Grand Tour (novel series)
The Grand Tour is a series of novels written by American science fiction author Ben Bova. The novels present a theme of exploration and colonization of the Solar System by humans in the late 21st century. Most of the books focus on the exploration of one particular planet or planetary moon. Several recurring themes are presented throughout the series. In particular, most of the Solar System bodies whose exploration is the focus of a particular novel are presented as having life, either past or present. Many of the expeditions which explore the planets run into serious  difficulty. The protagonists of most of these books are presented as initially weak and/or lacking in ability or confidence, and as part of surviving the trials of the story become heroic. The future humanity as depicted in the "Grand Tour" novel series is divided between "Greens" (environmentalists) and wealthy industrialists, as well as between secularists/scientists and religious fundamentalists. These conflicts generally are presented as part of the background and often set up the initial conflicts of each of the books. In addition, several of the books reference, or indeed directly deal with, conflicts between wealthy industrialists and small, independent  operators seeking to exploit the Solar System's vast untapped mineral wealth. A major theme of the series, which takes center stage in several of the novels, is the search for life on other planets in the Solar System. "Mars", "Mars Life", "Jupiter", "Venus", "Mercury", "Saturn", "Titan", and "Leviathans of Jupiter" all deal with this issue. The discovery of life in the Solar System often leads to conflicts between religious fundamentalists and scientists, with the former seeing the existence of such life as conflicting with their religious doctrines. While each novel can be read independent of the others, and they  can be read in any order, there are distinct story arcs within the series. The Moonbase arc (which may also include the Asteroid Wars arc), the Mars books, and the Saturn books, for instance, comprise various sagas within the series. List of novels, in chronological order. According to Ben Bova's official site, the Grand Tour novels take place in an approximate time sequence with many of the novels overlapping. "Tales of the Grand Tour" (2004) (short story collection. This work contains stories that span much of the timeline of the Grand Tour) Official Grand Tour Chronology: Prominent/recurring characters . Due to the overlapping and chronological connection of these books, certain characters appear several times throughout the Grand Tour, becoming main characters in books that are seemingly unrelated. Recurring organizations. A number of groups and organizations appear multiple times in the series, particularly the large corporations that often serve as antagonists.