Children's Books Ireland recommend EPIC IRELAND

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Building a World on Mars

My new middle-grade novel, Ticket to Mars, was inspired by the climate anxiety that so many of us (especially young people) suffer from these days. I wondered what the Earth might be like in the distant future. Would there be any humans left, or would they have moved somewhere else?

So, I imagined a world where rising seas have flooded most of the planet. Cities have dealt with the problem in different ways. Paris has built a huge wall around itself to keep out the water, but the people of New York (now called Newer York) have chosen to rise above the floodwaters in huge concrete towers, nicknamed Heaven’s Ladders. The problem with this is that the waters keep rising, and each year, homes at the bottom of the towers are submerged. This leads to a hierarchy in each tower with the rich living at the top, and the poor at the bottom.

Veon Windbourne is a thirteen-year-old Mid-Tower boy who, like everybody else, dreams of moving to Harmonia, the first city on Mars, but he knows he and his mum will never be able to afford to go there. That is, until he accidentally discovers that she has been stashing money beneath their floor for years and has almost saved the price of two tickets to the Red Planet.

Disaster strikes when their money is stolen, but Veon goes on the trail of the thief. He enrols himself on a new initiative to bring children from Earth to Mars, to combat the shortage of childbirths due to low fertility among Harmonians. That’s what he is told, anyway. Indeed, when he gets there, he finds that it’s true – there are no children in Harmonia, but it’s not because of low fertility. Something else is going on…

While I gave my imagination free rein to create the city of Newer York, I wanted my Martian world to be grounded somewhat in science. So, my first question was:

How long would it take Veon to get to Mars? At the moment, it takes 7-9 months, but in the future, with the advancement of perhaps, fusion rockets, this time could be cut in half. I wanted the journey to feel epic, so I went with the 7–9-month option. So, you’ll need to pack a lot of sandwiches!

Would Mars have a breathable atmosphere? At the moment, its atmosphere is so thin that you couldn’t breathe freely in it, but in the future, if the planet were terraformed (which involves planting trees) a breathable atmosphere could be created, though this could take anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 years. My new world on Mars hasn’t been around that long, so I went with the unbreathable atmosphere option. This means Veon will (a) need to wear a spacesuit with oxygen, or (b) die.

Would landing on Mars be tricky? The thin atmosphere means there is very little to slow your craft down as you approach, so yes, landing is really difficult, unless you want to crash-land. The option I went with was that, upon approach, Veon’s rocket has to rotate to employ boosters to slow it down. I’ve never tried this manoeuvre, but I’m guessing it’s like approaching a toilet in a very narrow cubicle, which is always tricky!

Can you walk on Mars? Gravity on the Red Planet is 38% of Earth’s gravity, so you will feel much lighter, but some of this will be negated by the weight and bulk of your suit. So, walking might feel a little strange, but you’ll soon get used to it, and if you start playing basketball, you’ll easily be able to do a slam dunk!

What will Mars look like? I didn’t want a highly populated planet because my humans haven’t been there that long, so I chose to keep Mars looking pretty much as it does now: basically, like a desert, but red, due to the iron oxide in the soil. That’s why it’s called Mars, after the Roman god of war, because it looks bloody. It’s not named after the chocolate bar that is very popular in my native Ireland!

What will the sky be like on Mars? During the day, it could range from yellow to pink to blue or black, depending on dust levels. At night, it’ll look pretty much like the sky does here: black, with stars, but with two moons, Phobos and Deimos. And you might just be able to see Planet Earth, so give it a wave, because you’re probably never going back!

What can you hear on Mars? Without a thick atmosphere, sound is muffled and travels slowly, so you’ll probably see that armoured tank long before you’ll hear it coming.

What will the weather be like? The forecast for today (and every other day) is cold, dry and windy, so not an ideal holiday destination, but better than living on a flooded planet. Or is it?

How long is a day on Mars? A Martian day is called a Sol and is almost exactly the same length as a day on Earth, but 39 minutes and 35 seconds longer — just enough time to watch an extra episode of The X-Files or four episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants!

How long is a year on Mars? A Martian year is double the length of a year on Earth — 687 Earth days, to be precise, which means you would be approximately half your age on Mars. So, Veon, who is 13 years old on Earth, would only be 7 years old on Mars. Forget anti-ageing creams — just go to Mars!

So, we’ve landed, and now we know what the place is like, but where are we going to live?

Mars is extremely cold, so our new home will have to be insulated. It will also have to be pressurised, because there is very little atmospheric pressure on Mars. Also, the planet has no magnetic field to protect us from cosmic radiation and, with very little atmosphere to protect us from meteors, whatever roof we live under will need to be thick and strong.

Scientists reckon the first visitors will live in inflatable pods or 3D-printed modules, but I didn’t want that. In my story, people have been living on Mars for a long time and have built a city there. I wanted it to be as impressive as its name — Harmonia — so I looked at what was already there: lots of extinct volcanoes. Now, wouldn’t that be a cool place to build a city?

But what will we build it from?

Again, I looked at what was available. A large percentage of the Martian crust is composed of silicon dioxide. And what can you make from silicon dioxide?

Glass!

And there you have it – Harmonia was born. A glass city inside a hollowed-out volcano, sealed off from the harsh Martian environment by a huge glass dome. This is the moment when Veon first enters the city.

He was standing in the middle of an extinct volcano, the centre of which had been carved out by the first Martians to make room for the city that was latched to the walls all around.

Thousands of glass buildings covered the entire surface of the carved-out crater, rising in a dizzying spiral to the huge glass dome on top, through which sunlight poured, glinting and sparkling off the crystal surfaces.

The dwellings were all connected to their neighbours by walkways, much like the balconies in Heaven’s Ladders, only made from glass. Distant figures, like insects, moved along them and up and down stairs and elevators.

It was truly breathtaking, like being inside an enormous, honeycombed beehive made of glittering light.

 

It seems so different to Veon’s home on Earth, and yet he sees the comparisons with Heaven’s Ladders. This got me thinking. Maybe Harmonia could be very different but also very similar to Newer York.

Here’s how I made it different: The homes are all made of glass, which, at the owner’s command, can become opaque for privacy. A voice-activated artificial intelligence controls the houses, running showers, preparing food, etc., as well as monitoring the owner’s health. Technology is everywhere in the city, designed to make the lives of Harmonians easier with glass elevators, digital communication systems and robotic assistants.

Society is different, too. Each resident is given a citizen number which changes depending on their behaviour. Good deeds and hard work lower your number, giving you higher wages, greater privileges, and the chance to join Harmonia’s ruling council. 

All sounds lovely… harmonious, even, but Veon isn’t there long before he gets a taste of the city’s advanced surveillance system, controlled airlocks and heavily armed Red Guards, which makes him think that some things haven’t changed in this supposed ‘new society’.

Here’s how I made it the same: Harmonia is structured just like Heaven’s Ladders, with the rich people living at the top in mansions with things Veon has only ever seen in history books: wooden doors, gardens and pets. The more he sees of the city, the fouler it starts to smell. And where have all the children gone?

Well, I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Kieran Fanning lives in Ireland and is a teacher and author for young people. His latest novel, Ticket to Mars, is an action-packed sci-fi adventure for children aged 10+ (and adults). It is described by author Chris Callaghan as “a slick sci-fi mystery that twists and turns like a rocket ride through an asteroid belt” and is available to order in bookshops and online.

First review of EPIC IRELAND

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Favourite Reads of 2025

 

Meath Chronicle article about ENCHANTED IRELAND

 

CBI review of SOLVE IT!

 

ENCHANTED IRELAND in CBI's 'The Best Irish Books of 2025'

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Irish Examiner review of SOLVE IT!

 

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Twist Unboxing New Book

I tried to make an unboxing video but the bird took over...

BONUS MYSTERY ANSWERS: Solve It! The Case of the Missing Irish Crown Jewels

 Page 32: H, A, N

Page 60: A, T, E

Page 69: E, RE, D

Page 84: T, UR

Page 99: G, W

Page 106: J, N, E

Page 120: A, I, R, G

Page 129: S, E

Page 142: B, E, L

Is AI a barrier to learning and is it making our students lazy?

I started getting my students to write their own books in the late 1990’s. We didn’t have access to
computers at the time so the books were handwritten and hand illustrated, stapled together, much like the books I made myself, as a kid. They were little gems of wonder, capturing a moment in a child’s life, though I often felt sorry for the kids whose messy handwriting often ruined the look of their books and prevented other from being able to read them.

This problem was solved at the turn of the millennium with the arrival of computers into our classroom. Now, we could print pages and staple them together, and the kid with the messy handwriting could now compete on a level playing field.

The internet came next, and with it, came Print-On-Demand publishers. No longer did we have to staple pages together. Now, for a small cost, we could publish books that looked like the real thing! It has, perhaps, been the greatest and most positive change in our little book writing project over the past 25 years.

So, computers and the internet have, in my opinion, revolutionised our classroom book-writing project.

As I was editing this year’s crop of books, I came across a book that clearly wasn’t the work of a child. Now, in the past, children would have asked parents to help or they might have robbed a few lines from the internet, but at least some of the work would have been their own. The book I refer to, however, was so well written and without mistakes, that I became suspicious. When I put the text into an AI checker, the results were that the book was almost 100% written by AI.

Of course, I will not share this discovery with the student who handed in the book, but I wonder if AI is a step too far in technology? Will it be a barrier to learning and will it make our students lazy and dumb?

The book I refer to above was a non-fiction book, so by employing AI to do the work, the student has missed out on the writing, researching and summarising skills I was hoping they would learn by writing their own book.

And yes, I realise how tempting the AI tool is. In fact, I’ve had to force myself to resist the temptation to use it for report writing and the creation of comprehension activities in the classroom.

What did the child, above, learn from writing their book? Very little, in my opinion, other than how to cheat and be lazy.

What do you think? Is AI a step too far in our digital evolution?  

Help me choose a book cover

 I've been playing around with some book cover designs for a Middle Grade (ages 8-12) adventure. Which one do you like best?

My Favourite Reads of 2024

 

On the Trail of an Irish Rumpelstiltskin

 I've always been a fan of the somewhat creepy fairy tale, Rumplestiltskin, which was published by the Grimm brothers in 1812. When I was researching my  'Irish Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends' book for Scholastic, I came across folklorist, Patrick Kennedy's story 'The Lazy Beauty and her Aunts' in his 1870's book 'The Fireside Stories of Ireland.' an Irish version of Rumpelstiltskin! I couldn't believe it.

I set about retelling it and employed the services of writer and Gaeilgeoir, Patricia Forde, to correct the rather poor Irish in the story. I wrote, what I hoped was an improved version of Kennedy's story and was deligted to update the Rumpelstiltskin Wikipedia page (my first time to ever do this!) to include an Irish version of the story.

I felt quite proud of myself and left Rumplestiltskin behind, thinking that the matter had been dealt with.

This year, however, while researching a new book, I came across another Irish version of the tale called 'The White Hen' in Mary McGarry's 1973 book, 'Great Fairy Tales of Ireland.'

McGarry cites the story as a retelling, so I set out to find the original. Despite extensive research, I couldn't find out anything about Mary McGarry or where she had found the story. It was only when I Googled the name of the Rumpelstiltskin charcter in her story (Tirminion) that I found the original tale which was published in Duffy's Fireside Magazine in November 1852. This made it even older than Patrick Kennedy's version! I would have to update the Wikipedia entry again.

The magazine story was credited to an anonymous author with the initials, L. N. F.

And so, I set out to find this mysterious author. My searches for an author with these initials who would have been living in Ireland in 1852 yielded no results. An image seach however, led me to a handwitten manuscript that had been auctioned by Adam's in 2008. It was written by a poet called Ellen Fitzsimon, who turned out to be the daughter of the Liberator, Daniel O' Connell. I also learned James Duffy (publisher of Duffy's Fireside Magazine) had published some of her work. 

I had found my L.N. F.

But why had Ellen Fitzsimon used these initials? Well, she often signed her work as LN. F, the first two letters being a phonetic spelling of her name Ellen. Somehow, a dot had mistakenly placed after the L in the magazine. 

I have updated the Rumpelstiltskin Wikipedia entry to include my discovery.

I used to be sceptical about Wikipedia but if the people who edit it are as obsessive as me, then it is perhaps the best enclopedia out there!

My findings may not have been of the magnitude of last week's discovery of an unseen  Bram Stoker manuscript, but to me, it felt as special. 

Hopefully, my own retelling of Ellen Fitzsimon's 'The White Hen' will make it into my next book!

 

'Haunted Ireland' trailer

 

Irish Independent recommends 'Haunted Ireland'

 

Dublin City FM Recommendation

 Thanks to Elaina Ryan for recommending 'Haunted Ireland' on Dublin City FM:

Irish Times review of 'Haunted Ireland'

 

Westmeath Examiner review of Haunted Ireland

 

HAUNTED IRELAND review in Recommended Irish Reads 2024