In 2021 I published my first novel, Asteroid Gambit. Set in the Worlds of Sol future, AG features a Mars in the earlay stages of terraforming and a thriving prospecting culture on Ceres. It deals with a rebellion on Mars and the attempts by the United Nations of Sol to address worker grievances.

The Worlds of Sol did not arise magically out of nowhere. Fire in the Belt is the story of the Will Lafontaine and Amanda Stolz and their pioneering effort to use nuclear warheads to move asteroids from the Belt to transLunar orbit for mining.

Earth is in trouble. Mining and manufacturing in space are mitigating climate deterioration, but the number of mineable near-Earth asteroids is dwindling. Most are rubble piles unsuitable for resource extraction.

Will Lafontaine wants to use nuclear warheads to move mineable asteroids to Earth from the Belt. But his old-fashioned boss refuses to innovate. His co-worker Amanda offers to help, but he doesn’t trust her agenda. The shady investors he finds to finance the project demand results above all else, and the next launch window for a trip to the Belt is looming.

Will is running out of time.

Can he and Amanda find a way to work together to provide Earth with an inexhaustible supply of asteroid resources? Only pride and stubbornness stand in his way.

A Beta Reviewer said: “The world-building is just incredible. There were times I thought you must be writing from personal experience in that world (that doesn’t exist), that’s how good it is.”