Marc Eliot Davis is the author of the new children's picture book Vincent on Mars.
Q: What inspired you to create Vincent on Mars?
A: To answer the question of what inspired me to create Vincent on Mars, I will tell you a story within a story within a story, one of my favorite narrative structures.
I have always been fascinated by the future. As a child, I witnessed the Apollo 11 moon landing on live TV and watched 2001: A Space Odyssey in a movie theater. Space exploration and science fiction guided my vision from a very young age, along with a deep love for language, books, picture books, and art.
After a foundational education in the humanities, I spent most of my professional life as a researcher, media technologist, and applied futurist inventing 20 years ahead.
But about 10 years ago, I started seriously looking 50 years ahead and became very concerned about what I saw. I realized that our civilization had broken our relationships with Nature and each other, and was deeply unsustainable, not just over the longer term, but even within the coming decades.
The core problem with our unsustainable civilization is that we see Nature and other people as things to be exploited and used up, rather than as partners in a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship.
I ventured that storytelling would be the best way to try to help humanity learn what we need to create a better future for ourselves and our world, in particular stories that would be a combination of science fiction and nonfiction.
I began working on hybrid novels that combine science fiction and nonfiction to talk about our relationship to Nature and each other through the parable of our encounters with alien beings very different from ourselves.
The first novel that I set out working on is the story of a mission in 2070 to Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that has a subsurface ocean underneath the ice and all the ingredients for life.
The mission encounters alien beings so different from ourselves that at first the human crew does not even recognize the aliens are there, and the aliens do not recognize the humans either, and then they begin a step-wise process of recognition, communication, understanding, compassion, coexistence, and collaboration, which is the same process we have to go through with the “aliens among us” on our own planet: Nature and other human beings.
In working on that novel, I had the idea that the main character would stop off at Mars to pick up a crew member for the mission to Enceladus. On the way from the Moon to Mars, she would be reading a story about two brilliant scientists on Mars in 2050, who, in the process of falling in love with each other, discover the first fossils of ancient life on Mars.
Like the Enceladus book, this too is a science fiction narrative, but with extensive endnotes. One of those endnotes is about Vincent van Gogh and how he painted the stars.
In doing the research for this endnote, I learned that van Gogh was influenced by a provocative idea promulgated in the 19th century, that after death, poets and artists could be reincarnated to continue their art on other planets in our solar system.
One of the major advocates of this idea was Camille Flammarion, a French astronomer and popularizer of science, kind of like the Carl Sagan of his day. Vincent van Gogh writes about this idea of a celestial rebirth for artists in his letters, imagining that after death he could paint again among the stars and on other spheres.
With that idea in mind, one of the main characters in the Mars novel imagines a reborn Vincent van Gogh painting landscapes in Flammarion Crater on Mars, which is named after Camille Flammarion. This beautiful image haunted me, and I could not get it out of my head (nor did I want to).
I think I have skills as a writer, but as far as painting, I am not a trained artist. But I do understand art history, aesthetics, and prompt engineering, so when DALL·E 3 came out from OpenAI, I experimented with creating paintings of Martian landscapes in the style of Vincent van Gogh, and I was pleased with the results.
Although it could take 30-40 iterations per painting and sometimes post-production in Adobe Photoshop, I was able to use this new technology that can turn poets into painters to realize my vision of Vincent van Gogh painting on Mars.
I came to understand too that I had not just created Van Gogh paintings of Mars, but the seed of a story, a story that combines art and science to explore Mars and our relationship to the natural world.
Vincent van Gogh famously wrote in his letters, “If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.” (Letter 022 To Theo van Gogh. London, Thursday, 30 April 1874). I imagined Vincent would find beauty on Mars too.
I wanted to tell a story of art and science and the love of Nature that would appeal to children and adults alike. The first version of the story (not the published one) featured an adult Vincent van Gogh having a celestial rebirth to paint again on Mars.
When I shared the draft book with an elementary school teacher and other educators, they loved the idea, the story, and the artwork, but suggested that the main character should be a child to better connect with students. They also explained that the theme of life after death would make them hesitant to use the book in classrooms.
With this perceptive feedback, I realized that my idea for “Van Gogh on Mars” could be “Vincent on Mars” about a young Vincent van Gogh dreaming of being on Mars, not knowing where he is, and using his creativity in art and science to figure out where he is and to explore and paint the beauty of the alien Martian landscapes.
That is how Vincent on Mars came into being: a journey of discovery from my space-enthused youth to my future-focused adulthood on to my emerging Enceladus novel, through an endnote in a linked in-progress Mars novel, to my debut picture book for children and adults.
Finally, I realized Vincent on Mars was an instance of a class of stories and paintings—Vincent on Mars…X on Y…Artists on Planets—and I could develop a large number of fascinating books in the series.
I am excited by the prospect that with my own creativity and the use of technology, I can create a series of picture books in the styles of different artists exploring and painting the natural environments of various planets (and moons) in our solar system.
Most importantly, these picture books for children and adults alike could begin the essential and urgent project of helping us heal our relationships with Nature and each other to create a better future for us all.
Q: Why did you decide to write a second book featuring an illustrated glossary?
A: I decided to create the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary as a companion volume for Vincent on Mars for several reasons. The most important reason is because of the complementary nature of art and science.
For example, when young Vincent van Gogh paints a blue sunset on Mars, the sunsets and sunrises on Mars are in fact blue compared to our reddish ones on Earth because of the different ways that the atmosphere diffracts sunlight.
The painting of the blue sunset in Vincent on Mars is one of my favorites, but it doesn't look exactly like a blue sunset really does on Mars.
So I wanted to be able to show the difference between Vincent van Gogh’s artistic interpretation of Mars (e.g., views of the Martian landscape, craters, cliffs, canyons, dry riverbeds and watersheds, and Mars’s tiny moons Phobos and Deimos) in Vincent on Mars and photographic images of what these phenomena actually look like in the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary.
I also felt it important to explain the few bits of specialized vocabulary in Vincent on Mars like “sol” and “tosol.” A “sol” refers to a day on Mars, which is about 39 minutes longer than a day on Earth, while “tosol” is a neologism for “today on Mars.”
Additionally, I wanted to offer photographic examples of places and things mentioned in Vincent on Mars that people might not have seen before, or that are especially beautiful—such as Tadrart Rouge in the Sahara Desert and Wadi Rum in Arabia (which look just like Mars), algal mats, sea grasses, rust, and a flower fossil.
Another important reason is that I love language, and I want to share and help foster a love of language in my readers.
That is why the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary includes not only the word or phrase, parts of speech, a definition, an example sentence, and a beautiful image to illustrate each concept, but also etymologies of where the word or phrase comes from and the meanings and languages it descends from.
I also created the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary so it would be a useful resource for younger readers of Vincent on Mars throughout their lives and for adults as well.
Q: What do you see as some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Vincent Van Gogh?
A: A common perception is that Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was an artistic genius, and I believe that is absolutely true. Perhaps more than any other artist, Vincent saw into the heart of things and through his revolutionary artistic techniques revealed the entire world—both animate and inanimate—as alive to us, worthy of our attention and devotion, and vibrating with beauty.
It is also widely recognized that Vincent struggled with mental illness and depression, leading to a difficult and tragically short life. While this is true, the common misconception lies in believing that this is the whole story.
One of the most surprising discoveries I made while researching Vincent on Mars is that Vincent van Gogh was not only an artistic genius, but also an intellectual and a brilliant writer.
His copious correspondence is beautifully written and offers immense insight into his thought processes, his passions, his artistic influences and process, and how widely read he was. Vincent didn’t just love art; he loved literature too.
Another common misperception is that Vincent was just an isolated, lonely, tortured soul, but this oversimplification misses his profound friendships, particularly with his brother as well as with other artists. Vincent loved people deeply.
One of his most moving quotes sums this up beautifully: “[…] the more I think about it the more I feel that there’s nothing more genuinely artistic than to love people.” (682 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 18 September 1888).
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the books?
A: I hope that readers of the Artists on Planets books, starting with Vincent on Mars and the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary, feel empowered to see themselves as both artists and scientists.
I want them to take the time to pause, observe, and deeply study the natural world around them. I hope they revel not only in the beautiful verses, paintings, and illustrations, but also in the experience of becoming students of Nature, like Vincent van Gogh—cherishing, loving, and finding beauty everywhere.
By reading and exploring Vincent on Mars along with the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary, I hope readers develop a love of language, art, science, and Nature, and feel inspired to engage with all of them synergistically.
More than anything, I want my readers to become creators—creators of their own lives, creators of beauty, and creators of solutions to the problems we face in the world.
Ultimately, I hope they see the books as resources that nourish our souls, minds, and hearts, inspiring us to create, connect, and work with others to envision and realize a better future for us all.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Currently, I am just finishing the sequel to Vincent on Mars, titled William on Mars. This new story is inspired by the art and life of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851)—often known as J. M. W. Turner—the famous, brilliant, and prolific British Romantic landscape painter of the late 18th to mid-19th century.
Like Vincent on Mars, William on Mars is also a dream within a dream—something that readers of Vincent on Mars might not realize at first. Both books begin in the sleeping chambers of their young protagonists, whose artistic abilities mirror their older selves.
In William on Mars, an elderly William Turner is dreaming he is a young William Turner, who in turn dreams of waking up in an unfamiliar, alien environment. As with young Vincent, young William uses his powers of observation in both art and science, and the paintings he creates of his surroundings, to figure out he is on Mars.
While the story structure shares similarities with Vincent on Mars, the artistic style and Martian exploration in William on Mars are markedly different.
Readers get to experience an intense Martian dust storm, the awe-inspiring grandeur of Valles Marineris (the largest canyon in the Solar System), visions of an ancient Martian ocean, ice-filled Korolev Crater, the frozen dune fields of Olympia Undae, and the serene beauty of Mars’s North Pole.
William on Mars is deeply influenced by Romanticism, a philosophy of Nature, art, and literature that I personally resonate with and believe can help heal our relationship with the natural world and with one another.
In addition, I am working on the William on Mars: Illustrated Glossary, which will define and illustrate a host of fascinating new words and phrases from William on Mars.
I am also in the early stages of creating the sequel to William on Mars, titled Fanny on Mars, which focuses on the Finnish landscape painter Fanny Churberg (1845 – 1892). While not as widely recognized as Vincent van Gogh or William Turner, Fanny was a brilliant and innovative artist with a profound love of Nature.
In Fanny on Mars, a young Fanny Churberg also dreams of waking up in an unknown place. She follows a thousand-mile-long orographic cloud that leads her to the slopes of Arsia Mons, an extinct volcano in the Tharsis Volcanic Province on Mars.
Fanny ventures around the volcano until she finds the opening to a Martian lava tube, marking the start of her journey to explore Mars’s underground world. After a fascinating and lengthy descent, Fanny makes an extraordinary discovery: a glowing subsurface aquifer teeming with bioluminescent life deep beneath the planet’s surface.
Fanny Churberg is the third artist to explore Mars in what will be a quartet of Mars books in the Artists on Planets series.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: While I know many readers love physical books, I strongly encourage getting both the paperback and Kindle editions of my books.
Here’s why: the Kindle editions feature wide-format, panoramic paintings and illustrations with 75 percent more image content than the paperback editions. You can fully immerse yourself in these expanded visuals.
For the best experience, I recommend viewing the Kindle editions on a desktop, laptop, or tablet with a large color display using the Amazon Kindle app. When it comes to Vincent on Mars and the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary, the best eBook experience and value can be found in the special combo Kindle edition: Vincent on Mars + Illustrated Glossary.
I am also thrilled to share that Kirkus Reviews praised the wide-format edition of Vincent on Mars, saying: “Art meets astronomy in this visually dazzling book” and “Davis’ full-color, painterly illustrations are truly stunning”—and gives it the prestigious Award & Accolade of “GET IT.” I am deeply honored by this recognition and award.
Finally, Vincent on Mars and the Vincent on Mars: Illustrated Glossary are my debut books, and as a first-time self-published author, I am learning that writing and illustrating my books is actually easier than marketing them!
More than anything, I want people to enjoy these books—to read, review, share, study, and even teach them. My goal is for my books to become a meaningful part of people’s lives.
The Artists on Planets series is designed to appeal to both children and adults, from 5-year-olds to lifelong learners. I invite you to join me on this journey of discovery. Let us use art and science to inspire creativity and a spirit of exploration in us all. Together, we can tell stories, create art, and connect with the beauty of Nature and each other.
To connect with us, you can:
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--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Very Interesting and easy to follow your intellectual concept of our future
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