Review by Bob Winstead

Web posted on: Wednesday, June 17, 1998 5:26:04 PM EDT

(CNN) -- From the Halls of Montezuma to the sands of Candor Chasma Mars?

In "Semper Mars", a new work of military science fiction, author Ian Douglas takes some monumental mysteries of the red planet and uses them for a backdrop, as the Marines of the future find themselves fighting on another world for their country's freedom and honor.

It's 2039, The Face of Mars, the enigma on the Cydonia Plain of the red planet, (first captured in a NASA Viking 2 photograph in 1972, and most recently by the Mars Global Surveyor) in this story at least has proven not to be a purely natural phenomenon. An archeological dig is under way on Mars, and international tensions back on Earth are high.

A contingent of U.S. Marines is sent to the site to protect U.S. interests there. Protection from ... the United Nations! Yes, the UN! It would seem that all the fears of the nationalistic, one-world-government fearing folks have come true. "Rogue" countries aren't in line with the rest of the world, Russia and the U.S. are no longer card-carrying members of the UN, and Northern Mexico and the Southwestern U.S. are threatening to band together and form their own nation ... Atzlan. Worse yet, it would appear that the Marine Corps is in danger of being dissolved. Perhaps the protection of scientists working on the Mars archeological dig will breathe a little life back into the Corps.

The book follows Major Mark Alan Garroway, communications officer on the expedition to Mars. International complications run even into this mission. It seems the UN has demanded that a small group of observers be sent along for the ride. Not to mention the UN troops on Mars outnumber the scientists working there.

A second plot line introduces us to the Major's daughter who loves all things Japanese ... literally. She's having a relationship with a Japanese ambassador's son, who has recently joined the Japanese Space Force, allied with the UN. Mr. Douglas (actually a pseudonym for author William H. Keith Jr.) spends a lot of time setting this story up, hopefully because it's the first book in "The Heritage Trilogy".

Just when you start to wonder if anything is going to happen, Mr. Keith gives you a taste of his best suit ... he writes compelling battle sequences.

"A rotary cannon on the lead Bradley howled, its muzzle flash a flickering beacon on the turret. Both marines hit the deck as brick and sandbag alike were pulverized by the stream of heavy metal ... Mexican troops were spilling from the three Bradleys now ... Gunfire popped and chattered; Bledsoe groped for his ATAR, dropped when the Abrams had fired, and knocked down three or four running figures. The smoke was getting thicker now, and it was difficult to acquire and hold a target. The full-auto fire from the wrecked front of the building seemed to be making the attackers cautious.

"But they would be charging across the lawn and up the steps of the residence any second now.

"Bledsoe knew he didn't have much time."

Mr. Keith has a lot of experience writing military action novels. He has written over 50 novels to date under a variety of pseudonyms. Many of these were military titles. He has also co-written some CD-Rom game guides, notably "Riven", "Spycraft", "Titanic, a Journey out of Time" and "Lands of Lore". While Mr. Keith was in the Navy as a hospital corpsman, it is obvious from "Semper Mars" that he is very fond of the Marine Corps. Not only does he treat the reader with interesting and pivotal tidbits of Corps history, but the novel evokes, even for people who have not been in the service, a sort of sentimental pride for the USMC.

For non-military buffs, the book does deal with popular mythology: The Face of Mars, Ancient Astronauts, and Ancient Structures like the Pyramids of Egypt, through the character of the forward thinking, yet politically naive, archeologist Dr. David Alexander. These topics, however, only tend to serve as window-dressing for the novel's military focus.

Alexander finds something on Mars which he wants to publish. The UN doesn't want it known. A dilemma for any scientist, publish ... and perish! Will his findings be the catalyst for war?

"Semper Mars" is well researched, and quite imaginative, especially when it comes to fighting in space and the inherent difficulties of firing a gun in which the recoil causes an equal and opposite reaction. It seems that the Gung Ho, Semper Fi group of Marines, rather than propelling the story, are the story. There are many creative twists in the battle scenes, but we learn little about the civilization on Mars the scientists are sent to study. And I kept waiting for some big reason for the UN's presence, like a new form of weapon or energy source. Maybe in the sequel.

If you pick up this book for a look into the "alien" culture that built the Monuments of Mars, you will be disappointed, but if you like smart military campaigns, grunt level patriotic fervor, and don't care where the action takes place, there's "Semper Mars".