The Pale Beauty of a Martian Salt Mine
Vernor Vinge has said that he drew inspiration for the planet of the Tines from a visit to Norway, and Amy Thomson told me recently that she traveled to Mongolia to get a feel for the planet where her recently-finished novel is set. If the otherworldly photographs George Steinmetz recently took in Bolivia are any indication, this cold, arid, beautiful country could easily inspire a novel about life on a terraformed Mars. Here, in the massive salt flats of Uyuni, you can see the pale piles of mineral that miners have chipped from the ground with pickaxes. A very thin layer of water over the salt creates a reflective surface. More uncanny images below.
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