"To Ignite a Fire on Enceladus" is an imaginative science fiction variation or update on Jack London's "To Build a Fire," a 1908 classic story for survival in the frozen terrain of the Yukon. Except now, a space miner is struggling to stay alive on an icy moon of Saturn where he has crash-landed with a dog. But Enceladus is no ordinary moon; it has ice volcanoes that regularly erupt, blasting water, ice, and different kinds of gases into space toward the rings of Saturn. This peculiar feature of Enceladus gives the space miner hope that he can replenish the energy in his and the dog's special suits before they both freeze in the 200-below zero temperatures.
Because "To Ignite a Fire on Enceladus" directly descends from "To Build a Fire," it seems natural to include both stories together in one book. Now readers can compare the stories easily, and the stories can even be used for more serious study and comparison by teachers and students in literature and English courses (see Study Guide and Exercises).