{"product_id":"the-distant-consensus-taloa-douglas-ross-9798999531292","title":"The Distant Consensus","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe last human mission to Mars was not a failure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSix astronauts reached the surface of another planet. Every system performed within tolerance. Every scientific objective was achieved. The crew returned alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd within eighteen months, the political and institutional consensus that made the mission possible dissolved.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Distant Consensus\u003c\/em\u003e is the quiet record of what followed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold through mission documentation, clearance protocols, aftercare interviews, and the silences between them, the novel follows the crew of ARES-1 as they return to a world that no longer knows how to hold what they have accomplished. The technology survives. The data survives. The story does not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a novel about discovery as destiny, or Mars as a beginning. It is a reckoning with limits-ethical, political, and human. What does it mean to send people farther than anyone has ever gone, only to decide, collectively and without ceremony, that it will never be done again?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs institutions move to contain the meaning of the mission, the crew confronts a more private aftermath: identity without purpose, care that feels like control, gratitude that fades into distance. History thanks them. Then it moves on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrounded in realistic mission architecture and procedural detail, \u003cem\u003eThe Distant Consensus\u003c\/em\u003e is literary science fiction concerned less with survival than with consequence. It is a novel about systems under strain, the cost of agreement, and what remains when humanity reaches outward-and chooses to stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis was not the first step toward the stars.\u003cbr\u003eIt was the moment humanity decided not to take another.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Taloa Douglas Ross\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798999531292\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vestige \u0026amp; Veil - Taloa House Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/04\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.72lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.55d","brand":"Taloa Douglas Ross","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49084077474047,"sku":"9798999531292","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-distant-consensus-taloa-douglas-ross-9798999531292","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}