Dreaming of Mars from a Drowned World (Guest Post by Kieran Fanning)
In a world threatened by global warming and rising sea levels, the future of our planet is at the forefront of many of our minds, especially those of children. What will happen if the Earth becomes uninhabitable? Will we have another planet to escape to? It was these questions that gave rise to my new middle-grade novel, Ticket to Mars . Set on a futuristic New Earth that has been flooded by the rising seas of global warming, we meet thirteen-year-old Veon Windbourne, who lives in Heaven’s Ladders, gigantic towers of concrete which rise out of the sea that has flooded the old city of New York. Each tower has a strict class hierarchy, with the rich living at the top and the poorest at the bottom. Veon is a mid-tower resident who dreams of escaping to Harmonia, the first city on Mars. His mother has been saving to buy two tickets her whole life and almost has enough, when their entire savings are stolen. Desperate for justice, Veon follows the trail of the thief to Mars and manages to wi...