“You could think about something without doing something.”

How to Mars is David Ebenbach's first science fiction book. A news article about a now-defunct organization named Mars One that planned to send 12 people to Mars on a one-way trip sparked the idea for the novel. Ebenbach was interested in learning more about the concept, such as who would choose to do it, who would suggest it, and how the people who would be sent to Mars on the mission would live and prosper.
I'd like to express my gratitude to Tachyon Publications for providing me with an ARC in return for a fair review.
The story is a somewhat provocative, sometimes sarcastic, and thought-provoking book about what it would be like to be one of six people selected for a one-way journey to Mars paid for and shown on a reality television program. This is a story about a fictitious corporation named Destination Mars! Even though they were all specifically banned from having sex, but one of them became pregnant. So, what's next?
Jenny, the mother-to-be, tells some of it in journal mode, while the father-to-be tells some of it in the first person. And there are the third-person scenes, which include the resident engineer, who despises people and has begun hearing voices urging him to do dubious things. The funniest bits, though, are taken from the unofficial Destination Mars! handbook, which was written by the project's (seriously kooky) founder.
There isn't much of a storyline, but that is part of what makes this book so good. The plot is very take-it-as-it-comes, but it is not the main focus of the book. We get witty takes on theory and science culture together with a nice laugh.
I enjoyed learning about the characters and seeing how their various identities aided and hampered the quest. It's easy to see how a single person could derail the entire thing. It's crazy that, among all of the potentially life-threatening situations that might occur, boredom is a real problem that you must face. The only thing I wish there had been more of was learning more about the Martians, which seemed to be taking off but then fizzled out towards the end.
And there were times when I was reading that I felt that life on Mars didn't sound so bad. Rockets delivering all of your supplies every few months and at a much slower speed of life. Unless you irritated the reality TV show's makers and they punished you by leaving out essentials like freeze-dried ice cream.
You don't fully understand why those chapters are there or why there is an emphasis on those characters in the beginning and middle of the novel. It all came together in the end and made a lot of sense, which I really enjoyed. Even at the end, there is some suspense and intrigue, which adds an interesting aspect to the book.
If you're looking for something light, entertaining, eccentric, and just a little bit different, this is the book for you.

Mild spoilers in review.
Many thanks for the digital reading copy from Tachyon Publications and NetGalley.

How to Mars is a near future story, so close in time that you can almost see it on the horizon.
Six scientists on a life long research expedition on Mars, struggle with personal relationships in a tiny habitat, unexpected pregnancy, loss of interest in their field of study, bad ratings on their reality tv show, towels and general apathy. Oh, and there are ET's messing with everyones heads.
If you like character driven fiction, sci-fi, psychology and the Red Planet you should check this book out.

David Ebenbach has great insight into the human condition, the book is laugh out loud funny but full of human emotion,personality studies and social commentary.

How to Mars started out as a short story collection and ended up as a novel, this is very noticable when you start reading, but not an unpleasant reading experience, it becomes a more cohesive text as it nears the end. I enjoyed the nod to other marsian works of ficton and the god like tone in the handbook sections, written by the megalomaniac founder of the project.
Will recommend for Sci-fi readers and general literary readers both.

A fun and enjoyable story about the first human colony on Mars!!! I loved the very plausible idea of a private company putting together a team and sending them to Mars, especially now that we have SpaceX and others doing so well, I can just imagine Elon doing DestinationMars!!! So six candidates: Josh, Jenny, Stefan, Roger, Nicole and Trixie are sent to a pre-made habitat along with monthly supply drops, as well as each person is given the DestinationMars! handbook. The handbook has some fantastic, funny, logical and at times very deep words of advice, warning and wisdom. The sections cover all aspects of what the mission will entail and what life will be like for the Marsonauts. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the handbook sections, really made you think of all the things that would go into a mission like this. The number 1 most important thing is, absolutely NO SEX ON MARS!! Which, while completely understandable, at the same time, makes you wonder, have you met humans?? As Dr. Malcolm from Jurassic Park would say, "life finds a way"!! So Jenny and Josh ignored the part about no sex on Mars and now, Jenny is pregnant. Oh my.
Very much liked getting to know the characters, and seeing how the different personalities both helped and hindered the mission. You really can envision how one person could scuttle the whole deal. It's amazing that with all the possible life threatening scenarios that could happen, boredom is a real situation that you have to deal with. The only thing I would have liked more of is finding out about the "Martians", especially after their encounters with Stefan, it seemed like it was really going somewhere and then faded out toward the end. This is really a minor detail and I would definitely recommend this to any fans of hard science fiction, including fans of books like The Martian or colonizing our solar system.

I think it's really important that somewhere in the synopsis the actual plot is mentioned... aka that this is a story about a woman who gets pregnant on Mars. It's not going to reach the right audience if not. Also, plot fell a bit short for me once the "patterns" were mentioned and then, sort of, just swept away. Something with that could have been really cool. Didn't love the super slow build-up for a very rushed ending and didn't really need the family going back to earth to turn around and return to mars. Story should have been left with knowing the baby was safe, grew up safe, and other people came to colonize mars. The end, but it just went on and it was so quick! But again, nowhere did it mention a pregnancy and the whole book is about that!

What if you were a scientist who was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to go to Mars and do research on the red planet? What if there was a catch or two, like a) it's a one way trip and b) the mission is going to be the subject of a reality show? Would you consider the proposition? If you were offered a spot on the mission, would you accept it, knowing that you'd never come back to Earth, and that your every move would be scrutinized by not only mission control, but by anyone on Earth who cared to watch?

This is the premise of HOW TO MARS, the first science fiction novel from mainstream writer David Ebenbach. The idea for the book came from a news story about a now bankrupt company called Mars One, which was going to send 12 people to Mars on a one way mission. Ebenbach wanted to explore the idea, including who would even want to do it, who would propose the idea, and how the people who were sent to Mars on the mission would live and survive. It's an interesting investigation into the possible make up of the people who
would jump at the chance, and just how they would handle everything that would come up.

To help with that last point, the eccentric owner of the Destination Mars! corporation wrote a handbook that would try help the Marsonauts survive on the planet. The handbook, almost assuredly entitled "How to Mars", is both whimsical and serious. It seeks to provide real world advice, set down rules for the colony, and remind the Marsonauts that the book itself can't conceivably cover every eventuality that they would encounter. It was also very clear on one thing: there is to be no sex on Mars. It's actually not a bad idea, although if the owner of Destination Mars! actually thought anyone would listen to that particular idea he was mistaken. Clearly, there could be all sorts of relationship problems between the people involved, and social implications for the group as a whole. Not to mention what would happen if one of the Marsonauts got pregnant.

Well, life on Mars, including research, is really boring, even for scientists. The same thing day after day, with nothing new happening, results in so much dullness that the reality show is cancelled and some people actually stop their research. Things got so boring, that the inevitable happened.

Yep, you guessed it. Josh and Jenny had sex, and Jenny got pregnant.

On the plus side for the Destination Mars! corporation, the reality series was picked up again because people back on Earth were of course interested in all the possible sordid things that could happen now that something new and interesting is actually going on up there.

And while one of the other points of the missions was starting to prepare their location for further Marsonauts with the long term goal of starting a true colony, this was not the way the Destination Mars! corporation wanted to go about it. And so, the novel is really an exploration of the characters and backgrounds of the 6 scientists who were selected for the mission and how those backgrounds prepared them to handle the ultimate unexpected (but really, it should haven been expected) situation.

Well, maybe not the ultimate unexpected situation. While the group was hoping to eventually discover life on Mars, they certainly did not, at least not the conventional type of life. No, to this point I haven't mentioned the native Mars life form, which calls itself the Pattern, and how it revealed itself only to Stefan, a Marsonaut prone to anger and violence. I'd like to call the Pattern aliens, but if the Pattern is native to Mars then aren't the humans the aliens? Yes, an age old question.

Ebenbach's novel is lighthearted and fun, but thought-provoking. Just how would we handle ourselves in the situation the six Marsonauts found themselves, and would our natural humanity take over just when things were entering uncharted territory? Although the question of how our natural humanity would actually play out, it's probably a pretty good bet that things would come out okay in the end. They usually do.

This novel was a surprising read for me in the sense that it turned into something I wasn’t expecting. Before picking up this novel I was imaging something similar to The Martian but instead I got a book that reminded me of Becky Chambers.

This novel was truly a story about people and the inner workings of different individuals.

I loved seeing this story play out and seeing how different individuals dealt with situations differently, despite being put into the same situation.

This novel was definitely a slow burn but once you got to know the characters and got into the story it was difficult to put down.

While I truly appreciate every review copy I get, not all books are for everyone. And I don't want to spoil anything about How to Mars, but the synopsis is very misleading. I thought I was getting a fun Scifi story with reality show type drama. And I guess that's still partly true. But the very first line of the book threw me off almost completely. I have no desire to read about *redacted*. Others might. And will absolutely love this book. I recommend anyone who loves Scifi give it a try. It just isn't my cup of tea.

I thought it would be a fun read on Mars colonization and on TV reality show tropes. It's just a bore. A short one but a very good way to let the reader sleep, even if high on sugar and caffeine. It's psycho 101 mixed with bad political philosophy.

This book had such a cool premise! The details provided reeled me in. I loved that the scientists down on Earth had seemed to think of everything before sending up their "cast" to Mars. Details like having unnecessary organs like an appendix or gallbladder, and wisdom teeth in order to prevent emergencies that may kill the Marstronaughts. Knowing that they would not return, each member of the crew had their own individual reasons for travelling to Mars. One factor that the ground team thought they had eliminated was the potential for conception. They made all crew members have surgery to prevent any pregnancies. They also forbid them from having sex. So when two crew members begin a relationship, everyone is shocked when one becomes pregnant! This all sounds so interesting, right?? I liked this book for all of these details, but something was missing for me. I can't say what for sure. But pick this up and check it out for yourself!

Interesting quick premise (reality TV set in actual Mars). But, the show guidelines were over the top tongue in cheek and the plot really was all about being pregnant on Mars and other potential interesting bits (how to organize, daily life) were blown by without much book time.

This was really great fun. A reality TV show about 6 people taking a one-way trip to Mars. One of them gets pregnant, even after they were all strictly forbidden from having sex, and all the men have had the snip. What happens next?

Some of it's told in first person by the father-to-be, some of it is in report-format by Jenny, the mother-to-be. Then there are third-person sections with the resident engineer who really doesn't like people and has started hearing voices telling him to do questionable things. But the hands-down funniest parts are told as excerpts from the unofficial "Destination Mars!" handbook, written by the (seriously quirky) founder of the "Destination Mars!' project. It has helpful snippets of advice about handling life on Mars such as:

"There are also individuals who, when faced with the unknown, want to destroy it. This is probably not a good tendency to indulge.'

And just when you think it's all a bit of fun, there are rather thoughtful, poignant passages like this one:

'The truth is that we've never, ever been independent, in terms of our survival. Plants, animals, the sun - we're leaning on a lot to get through the day. But we call those things natural and tell ourselves, Hey, I'm self-reliant, just living off the fat of the land. It's a narrative that doesn't stand up to close investigation, but it sustains us, and we would be foolish to abandon it altogether.'

And there were plenty of moments while reading that I thought living on Mars really didn't sound so bad at all. Rockets bringing you all the supplies you need every few months (except if you annoyed the producers of the reality TV show and they left out crucial things like freeze-dried ice-cream to punish you) and a much slower pace of life:

'"Sure," I eventually say. Jenny nods. It doesn't bother her that it has taken me a while to answer. We have two speeds here: Slow and Sloooooooooooooow. Well three speeds if you count Something is on Fire, but that's rare.'

Highly recommend if you're looking for something light, funny, quirky and just a bit different (okay, so a lot different; but good different!).

Six people, after a rigorous weeding-out process, are selected by DESTINATION MARS! to live out the rest of their lives on Mars. Studying the planet, making it a home, while being constantly filmed as a reality show for everyone else back on Earth.

The biggest rule is NO SEX! (because a baby conceived on the red planet is sure to be doomed) but good luck anyone could follow that rule so naturally the book opens with a pregnant Marsonaut. Oops!

I really liked 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘛𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘴. It was funny- sometimes the silly kind of funny and sometimes a very clever funny. It had a bit of depth since it's mostly a story about family, but it didn't take itself too seriously.
It seemed like it's goal was light-hearted entertainment and it succeeded.

I am genuinely unsure about how I feel about this novel.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed the originality of a group of people sent to Mars on a one-way trip as part of a Reality TV show. I thought the interactions between the characters with their different opinions, specializations, and interests were fun. I enjoyed exploring the life of isolation on the red planet through the point of view of each person living there. In addition, I was very entertained by the different formats of some chapters of the book: research reports, excerpts from the mission handbook, journal entries, etc.

On the other hand, I had no aversion to the central theme of the plot which literally starts on page one in the first sentence: a pregnancy. It was a major topic in the story but somehow was not mentioned in any premise that I have read. The whole story revolves around it, and I felt there could have been other ways to tell the tale of a group of people on Mars for a reality TV show, that did not involve one of them having a baby. It would have been a different book completely, but if the author wrote it with the same style and chapter format, I think it could have
been in my list of top books.

Special thanks go to the NetGalley team and the publishers for providing this ARC. I appreciate the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.

The story structure is continuous sarcastic observations that the Marsonauts experience while establishing a colony on Mars. It became old after awhile and the sarcastic comments were not funny. I do not recommend this book.

Very entertaining. I know several patrons who will enjoy this book. The characters are well written and illustrate the human condition.

Ebook/Science Fiction: I loved The Martian and I was hoping for more with this one. The author did some research with the potential problems of living in an isolated place that you can never leave.
There was a lot of narrative that was repeated several times. Part of the book was the Handbook that was cute, but unrealistic. There's a reality show aspect to it, but that angle of the book is never really explored.
Stephan was my favorite character, but his future is never told. The ending goes really quick after such a long book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy!
This was fun. It was a little bit more about unplanned pregnancy than details of what being on Mars would actually be like, and I did NOT think that it was as funny as Hitchhiker's Guide, but it was cute and fun.

Zany Space Story. The best way to describe this book, really, is that if you like Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy - a perennial favorite among the geek set for decades now that has in many cases transcended into pop culture - ... you're probably going to like this one too. There are quite a bit of similarities, given the hilarious and offbeat humor and even the "guidebook" element of the story. (Though unlike the Adams epic, this one actually includes at least parts of the guide in the story.) As others have noted, the fact that this was spurred many years ago by a (now defunct) Mars colonization effort that had the same general premise is, quite frankly, even more amusing. If you're looking to see what all the fuss over Hitchhiker is about but you're not willing to commit to something of quite that length, try this one. At roughly 250 pages, it is a short-average length and thus a good primer for that type of humor and creativity. If you're looking for a more serious/ Hard Science Fiction ala Andy Weir's take on The Martian... this isn't that. So strap in and get ready to blast off on one wild ride. Very much recommended.

Welcome to Mars, where you can’t have sex because it is not a good idea. No, seriously, don’t do it!

Fast forward a couple of years and Jenny is preggers.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/VJHtXeMHViHRHvKGKm/giphy.gif" width="100" height="60" alt="description"/>

Join our six “lucky” scientists as they continue to be bored, talk really slow, be socially awkward and mentally unstable. It’s truly a fun ride on Mars! Especially when all hell is breaking lose and Destination Mars! turns their lives into a television show once again.

I laughed hard while reading this book. However, I do believe this kind of humor is not for everyone. It reminded me of The Martian in combination with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, both of which I adored. The funniest parts for me were for sure the chapters from within the handbook written by the eccentric billionaire. I just can’t with this man.

In the beginning and through the middle of the book you don’t quite understand why some chapters are there or why there is a focus on certain people. In the end it all came together and made so much more sense, which I loved. There is even some tension and mystery towards the end, adding an unexpected element to the story.

To be honest there was one major flaw that annoyed me so much and it’s not even something the publisher or David Ebenbach had control over. When transferring this ARC to my kindle, some parts and chapters became unreadable. Sentences were missing, font changed randomly, parts of text scrambled, … However, I do believe this is to blame on the ARC part and I fully believe that when this book is officially released, this will not be a problem. I would recommend reading this book physically because some chapters were written in a fun way which I believe are best to read physically.

The last thing I have to say about this book: Roger is a sweet cinnamon roll and anyone that doesn’t agree with me on this point can come fight me because I will die on this hill. WE STAN ROGER. (Let’s face it, we all need a Roger in our lives, just admit it.)

Would recommend for a light, funny and quirky read.

Trigger warnings: accidental pregnancy, racist comments (within correct context), car accident, loss of a loved one, mention of suicide

Thanks to NetGalley, Tachyon Publications and last, but not least, David Ebenbach for granting me this ARC and the opportunity to read this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a combination of Hitchhiker's guide, scientific journals and narrative, which at first sounds richly bizarre, but in the end, actually works. It was a compelling read because it was not the same as every other SF story. Well done!