A standalone story set in The Fractal series world, which began with the much lauded Fearless and Resilient, hard-sf masterpieces which Analog called "Rigorous hard SF with a powerful but flawed protagonist."

“Stroud raises fascinating questions about the politics of space exploration.”– Publisher’s Weekly

2121 AD. Three years after the first Mars conflict and the colony is still struggling to recover. Corporations fight to hold on to their investments. Old secrets resurface and new faces appear.

Magnus Sirocco should never have been allowed to come here. He is a vigilante turned revolutionary who has been given a cause. He doesn’t lose. Ever. Peter Iskander leads a new religious mission to deliver the promised land to their people. And after being investigated, exonerated and promoted, Commodore Ellisa Shann returns, but when a ship is stolen, she is drawn into another deadly duel.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.