Cover image of "The Mars Anomaly," a hard science fiction thriller

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

A solar flare so powerful that it threatens to extinguish all electronics on Earth inflicts little damage. But careful observers note two puzzling results. Fearing the worst, authorities on the island of Java had managed to turn off all electrical generating sources. But immediately after the solar flare, lights all over the megalopolis of Jakarta turned on brightly. And astronomers note that atop Olympus Mons on Mars, the most massive volcano in the solar system, a bright beacon has illuminated. Investigators rush to Jakarta to explore what went wrong there. But the light atop Olympus Mons seems a far greater puzzle. This phenomenon convinces people all over Earth that extraterrestrials have arrived on the Red Planet and are attempting to communicate with us. This is the setup in Joshua T. Calvert’s hard science fiction thriller, The Mars Anomaly.

Two leading characters

We follow the ensuing events through the eyes of Rachel Ferreira, a popular professor of linguistics at a large West Coast university, and Christer Johannsen, a data analysis specialist with a mysterious past who works for the United Nations. NASA presses Rachel into service to advise its top brass and the President about the prospects of communicating with the aliens who have turned on the light on Mars. And the UN sends Christer to Jakarta to determine why the lights there switched on with nothing in view to explain it. Thus, it seems, we’ll solve both puzzles. But you won’t guess how.

The Mars Anomaly by Joshua T. Calvert (2024) 352 pages ★★★★☆

Photo from Mars orbit of the volcano Olympus Mons, a destination in this hard science fiction thriller
Ignore the drawing on the novel’s cover. This photo of Olympus Mons from Mars orbit shows what the solar system’s largest volcano really looks like. At 72,000 feet in height, it’s more than two and a half times as tall as Mount Everest and vastly more massive, with a far more shallow angle of ascent. The crater is one of two principal settings for this novel. Image: Lowell Observatory

Parallel investigations, tens of millions of miles apart

The Mars Anomaly has induced most of the world’s most advanced nations to collaborate in an unprecedented joint effort in space. Through NASA, the space agencies of Europe, Japan, Canada, and China, the people of Earth will mount a massively expensive mission to Mars for an international crew of six. Only Russia, smarting from its loss in Ukraine, has declined to take part. The others work with SpaceX on a breakneck schedule, and in short order the Ambassador is on its way to Mars. Five of the crew are experienced in space, and the commander was one of the last shuttle pilots. Only Rachel, feeling oddly inferior, is an exception. Each of the six is a specialist in one area essential to the mission. Rachel’s, of course, is to lead the effort to communicate with the aliens . . . assuming that the beacon on Mars somehow contains information.

Meanwhile, Christer works with his Indonesian handler to dig deeply into the files of the relevant government ministries to learn why the lights went on in Jakarta when they shouldn’t have. And soon his investigation leads him into a forest preserve on the island where a mysterious company has been digging for uranium. The answer to his quest seems near.

Naturally, we’ll learn that the two phenomena, though separated by tens of millions of miles, are closely connected. But the manner of their connection, and the background story, will take you by surprise.

An overall assessment

Technically speaking, The Mars Anomaly is subtitled Hard Science Fiction. And that’s indisputable. Author Joshua Calvert leads us into the thickets of linguistics and the hard sciences in which the Ambassador’s crew are specialists. His comments on linguistics are especially illuminating. But amid all the scientific discourse there is little about the six people in the crew. Even Rachel emerges as an enigma. There are only hints about her backstory. All we learn is that she is “the science fiction author who has been looking into possible communication problems we might have with aliens, and the one who has advocated not sending any messages into space, and not replying if we should receive any.” The saving grace for this nearly lifeless story is that the story is carefully plotted and the ending is clever. It’s well-written, too, and an easy read.

About the author

Photo of Joshua T. Calvert, author of this hard science fiction thriller
Joshua T. Calvert. Image: author’s website

Joshua T. Calvert‘s bio on his author website (and on Amazon) trumpets his adventures traveling around the world. There is no information about his education or how he came to know enough about science to write hard science fiction. Goodreads lists forty-eight science fiction novels attributed to him.

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