Win Old Mars Executed By George R.R. Martin Disseminated As Booklet

well done collection of short fiction set on Mars, with new takes on the "old school" preMariner concept of Mars, In pretty much all of these stories, the Red Planet is a dead and or dying world or, at least one that is colder and much dryer than it once was, there are at least one species of Martians either extinct, close to extinct, or at least less populous than in the past, and humans can get to Mars one way or another.
In many of these, history has changed at least slightly as Earth scientists and governments discover that Mars is capable of supporting life, which at a minimum results in an accelerated space program and generally higher technology.
I feel like there's more or less a split between "swordandraygun" stories and more introspective tales which often have humans acting like huge assholes, Weirdly enough, this collection has THREE pirate stories out oftales "The Wreck of the Mars Adventure" which has a pardoned Captain Kidd usingth Century weird science to "sail" to Mars, "Mariner" a young man through some unspecified probably Bermuda Triangley intervention ends up on Mars, becoming a pirate and freedom fighter, and "A Man Without Honor" a disgracedth Century privateer becomes involved in interspecies Martian warfare, partially on Mars and partially in the Caribbean.
My favorite stories were David Levine's "The Wreck of the Mars Adventure," Allan Steele's "Martian Blood," S, M. Stirling's "Swords of ZartuKan" which I liked more for the worldbuilding than the actual story, which was only OK, Mike Resnick's "In the Tombs of the Martian Kings," and Ian McDonald's "Queen of the Night's Aria" which is a postWar of the Worlds story during the Earth's counterinvasion of Mars, told from the perspective of a human musician.
. a better than average collection with no real stinkers, Stirling's story has provoked me into immediately rereading IN THE COURTS OF THE CRIMSON KINGS, his fulllength novel set in the same universe as "Swords, " Maybe a smidgen more than three and for the most part at least entertaining, as with all anthologies or most at least this turned out te be a bit of a mixed bag.
At least it was for me, I thought I would love it, to be honest, but that was because of a lack of selfknowledge on my part, A more honest selfevaluation showed me that I am a not familiar with the genre this collection is harking back to, i, e. that of planetary romance and b not that much of a fan of the larger than life heroes and situations usually featured there in, There is something in the romantic idea of an old planet, seared by time and drought, littered with the ruins of civilisations that had already died out when we first left the trees for the savanna and of which the last descendants spend their time creating esoteric art, fighting esoteric battles or, well, just being mysterious.
Anyways, yes, I like the setting, but I like my stories to have a bit more realism in the human part of the tale, Human characters, with human characteristic, and no preternatural agility and heroism bestowed upon them, Also, while I can transport myself with help of my imagination to a Mars that I know does not exist, I don't like it when the author disrupts what we know of science of psychology more than necessary.
And that happens a lot in this collection, More than in the Old Venus one, I thought, Or at least, there was more irony in there than in here, where it happened, Because when it's a commentary, then I get it as in Ian McDonalds tale that ends this book, In between there were a couple of stories that I really liked, The one by Stirling started out well lot of scientifically plausible imagination, but sadly an unimaginative denouement, I liked Howard Waldrops tale a lot even though not a lot happened, and the best for me was Written in Dust by Melinda Snodgrass, Human motivations, realistic descriptions coupled with a truly SFnal denouement, Add a star if you love the planetary romances of old! I really enjoyed this collection of stories set in "Old Mars" the consensus Mars of space opera and pulp fiction, rather than the Mars that our probes and robotic rovers have brought us.
It is tellingly dedicated to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Catherine Moore, Ray Bradbury, and Roger Zelazny of these, the only one I have not read at this point is Catherine Moore.
The stories in this collection:

"Martian Blood" by Allen M, Steel, with a guide to aboriginal Martians who seem rather like Native Americans and a scientist who suspects Martians and Earthlings share a common ancestor, . .

"The Ugly Duckling" by Matthew Hughes Human settlers from Earth demolish the bone cities left behind by the Martians in order to fertilize land for their crops.
An archaeologist wants a chance to study before it is all destroyed, . .

"The Wreck of the Mars Adventure" by David D, Levine Captain Kidd is offered a pardon for piracy by King William III if he will captain a ship bound for Mars, under the direction of a scholar, Dr.
John Sexton. It's not as hokey as it sounds, and really, is quite a good story but I bridled a bit at the portrayal of Dr, Sexton as a bit silly for his use of Latin, Grrrr!

"Swords of ZarTuKan" by S, M. Stirling An odd sort of scifinoir story with some updated cyberpunk sensibilities with a Martian race that doesn't really show the same emotions as humans, I thought this conveyed well the sense of strangeness one can imagine dealing with a truly alien intelligence, . .

"Shoals" by Mary Rosenblum The Martians are gone, but left behind "shoals" of Martian "pearls" that are muchsoughtafter luxury items, . .

"In the

Tombs of the Martian Kings" by Mike Resnick Another scifinoirtype story, this time a man with his teleparthic "pet" is hired by a native Martian to help him locate a lost tomb of ancient Martian kings.
. .

"Out of Scarlight" by Liz Williams Mars as a sort of Old West, . .

"The Dead SeaBottom Scrolls" A modern traveler on Mars by a reproduction of a native vehicle called a "slimshang" is following the itinerary of an ancient Martian traveler named Oud who had left a written account of "slimshanging" across the same region.
. .

"A Man Without Honor" by James S, A. Corey Similar to "The Wreck of the Mars Adventure" above, this is a story ofth century seafaring pirates who end up dealing with aliens and Mars.
. .

"Written In Dust" by Melinda M, Snodgrass Matilda MichaelsonMcKenzie deals with family obligations and ties that bind on Mars, with her two fathers and grandfather, . .

"The Lost Canal" by Michael Moorcock one of my favorite authors, who I am convinced is unable to write a bad story Mac Stone is on the run from a repressive society and gets offered a rich reward by someone able to communicate through time if he will enter a lost underground canal and deactivate an ancient Martian superweapon that is about to detonate and destroy the entire planet.
. .

"The Sunstone" Another story in which aboriginal Martians are much like Native Americans, a man returns to Mars, where his father ran a business taking tourists to Martian ruins.
. . and finds his father has died while out looking for ruins, and his father's Martian partner must take him out to the grave, . .

"King of the Cheap Romance" by Joe R, Lansdale An exciting adventure story with Angela King crossing the Martian ice to bring vaccine to a settlement, and finding ancient ruins while trying to escape a Martian monster.
. .

"Mariner" by Chris Roberson A contemporary human somehow ends up on Mars the only human on Mars and becomes a pirate, but ends up fighting to make Mars a better place.
. .

"Queen of the Night's Aria" by Ian McDonald A colonialist Mars with an entertainer for frontline troops who ends up performing for a "number one fan" on the other side.