Saving Proxima: The First Step to the Stars Is a Fight for Survival!

A MESSAGE FROM SPACE LEADS TO A DESPERATE RACE AGAINST TIME AND ACROSS SPACE TO OUR NEAREST STELLAR NEIGHBOR IN A NEW HARD SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER FROM TRAVIS S. TAYLOR AND LES JOHNSON

2072. At the lunar farside radio observatory, an old-school radio broadcast is detected, similar to those broadcast on Earth in the 1940s, but in an unknown language, coming from an impossible source—Proxima Centauri. While the nations of Earth debate making first contact, they learn that the Proximans are facing an extinction-level disaster, forcing a decision: will Earth send a ship on a multiyear trip to render aid? 

Interstellar travel is not easy, and by traveling at the speeds required to arrive before disaster strikes at Proxima, humans will learn firsthand the time-dilating effects of Einstein’s Special Relativity and be forced to ponder ultimate questions: What does it mean to be human? What will it take to share the stars with another form of life? What if I return younger than my own children? The answers are far from academic, for they may determine the fate of not one, but two, civilizations.

About Travis S. Taylor:
“. . . explodes with inventive action.”—Publishers Weekly on Travis S. Taylor’s The Quantum Connection

“[Warp Speed] reads like Doc Smith writing Robert Ludlum . . . You won’t want to put it down.”—John Ringo

About Stellaris: People of the Stars, coedited by Les Johnson:
“. . . a thought-provoking look at a selection of real-world challenges and speculative fiction solutions. . . . Readers will enjoy this collection that is as educational as it is entertaining.”—Booklist

“This was an enjoyable collection of science fiction dealing with colonizing the stars. In the collection were several gems and the overall quality was high.”—Tangent

About Mission to Methone by Les Johnson:
“The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well in Johnson’s old-fashioned first-contact novel, set in 2068. . . . includes plenty of realistic detail and puts fun new spins on familiar alien concepts. . . . There’s a great deal here for fans of early hard SF.”—Publishers Weekly

“With equal parts science fiction and international intrigue. . . . an exciting, fast-paced read that you will not want to put down.”—Booklist

About Rescue Mode by Ben Bova and Les Johnson:
“. . . a suspenseful and compelling narrative of the first human spaceflight to Mars.”—Booklist

Dr. Travis S. Taylor heads up the cast of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and can be seen on The Machines that Built America on the History Channel. He has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past thirty-plus years. His expertise includes advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed-energy systems, future combat technologies, and next-generation space launch concepts. Taylor is also the author of pulse-pounding, cutting-edge science fiction novels, including the highly popular One Day on Mars, Tau Ceti Agenda, and the groundbreaking Warp Speed series. He is a regular on the History Channel’s Life After People and The Universe series.

Les Johnson is a futurist, author, and retired NASA Chief Technologist at Marshall Space Flight Center. Publishers Weekly noted that “The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well . . .” when describing his novel, Mission to Methone. His most recent novel, Crisis at Proxima (with coauthor Travis S. Taylor), was published in 2024. He and Travis S. Taylor were also the authors of Back to the Moon and On to the Asteroid. In his day job at NASA, Les has worked on the development of next-generation space technologies—including solar sails, which he believes will eventually take us to the stars. He has recently appeared on Fox News and the Ingraham Report as a commentator on the latest expedition to the moon, Artemis II.