People of Mars”: on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Nook UK, iTunes, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords, Oyster, and Scribd.

“Red Desert - Invisible Enemy”: Amazon, Google Play, Smashwords, Apple, B&N, Nook UK, Kobo, Scribd, and Oyster.