The #1 Audible Bestseller!
Living and slaving in Fill City One, you get used to the smell. We call it the Everpresent Stink. But every once in a while, on a spring day with a breeze, it clears away enough to remind us that there is something more out there. Most Fillers’ wildest dreams would be just to get past the walls and live in the mainland. But my dream? It’s a little bigger.
I’m going to Mars.
Well, I’m only going to Mars if I can find a winning Red Scarab to get on Zach Larson’s crazy reality show. And then I’ll have to figure out how to escape this hellhole. And then compete on live television for three months. And somehow win a spot on the crew of the very first manned mission to Mars. Oh, and one more slight obstacle? There might be a reason that by 2085 a human still hasn’t set foot on the Red Planet. A dangerous reason. A reason worth killing for.
In You’re Going to Mars! Rob Dircks, Audible best-selling author of Where the Hell Is Tesla?, creates a near-future filled with family (the good kind and the insufferable kind), pop divas, mobsters, and the world’s first trillionaire – and sends them all on a science fiction odyssey/comedy/love story/adventure that will change their world forever.
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You’re Going to Mars! just made Audible’s EDITORS SELECT: BEST NEW RELEASES FOR NOVEMBER!
From Editor Sam Pagan: “Rob Dircks’ Where the Hell is Tesla? has been something of a cult favorite among listeners for as long as I can remember, and Khristine Hvam Kies is something of a legend in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy narrators, so unsurprisingly, author and narrator make for a winning combination in this fun Audible Original…. [it] effortlessly sweeps you away.” https://www.audible.com/ep/s/nov18-editors-select
Reviews
From AudiobookReviewer.com:
“★★★★★ Reviewers Choice Award, it’s that good.”
Triplets named Paper, Rock and Scissors live in Fill City One with their father and grandmother. Paper’s dream is to go to Mars someday. Good news for Paper! Zach Larson, a private entrepreneur is funding a private trip to Mars. For one lucky person who competes on his TV game show and wins! Much like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Paper has to find the much sought-after prize, a red scarab. If she’s lucky enough to find a winning scarab, she has to escape Fill City One; ride over 2,000 miles with her absentee mother, then she has to compete in Larson’s live TV show for three months and beat out 25 other contestants. Can she do it? Thing is Paper is smart and strong but she’s not without feelings. She has to decide to what depths she will sink to get to Mars …
Rob Dircks, the author, gives his audience an action-packed adventure full of twists and emotional highs and lows. Dircks creates characters that he gives depth to and cultivates them into likeable (and hate-able) beings.
The plot is well structured and solid. Each character is realistic as is the dialog. The reactions of his characters are spot on as well. Dircks has carefully and delightfully constructed a memorable story. I would love to see it filmed!
I got this audiobook two days ago and I finished it within the 48 hours I had it. It is captivating, interesting and creative. I could not put it down!
Khristine Hvam performed the audiobook excellently! She was comfortable with the story and characters, she made the audiobook pleasant and memorable as well. This is the first time I have heard her; she is perfect!
I loved it this book. I enjoyed the different messes Paper found herself; I found the emotional discoveries she made were insightful and at times painful. This is an audiobook I will listen to again and again!”
“★★★★★ Fun, exciting, lighthearted and tender! I love books like this. The fun and joyful ride through this story is filled with whimsical and magical moments. It has a very clear plot and throws in the occasional left turn plot twist that you don’t see coming. But, what I like most of all about books like this is how the author ties in everything with wonderful, sweet tender moments. it’s those moments that give life to the characters. This book was like a piece of candy that I couldn’t wait to take a bite out of.”
“★★★★★ Attention Amazon, Netflix, HBO: Produce this story! I enjoyed the story line of a somewhat dystopian near future whose main character wants to be on the first manned travel to Mars. The story, which is by no means dull, sparkles with events and characters. The narrator gave the principal characters different voices. I can imagine the story being produced as multiple episodes. Although the story is complete, in good hands it could be expanded or extended without merely adding filler.”
“★★★★★ Wow! I loved this book. As is usual for me, I got this book on sale, but it was way better than I expected. I loved the entire thing. This is the story of a girl who escapes from her living situation to get on a game show, the prize being a trip to Mars. She goes through many trials, makes friends (true and false ones), and has a bunch of tasks to successfully finish. There are plot twists, some of which you can see coming, but that fact doesn’t detract from how fun this book is. Khristine Hvam does her usual great job narrating (though sometimes she comes off sounding like Mae from the Scumble River series, but only an SR fan would notice). Highly recommended!”
“★★★★★ Best YA Sci-Fi I’ve read in years. When an Audible title takes me away, and the narrator is so good that I forget she’s reading, and I linger in the car after I’ve arrived… then I know that I’ve struck listener gold.”
“★★★★★ Rob is Fast Becoming a Favorite Author. Damn, Rob Dircks can write! I have loved just about everything he’s written and eagerly await the release of anything new. ‘You’re Going to Mars!” takes place is the nearly distant dystopian future. Huge mega corporations have acquired land, vast tracts of land, Staten Island for example. They’ve turned these places into their own fiefdoms separate and detached from the laws of the countries that surround them. The residents are permanent indentured servants, contracts were signed giving the company rights to the family for generations. These poorest of the poor eck out a living harvesting the garbage the entire island is covered in. Usable goods are salvaged and sold off the rest is fodder for the fuel and fertilizer they produce. Among these Fillers is Paper (and her sisters Rock and Scissors. . . a bad joke went sideways at their birth). Paper looks to the stars. Paper dreams of better things.
A multi-mega-gazillionaire is planning a privatized trip to mars and holds a Charlie & the Chocolate Factory like Red Scarab hunt, lucky winners will compete to be on the first manned mission to Mars.
Paper’s family, including her estranged mother, conspire to find her a winning Scarab and she’s off to the competition under an alias as Fillers are never allowed to leave their compounds. But something’s wrong. Someone doesn’t want this manned mission to get off the ground and they’ll do anything to stop it.
The competitions are believable, the characters rich and fleshed out. Dialog is fantastic, they talk like real people. I devoured this book in record time for me these days. Five stars. Great stuff!”
“★★★★★ My new favorite Mars story! I really didn’t know anything about the book when I picked it up… but it fit my criteria at the time… 1) the price (a daily deal)… ✔ 2) Science Fiction… ✔ even better it’s about Mars… ✔✔ 3) The Snippet/Narrator sounded good… ✔ Score! (See my needs are few 😉) But, seriously, I was not expecting this to be So utterly delightful! I had a big sloppy grin on my face throughout most of the book. I was totally taken in by Paper our protagonist and her CraZy assed family. Paper’s one of a set of triplets, so yeah, you can prolly guess what her sister’s names are. LOL … The book explores what it is to be family, if not by blood, by love, trust and support… The story is about Paper a self-reliant, stubborn young woman who has dreamed about Rockets, and Space, and Mars all her life. Only a dream, right? That was until a televised contest, the winner of which gets to go to FreAkin’ MARS! Paper has a chance, but there’s a problem, first she has to escape from Fill City! Something she can only do with the help of her family! Seriously this book is less Scifi and more about all the pomp and ceremony of a big game and realty TV show… The sponsor pulls out all the stops to make the show the most watched show on earth, as the contestants vie for 1st place and the trip. The contestants are tested on their endurance by fighting mechanical alligators, and such, but they’re also learning about Mars! Of course the audience gets to participate and vote for their favorites. And, then there’s the sabotage! Who could have done it? Who wants to shut down the game so much that they’re willing to kill?!? And, No! I’m not telling!
Khristine Hvam is such a good narrator, she gave a great, nuanced performance of Paper, and Paper’s family (including Voom), and Hvam delivered all the excitement of the game, as well!
Go grab this delightful Audible book, sit back and enjoy!”
“★★★★★ So Happy To Discover This Author! This was a genuine blast! A comedic sci-fi take on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story with a female protagonist. Even though Ready Player One was similarly-themed, this book is about as different as you can get, and in many ways a better book. Wacky, often laugh-out-loud funny, but smart, with a very likable heroine. Brought to mind the humor of Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Hiaasen, and Christopher Moore. I almost gave it four stars because it’s admittedly not amazing literature, but since these ratings are about how much I personally enjoyed a book, I’m going with five stars and adding it to my favorites list. That’s just how much fun I had with it! I’m now blitzing through everything Rob Dircks has written, and consciously trying to slow down, because at this rate I’ll have read everything by New Years!”
“★★★★★ A hit from cover to cover. I first read Rob Dirks when he released his first big hit “Where the Hell is Tesla?”. I knew from that first book that he was a favorite author and I would want to keep following. “You’re going to Mars” had everything a reader could ask for- science fiction, comedy, a dash of romance here, and a touch of the absurd there, and of course an abundance of adventure. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants some light-hearted reading, especially in audio book format, the narrator did a fantastic job. I look forward to the next opportunity to read one of Rob Dirks creations!”
“★★★★★ One of my favorites of the year! This book was a pure joy to listen to. I enjoyed every minute of it. Paper Forest was the perfect character to lead me through this near future scifi tale. She’s blessed with caring family & friends even as she grows up in one of the poorest areas, working in a giant landfill. She and her sisters (Rock and Scissors, and yes, they are triplets) each have different talents and Paper’s is her fascination with rockets and Mars. This causes several model rocket mishaps, much to Duggie’s amusement (Paper’s best friend). Everyone in the Fill watches the game show You’re Going To Mars, the entertainment child of trillionaire Zach Larson. Then a magical thing happens. People have conspired to get Paper on that show because they believe in her, love her, and want a champion of the Fill. The Gitanos, a ruthless family that owns and runs the Fills around the world, have near-slavery multi-generational contracts with the inhabitants of the Fills. The horrible living and working conditions are unknown to outsiders.
There is so much well placed humor in this story. Sometimes it’s used to lighten a moment, sometimes just to give some snark, and then sometimes to make a serious point. Paper is great with her snark. It’s just the right amount and I never got tired of hearing her thoughts on everything. The other contestants on the show were fun too. Aurora stands out because of all her sass but also because she’s both needy and distrusting all at the same time. She’s one of those celebrity stars known for her music and not her math or engineering skills. The real astronauts that have been training for years for this Mars trip aren’t too thrilled about taking along some bratty contestant winner, whoever that turns out to be. Astronaut Dan Daniels sure isn’t happy and he lets everyone know it. The suspense winds up and one contestant after another is dropped from the competition. I loved that it wasn’t a bad thing for everyone (in fact someone wins a pet store! Ha! What a consolation prize!). There’s also more humor as the would be astronauts learn about astronaut life, like all those close living arrangements…. when you are doing everything. I mean everything! Paper has some scary moments but I love how Jane does her best again and again to keep Paper in the game. The Gitanos are just one hurdle. There are others that don’t want a private organization successfully setting down on Mars. Perhaps there is something there we don’t expect after all.
This story gave me one fist-bump moment after another. I was verbally cheering Paper on at times, much to the amusement of people around me. You go Paper! The ending has a few sad moments and some great want to the hug everyone moments. Honestly, this has been one my favorite books for the year. 5/5 stars.
The Narration: Khristine Hvam did an amazing job. She is Paper Forest. I also applaud her ability to make all three sisters sound closely related but to also give each a distinct voice, mostly through attitude. Her male voices are spot on too. She had the perfect older male voice for Zach Larson. Her sass for Aurora was just as I pictured it. The recording quality was top notch. Excellent all around. 5/5 stars.”
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