BOOK DESCRIPTION
What lies hidden inside the Martian Red Weed and what is the secret of the lake on the moon? When the first Martian cylinder crash lands in England, Ogilvy the astronomer barely survives the deadly heat ray from the attack by aliens. He then accidentally stumbles upon the truth about the Red Weed and sends vital evidence to scientists in France on board HMS Thunder Child, but the ship is attacked by a Martian tripod.
Years later in 1919, in the aftermath of World War 1 and Spanish influenza, a sinister plague emerges on Earth from the long forgotten Red Weed, and it threatens all life on our planet with global extinction.
Ogilvy suggests a daring and risky plan to combat the devastating alien menace, involving alternate history timelines. He persuades other original War Of The Worlds characters to participate, but how on earth can they locate the secret weapon hidden by the Martians at the lake on the moon?
Don't miss this compelling continuation of the H.G.Wells Mars novel in the gripping second volume of The Martian Diaries science fiction series
The plot of this, the second book in The Martian Diaries series concentrates on the strange vegetation that suddenly appeared on Earth after the Martians invaded. The mysterious plant know as the red weed that began crawling its way across the land, covering everything in its path with its alien fronds. The red had has always terrified and fascinated me in equal measures and it's those parts of Jeff Wayne's iconic musical version of H G Wells terrifying story that freak me out every time I listen to the double cd. I think his composition is seriously creepy and is a perfect blend of sinister menace and the beauty of nature.
In this story, our hero Ogilvy has his first encounter with the red weed whilst he is incapacitated in the hospital after the incident with the martian heat day on Horsall Common when the first cylinder arrived on Earth. The author's descriptions of this encounter were spine chilling and absolutely bloody terrifying, the stuff of nightmares, well, mine anyway. During this encounter, Ogilvy has a very strange experience and accidentally learns the truth about the red weed but the vital information that he sends to scientists in France is lost at sea along with the wreckage of HMS Thunderchild.
Years later, the world is struggling to recover in the aftermath of the first world war and Spanish influenza when people suddenly start dying from something that becomes known as Marseria a illness that Ogilvy informs his horrified old friend George the journalist is caused by the red weed that had suddenly reappeared in London. Ogilvy and George once again find themselves in a race against time to save the world, this time not from monstrous tripods but from a deadly pandemic. This storyline was scarily realistic and relatable when you take into consideration what the world has been dealing with over the past year.
Meanwhile after the events of the previous book, George is convinced that the martians are now in the moon and have somehow created a glowing green lake on the surface. Ogilvy, who I can't say was very likeable at times as this story unfolded, initially refused to believe what George was trying to tell him. But, eventually he had to admit that what George was telling him was true and that the lake was definitely there. What the significance of the lake? What are the Martians planning to do next? The moon is closer to Earth than Mars so it wouldn't take the Martians so long to mount a new attack. Are they wiping as much of mankind out as they can before returning to win the war? Does the future of Earth belong to mankind or the Martians?
This story isn't as action packed as the previous book, the story is more science based but don't panic because that doesn't mean there is no action whatsoever. There is the sinking of HMS Thunderchild, some seriously intense dreams and of course the tripods and Martians make a appearance. It's a captivating, character driven sci-fi story with a added dash of horror that I thought was a very enjoyable, entertaining, enthralling read and I can't wait to find out how the story is going to end in book 3.
AUTHOR BIO
H.E Wilburson is an award winning British author and composer, with accolades for the writing and music for The Martian Diaries series – his audio sequel to The War Of The Worlds. Having long been drawn to the H.G.Wells science fiction classic, he decided in 2015 to continue the story himself as he felt there were questions Wells left unanswered. With almost a lifetime of composing and painting pictures with music, Wilburson created his sequel with his own musical compositions and added immersive sound effects.
Apart from The Martian Diaries trilogy he has adapted The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, his first project combining text with music, which will be released in the future. He also has several hundred pieces of music, and unpublished stories and poetry. Wilburson, who likes to be known as H.E, finds much inspiration by getting off the beaten track and into the great outdoors, and is in his element exploring remote locations around coastal and mountain regions, but most especially in Wales.
Find out about the making of The Martian Diaries here https://www.martiandiaries.com
Come and find H.E on Twitter https://twitter.com/martiandiaries
Winner of 5 awards in the 2020 Los Angeles Science Fiction Film Awards, Audio Drama category and Bronze medal winner in the Readers Choice Awards 2020 (Science Fiction).
Volume 1 'The Day Of The Martians'
Volume 2 'Lake On The Moon'
Volume 3 'Gateway To Mars'
PUBLICATION DATE: 9th June 2021
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