Mars Needs Women

By wdhenning

Mavis is desperate to leave Earth and her father's Oklahoma chicken farm behind. When she finds out about the resettlement program on Mars for single women, she signs without reading the fine print. Once on Mars, it seems near impossible to back out of the arranged marriage deal. To avoid marrying a stranger, Mavis flees together with Walt, who finds himself in a similar situation. The unlikely pair move to Olympus Mons to start a chicken farm, of all things.

Of course, things don't go as smooth as Mavis hoped. Breaking a contract guarantees legal troubleseven on Mars. And despite her heart being in the right place, Mavis also has a knack for putting her foot into her mouth. When arson destroys part of the community, Mavis, Walt and their new neighbours and friends need to up their game to resist the forces in power. But when Mavis unites the women she arrived with in the Martian (and martial, when needed) Bride Network, nothing seems impossible for these women ready to stand up for their rights and their new families.

Written from the point of view of Mavis, brings to life the colony on terraformed Mars as a space-age version of the old west with its frontier towns, luck hunters, and postal brides. He paints lovable and diverse characters and infuses the entire story with his wonderful humour. From Mavis and Walt to Godzilla, the rooster, or Strawberry, the Mollusc, the protagonists of the story find their way into our heart. And the antagonists — well, they get what they deserve.

This is a well written and entertaining science fiction novella of the colonisation sub genre. It could also be marked as space western or expansion era fiction. While the story forms part, or rather the beginning of a series, it can be read as a standalone. But beware, you might crave more of the fare once you devoured this one.

Despite an underlying romantic element, the story is plot driven and deserves a general rating. It is definitely a fun read and my favourite story of the ONC 2024 entries — highly recommended.

Interview with the author, wdhenning.

🚀 Hey, and for joining us for an interview! Please tell us something about yourself and your writing journey.

I joined Wattpad about six years ago having stumbled across it online, thinking, 'cool, free stories!' Not long after, I tried my hand at fiction, starting with a few sci-fi short story contests. Looking back now, my first writing attempts were cringe-worthy, but isn't that true for every writer? I've re-edited some works to bring them up to my present acceptable style standards. Prior to Wattpad, my writing experience included technical service and research reports as a chemical engineer. Wattpad proved to be a supportive community and my writing skills improved dramatically over the years. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

🚀 You are a regular in the science fiction corner of Wattpad. Is this your favourite genre or are there others?

Science fiction is my favorite, and what I generally read for enjoyment growing up. But I also write fantasy and have dabbled with short stories in other genres.

🚀 What is your personal favourite of all the stories you have written?

Hmm, that's a bit like asking who your favorite child is. My very first novel, 'Dark Fall', will always be special, and it contains, perhaps, my best plot line. Also, by read count, it is my most popular work. 'Medice Ceres' was my first fantasy novel, and I believe it had my best world-building and magic system. Last year's sci-fi novella 'The Phobos Transit Quilters Guild' was my most critically acclaimed work, winning an ONC award, and was the one story where plot development and drafting fell so easily together, for some unknown reason.

🚀 Your story Mars Needs Women is part of a series. Can you give us a synopsis of the whole concept?

Each novella in the series exists in the same fictional universe and contains a common theme, which is humanity's expansion into the cosmos. The stories are all linked in some way, but stand-alone, and can be read in any order without too many spoilers. 'Mars Needs Women' is a prequel to 'The Phobos Transit Quilters Guild' (written last year), and both take place on or above terraformed Mars. There are presently five novellas in the series, also including 'Paradise Blight' and its sequel, 'The Mouse Who Sang for Paradise', which take place on the colonized planet Tau Ceti Four; and 'Destiny Unbonded', which takes place on an unnamed planet far away and far into the future. There is room for at least one more story in the series.

🚀 As far as I gather, you did write them out of order, is there a special reason for it? And didn't this lead to problems fitting the stories together?

No special reason, it just turned out that way. I didn't originally intend to create the Paradise series. All were novellas written based on ONC prompts, starting with 'Paradise Blight', written in 2019.

🚀 You wrote this part from the point of view of Mavis. How was this experience? Both, writing from a female pov and specifically Mavis?

Mavis, an Oklahoma hick-chick, was a fun character to write. I gave her a 'foot in mouth' disorder, and drew a lot from USA southern and midwestern slang. She was a reader favorite (and mine, too) from my last year's ONC story, 'The Phobos Transit Quilters Guild', and when I found a prompt in this year's ONC that fit, I went for it. Overall, my works feature a mix of male and female protagonists, often both in the same story with alternating POV's, but 'Mars Needs Women' was all Mavis. I can't claim any special insight to the human female psyche (or for that matter, the male either). The reality is, there is a wide spectrum of characteristics within any sufficiently large population that many presumed gender 'normals' are almost meaningless on an individual, or character, level. Although, playing off of social-level stereotypes often made a story more interesting.

🚀 While reading the story, I found several more or less hidden references which made me wonder — where did you draw inspiration from?

Readers were a big inspiration for this story, particularly those who responded so favorably last year to Mavis' character. I live in Oklahoma, so I pulled from the extreme of local culture to develop Mavis. The story was set during the colonization of a terraformed Mars, so I gave it a frontier-like feel, which fit nicely with Mavis' character. Also, all the hype and excitement around ONC inspirated me.

🚀 What would you recommend to a new science fiction writer on Wattpad struggling to find their ropes?

I really don't have any special insight or sage guidance. The common advice to 'write what you love' is true, I think â€" it shows in the final product and makes achieving completion more likely. And the more you read and write, the better you get. Also, for me, interacting with readers, participating in short story contests, and joining feedback-focused book clubs helped tremendously. Wattpad doesn't carry the presumption of polished books from corporate publishing houses, so feel free to experiment with different genres, styles, structures, voices, or… whatever.

🚀 Do you have a recommendation of a Sci-Fi story on Wattpad that everyone should read?

There is a lot of good sci-fi on Wattpad, and many more interesting possibilities I hadn't read yet. Some of my previous favorites have been: Salvage, by @RJGlynn; Moebius 2157 and The 10thCircle, by @taivaan_sininen; A Starship Called Starsong, by @CrystalScherer; and Fringe Wars, by @RachelAukes.

🚀 And last, do you have any exciting new projects?

I am presently writing and posting a cyber-punk space opera titled 'Cyber Witch' and hope to have it completed and ready for this year's Watty's. I also have a list of 'stories I might write later' in various stages of development, often expansions of short stories I wrote earlier. We'll see which ones rise to the light.

🚀 Thank you so much and good luck with your writing! We're looking forward to more amazing stories.

(Review and interview by jinnis)