LibriVox dies Martis: 1961 novel Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay

LibriVox, the website dedicated to the acoustical liberation of books in the public domain, has freed many important literary works, including Rebels of the Red Planet, a science fiction novel written by American journalist and author Charles L. Fontenay that was published as a paperback original by Ace Books back in 1961. Read by seasoned voice actor Mark Nelson, Rebels of the Red Planet has a total running time of about 5 hours and is downloadable in several formats, including MP3. Here’s a description of the novel:

Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars.

The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics.

And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only from the government’s desperate hatred of their movement, but also from the growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters would get out of hand and bring terrors never before known to man.

The cool cover art by Ed Emshwiller is what got me in the mood!