New writer starts here
Welcome to MainlyMartian, a weblog with vague hopes of living up to its name. I'm Oliver Morton, and I'll be your host for as long as you care to stay.
The blog's MainlyMartian because there's going to be a lot happening on and around Mars over the next weeks and months, and I thought this would be a nice setting in which to write about all that. I've written about Mars quite a lot in the past --indeed I've gone so far as to write a book about it, "Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination and the Birth of a World" -- but not, it appears, enough to get it out of my system. However, I'm currently working on a lot of other things, and so Mars isn't a large part of my prefessional life at the moment. A blog -- in all likelihood a rather dilletanteish, low-posting-rate blog -- seems like a good solution. It's a way to say what I want about what's going on without professional obligation to someone else's schedule, or to anyone else's criteria about what sort of stories need to be written.
The blog's only MainlyMartian, though, rather than MostlyMartian, or MonomaniacallyMartian. I'm prone to distraction and may well wander off towards other planets and topics as the mood takes me. If it degenerates into MarginallyMartian, I'll consider a formal name change, or stop altogether, or just carry on regardless.
I'm currently planning to let the blog fade away when the high season on Mars passes -- when the missions of the Mars Exploration Rovers and Beagle 2 mission come to an end. It may fade away sooner. And it's conceivable that it may last longer.
You now know more or less what I know about where this blog is going.
What a welcome addition! I've read and enjoyed your book, and I look forward to your comments here. Let's all hope Beagle 2 gives us a nice Christmas present...
Posted by: Crawford | December 24, 2003 at 05:09 PM
Welcome to the blogosphere, Oliver!
Posted by: Rich | January 25, 2004 at 09:56 AM
I've never looked back since reading your book, your observations about Zubrin and Stan Robinson's differing attitudes towards the 'frontier' were fascinating. Here's to your Blog! (and thanks to Neil G. for pointing me this way)
Posted by: Jenn | February 12, 2004 at 04:31 AM