Even though Venus is the most Earth-like planet (despite it being hot enough to melt lead), Mars feels like a better neighbor. Venus is completely shrouded with khaki clouds, pale and unapproachable. In comparison, Mars is positively flirty, with its lusty red color and come-hither promise of terraforming.

It’s easier to imagine life on Mars than anywhere else, and many of the books below do exactly that.

21 The Martian Race by Gregory Benford – 1999 A hard science fiction thriller, The Martian Race is about two competing teams struggling to get to Mars and returning safely, claiming a thirty billion (that’s a “B”) dollar prize in the meantime. It’s a little slow at first, as author Benford works out the details of how to actually get to Mars using pretty basic technology. The pace picks up considerably, and Benford’s fully-fleshed characters help the ride along. “A practicing physicist, he writes plausible hard SF as well as anyone on the planet, and his portrait of Mars is among the most believable in recent genre literature.”

– Publishers Weekly