With the publication of his book Red Mars (1993), Kim Stanley Robinson (1952–) began a fictional debate on the phenomenon of the imperial project in a supposedly postcolonial era. His next two novels, Green Mars (1994) and Blue Mars (1996), completed the 1,700 pages of a trilogy that skilfully reflected the Western process of discovery, first landing, colonisation, exploitation and eventual colonial revolt, encompassing the macro of the imperial act in the micro of fiction. Though an ongoing recital of the imperial project is a fundamental theme of the SF genre, Robinson's meticulous realism reprises the process of empire to such a degree that his works may be considered important pieces of mainstream fiction as well as seminal works of SF, the New York Times calling the trilogy ‘a landmark in the history of the genre’.

Based on the colonisation and gradual terraforming of Mars, the trilogy charts the progress of the ‘First Hundred’, the original 100 scientists, engineers and explorers who begin the colonisation project. Though latterly joined by other pioneers and migrants, the actions of this initial group act as an anchoring thread throughout the timeline covered by Robinson's narrative. Opening in the year 2026, with the selection of the privileged few who will be the first to undertake interplanetary migration, this massive thought experiment of Robinson describes an immense circle, ending in 2206, at which point humanity is beginning a tentative flirtation with interstellar travel. However, the circular nature of the narrative is not limited to the major events in Robinson's timeframe, as the novel also offers an intuitive commentary on the unremitting nature of the imperial project. The text sets up a debate between the rationale of a geographical expansion and the reluctance of a more aware humanity to re-enact the ruinous behaviours of power-seeking associations.

As the text develops, we are shown how images of the contemporary are inextricably linked to the next rotation of imperial thought, how the production of empire maintains its grip even within postcolonial imaginations. With discussions not only of the social, cultural and political structure of the First Hundred but also of the emergent colony and of the practicalities of daily life on an ‘alien’ world, Robinson's dual project touches upon the history of colonial designs as well as their implicit continuity.