An Explanation of the Marsfossilteller Name

No doubt readers will question the nature and origin of the Marsfossilteller Company name. Originally, “The Marsfossiltellers” was the name of a writing group, made by the company’s creator, Ethan Kagin. Following the advice of author Anne Lamont in her groundbreaking writing novel “Bird by Bird”, Kagin created a small group of writers with the intention of creating work regularly.

The group was titled “The Marsfossiltellers” by Kagin in conjuncture with the members’ combined love of both science and storytelling. While Astronomy and Paleontology were passionately beloved by the collective, this was not the only reason for the title.

The logical consideration behind the name was this: if there should ever be life found on another planet—or fossils— it would take a talented storyteller to be able to recount the tales of the deceased organisms and the lost culture. In the event that there was no anthropological discoveries made on said planet, these stories would be all that humanity would have in respect to information regarding this alien life.

Thus the “Marsfossilteller” was a title akin to an African Griot or the chief speaker of an oral history, who could recall the forgotten or fictitious events in great detail. The name “Mars” was chosen in connection to not just the red planet, and a representation of the unknown of the cosmos, but also a reference to Greek/Roman mythology. As Mars/Ares was the god of war, he is representative of humanity and its universal struggle and conflict in many ways as well.

Therein a “Marsfossilteller” is a storyteller of an extremely high caliber, and able to invoke details that were unknown prior to that individual’s revelation.