Introducing: THE MALCONTENT OF MARS, an anti-space opera novel – COMING THIS SUMMER

The Malcontent of Mars

being a chronicle of events some centuries from the present day and time

an anti-space opera

taking place within the bounds of our own solar system

by
C R E Mullins

Some centuries from now, humanity has successfully colonised Mars, Venus and the asteroid belt. However, all is not well in the Solar System. Ten years have passed since a catastrophic war between Terra and Mars, a war of attrition which killed billions of people, and shattered the lives of many more.

Enter Ralph Kowalski, pilot of the Martian frigate California Dreamin’. Ten years ago, Kowalski suffered a tragedy beyond comprehension. Now he’s hell-bent on revenge. And he’s just found the man behind it all…


The Malcontent of Mars is a story I have wanted to tell for a long, long time. I’ve had ideas for this story going all the way back to 2012, but the general concept – of a grand adventure set in space – dates back even further, to when I was a small child, obsessed with a Nintendo 64 game called Lylat Wars and with outer space in general. I have always wanted to tell a story of an adventure set against the backdrop of our Solar System.

Today, April 21st 2019, is the day I turn 23. There’s a video somewhere in the house of me on my third birthday, some twenty years ago now (mother of god) climbing into a Buzz Lightyear-themed tent, and my grandfather play-pretending with me that I’m “blasting off” to far-off environs like Mars and Jupiter (where the Juptians all say “Jupe, Jupe, Jupe…”). I’ve always been enamoured with concepts like space exploration and adventures in space, and this of course has led me to consume a lot of space fiction, including Star Wars and Shinichiro Watanabe’s seminal work, Cowboy Bebop, which I will openly admit is a huge influence on Malcontent. (Curiously, I’ve never been able to get into Star Trek.)

In the summer of 2018, after finishing my bachelor’s degree in philosophy, I decided I would finally begin to write this story, after years of wrangling with it (a prototype that stalled at 12,000 words back in 2012 still sits on my hard drive to this day). In January of 2019, I finally achieved that goal. I have in the meantime launched Rollerskater, a pastelpunk web serial (Rollerskater is currently on hiatus, but I expect it will return in due course), and, of course, I’ve kept quiet about Malcontent as it was not yet ready for release. However, I have now begun the serious work of preparing it for reading. My actions today are a signifier of commitment to that goal.

Today, on my 23rd birthday and on Easter Sunday, a celebration of new beginnings and of rebirth, I have made the decision to release the first chapter of this story early and unannounced, as a teaser and as a statement of my intention to begin serialising the novel later in the summer. I’m very excited to share it with everyone, and I hope you’re excited to get on the ride.

Stand by. T-minus two months and counting. We’re go for launch…


To be continued…