Posthuman Blues

This just in from Simon & Schuster. This is the first time I've seen anyone from the commercial end of the Mars book endeavor actually write about my book. All in all, it's very nicely worded. No complaints.

Did a civilization once thrive on Mars? Shocking and revelatory, this expose takes a critical look at the mounting evidence -- and attempts to discover why it is being ignored.

NASA spacecraft continue to send back image after image of the Martian surface, providing the scientific community a knowledge of the Red Planet that was once the stuff of dreams. But not everybody is content to write the pictures off as snapshots of a lifeless world. Many people across the globe believe that evidence for a long-dead Martian civilization is plain to see. And while the subject has lit up the Internet and occupied the alternative press, nobody in government or mainstream media will touch it. Until now.

In After the Martian Apocalypse, acclaimed author and columnist Mac Tonnies paints a unique portrait of an unsettling planetary neighbor and the profound mystery that awaits us there. Detailing the very latest Mars discoveries, he presents new evidence favoring the existence of an extinct civilization on the Red Planet -- an enigma that has become mired in the politics of belief as it challenges our deepest notions of humanity's role in space. Blending a scientific detective story with trenchant cultural commentary, After the Martian Apocalypse is an uncompromising and utterly enthralling look at an ongoing cosmic controversy.

The bad news is that, judging from the fax from which I excerpted the above, they plan to publish it in July of 2004, rather than early 2004, as I had thought. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe they're just covering their backs. From a sales perspective, I'd think they'd want to release the book as soon as possible; Mars has been in the news lately due to its close approach, and skeptical readers might be more inclined than usual to try out the idea that there's more to the Red Planet than rocks and dust-storms.