With a new rover landing on Mars I thought I'd post my favourite peice of Martian fiction.
Omniligual a short story by H. Beam Piper.
Published in 1957 it's a bit dated scientifically and technically, but still a good read.
http://manybooks.net/titles/piperh1944519445-8.html#
Strong female characters are quiet common in his stories. This ones set in about 52AE (Atomic Era about 1997). For a while after reading this book I found it hard to resist Martini's at 17:00hours!
Any other good martian books?