Dark side of the moon

In a new sci-fi novel, a lunar utopia is beset by earthly corruption

Andy Weir, a computer programmer from California, had been writing sci-fi for his website for a while when, at the behest of his fans, he self-published a Kindle edition of his book,

The Martian, about an astronaut who gets stranded on the Red Planet during a bungled evacuation. It proved popular, to say the least, selling 5m copies and becoming an Oscarnominated movie starring Matt Damon. Not bad for a debut.

It’s impossible not to read Weir’s follow-up, Artemis, without imagining the film version — and yes, there’s one in the works. Who could play plucky female lead Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara, a foul-mouthed, harddrinking, renegade genius of Saudi origin, working as a porter in the lunar colony of Artemis, a city with light governance and unconventional revenue streams to exploit? (For what it’s worth, Rosario Dawson narrates the audiobook.)

And what about Trond Landvik, the Norwegian billionaire who recruits Jazz for a plot to take over the lucrative aluminium industry for a sum that will get her a slice of the lunar high-life (basically, having her own bathroom)? Or Jazz’s father, Ammar, a master-welder whose patience with his renegade daughter is wearing thin as his concern for her grows?

Trond’s scheme involves Jazz destroying some large rock-collecting machines which, by virtue of her expertise in welding and sharp scientific mind (she also has a smoking-hot bod) she should be more than able to manage. But great plans etc, and Jazz soon finds out that the flow of money runs through some decidedly muddy channels on Artemis, just like Earth.

Weir’s great skill as a writer, as he already proved with The Martian, is his attention to detail. Artemis might be sci-fi but it is not fantasy, and Weir carefully explains the processes, systems and mechanisms by which humans might survive on a lunar outpost, and also those by which others might take advantage. Air pressure, gravitational pull or lack thereof, the chemical make-up of the rocks and the air, and various things which — if you’re planning a high-stakes heist — become very important indeed. (When he serialised The Martian online, fans were able to correct factual errors as he went along: it will be interesting to see how that works in a traditional publishing model.)

Yes, some of the characters aren’t as fleshed out as they might be

— Jazz has a sharp-tongued gay drinking buddy, a nutty-scientist admirer, a burly policeman nemesis and a taciturn ex-Marine boss — and Jazz herself is something of a nerd’s wet dream (did we mention she also puts out?), but that doesn’t stop Artemis being a triumph of imagination.

Nasa has a section of its website dedicated to

The Martian, and if we do ever colonise the moon, don’t be surprised if Weir’s vision turns out to be prophetically close to the mark.

—

Artemis by Andy Weir is out now (Ebury)