On the Plains of Deception

In this moving short story by award-winning author Brendan DuBois, the first astronauts on Mars --- Navy Captain Susan Bryce and Air Force Colonel David Bronson --- are stranded when their landing module's return capsule fails to launch.. Millions of miles away from home, with no chance of rescue or repair, the first two humans on Mars face their limited choices and mortality with grace, humor and affection, as billions of people on Earth follow their last movements... . ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Brendan DuBois of New Hampshire is the award-winning author of twelve novels and more than 100 short stories. . His short fiction has appeared in Playboy, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and numerous other magazines and anthologies including “The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century,” published in 2000 by Houghton-Mifflin. Another one of his short stories appeared in in "The Year's Best Science Fiction 22nd Annual Collection" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2005) edited by Gardner Dozois. His short stories have twice won him the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and have also earned him three Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America. . Cover art by Jeroen ten Berge.