Olympus Bound

***WINNER: Silver Medal at the 2024 Readers' Favorites Awards***

A lunar odyssey of courage and conflict

Can ideals triumph over greed?

Survival hangs on a knife-edge. Commander Xanthe Waters, a visionary leader haunted by her past, steers the groundbreaking Moon base, Olympus, through its darkest hour. As they stand six months into their lunar odyssey, catastrophe strikes, severing their lifeline to an Earth besieged by ecoterrorism, environmental collapse, and a spiraling political maelstrom.

Amid the unforgiving lunar landscape, Olympus teeters on the precipice of transformation. A breakthrough in helium-3 technology redefines its destiny, pivoting from a beacon of human achievement to a critical node in asteroid mining, a sanctuary for climate refugees, and a volatile chess piece in the interstellar power game. Here, in the vacuum of space, the crew must confront not just external dangers but the internal shadows of ambition, jealousy, and fractured loyalties.

At the heart of this maelstrom stands Xanthe Waters, whose leadership is tested like never before. Torn between duty and a suppressed longing for fellow designer Troy Bruin, she grapples with the weight of decisions where every choice reverberates through the void. Alongside her, a diverse crew of characters must confront their own personal demons while treading the thin line between survival and self-destruction.

Olympus Bound is a thrilling sci-fi epic that expertly weaves together themes of space exploration, political intrigue, ecological disasters, and the human drama of survival in an alien environment. For fans of speculative fiction giants like Kim Stanley Robinson, Neal Stephenson, and Margaret Atwood, this novel is a compelling journey through the trials of establishing humanity's first foothold beyond Earth.

Join Xanthe and her crew on this harrowing adventure as they navigate not only the perils of space but the intricate labyrinth of human dynamics, where the future of humanity is forged amidst the stars.

Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist, podcaster, and multiple award-winning author. She works with leaders and teams to explore what's coming and what it means for leadership of the future.She has worked with individuals and teams internationally and in Australia since 1987. From wild Canadian rivers to the Australian Outback, and the Boardroom jungles, Zoë is an adventurist! She facilitates strategy and culture for the future with audacious teams.Zoë's fourth leadership book, People Stuff - Beyond Personality Problems: An advanced handbook for leadership, won the Book of the Year at the Australian Business Book Awards in 2020. Her fifth book is a leadership futurist science fiction dystopian novel, The Olympus Project, and won a Gold Medal at the Readers' Favourites awards in 2023.Zoë is the producer of the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast, dedicated to asking "What if...?" and sharing big ideas on the Future of Leadership.Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run 6 marathons, is a one-time belly-dancer, has survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to a gorgeous Aussie and is a self-confessed dark chocolate addict.