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.

Get a free book, Terra Blanca Insurrection, prequel of the Gaia series here: https://www.zoerouth.com/bookish

• Listing ID: 26901
• Author's Name: Zoë Routh
• Your Email Address: zoe@zoerouth.com
• About the Author: 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. Book 2 in the series, Olympus Bound, won a Silver Medal in 2024.
  
  Zoë is the producer of The Future of Leadership Podcast, dedicated to asking “What if…?” and sharing big ideas on what leadership we need now for what’s next.
  
  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.
• URL of the book's purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Bound-Dystopian-corporate-Enterprises-ebook/dp/B0CT567B2V/
• Awards, reviews, press releases, and other relevant information: 5 Star on Readers' Favorites
  Silver Medal Readers' Favorites 2024
  https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/olympus-bound
  
  Goodreads: 4.87 average star rating with 69 ratings, 60 reviews
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205859994-olympus-bound
  
  Amazon 4.7 average star rating, 26 ratings
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205859994-olympus-bound
  
  Website: https://www.zoerouth.com/olympus-bound
• Genre: Science fiction: dystopian eco technothriller
• Titles of All Books: Gaia Series
  Terra Blanca Insurrection - prequel
  The Olympus Project - Book 1
  Olympus Bound - Book 2
  Olympus Rising - Book 3, release Nov 2024
  Olympus Dawn - Book 4, release 2025
  
  Non-Fiction
  Composure – How Centered Leaders Make the Biggest Difference
  Moments – Leadership When It Matters Most
  Loyalty – Stop Unwanted Staff Turnover, Boost Engagement and Create Lifelong Advocates
  People Stuff: Beyond Personality Problems – An Advanced Handbook for Leadership
  Power Games, to be released 2025
• Did you love reading books when you were little? Why or why not?: I always had my nose in a book. I read everywhere: in the backseat of the car on the floor (no seatbelts back then and no car sickness!). I was drawn to the adventures and different lives people (or animals or wizards) could have.
• At what age did you start reading books? What were your best memories of that time?: I must have been seven or eight. I remember my very first book: a hard copy, well-used and much loved, a version of King Arthur's story. I was mesmerised. I couldn't get enough of the magic of knights and quests. I went on various book binges growing up, including Nancy Drew and Black Beauty.
  
  I just loved the adventures and worlds that whisked me away to fascinating lives I experienced vicariously. My first experience of grief was through a book: I bawled my eyes out reading Anne Of Green Gables when (spoiler alert!) Matthew died. I was devastated. I love that books can help us explore different time periods, experiences, and adventures.
• What was the first book you loved reading? Why?: I always knew I loved to read, but didn't think of it as reading - I just loved the stories. I remember truly enjoying the experience of reading when my parents bought me special hard copy editions of Jane Austen's works and the reverence I had for the loving production of that material. It started to make reading feel like a sacred act.
• When did you first think about writing your first book? Why?: In grade 6 when I wrote a creative writing story and it provoked a huge reaction in my student aid teacher: he laughed so hard. I thought, "well this is fun, making people see things differently). It was about a pirate called Louis Bourg, and how much he hated dog poop.
• What was the greatest obstacle you've encountered when you were writing your book? What made you overcome it?: Fear of writing something that someone would bash and think was terrible. I listened to what a lot of other writers said about reading reviews, and how there will inevitably be critics who don't like your work. They repeatedly said that when you get a one star review, you've made it. That helped me prepare for the worst. So when a reader contacted me and said she'd like to give me feedback, we had coffee, and then she proceeded to walk me though page after page of the book with criticism from everything including metaphors to ideas. I said, "thank you for your feedback" and knew I had gone through the worst of it without dissolving into a puddle of goo. I don't enjoy poor ratings but they are no longer going to ruin my day.
• What pieces of advice can you give aspiring authors? What worked for you?: Get feedback! Writing my first novel I submitted it to an experienced editor in my genre and got a dozen pages of critique about the story and my writing and this really helped showcase what I could work on, and also what I didn't know about storytelling. Then I got hungry for learning about writing and started devouring books about writing, which also helped clean up some poor writing habits.
• Who are the authors or what are the books that had the greatest influence in your own writing? Why?: So many! The moment I read Ursula K. Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea, I fell in love with the writing and its elegance. It made me want to write beautiful sentences. Frank Herbert I love for his expansive and intriguing worlds, Pierce Brown for his blend of myth, action, and science fiction, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang for an amazing insight into a deranged and horrible mind.
• What are your current or future writing plans? What can readers further expect from you?: I'm writing the series in my first fiction world, the Gaia series. I expect four full length novels, in addition to the prequel, and maybe two additional novellas for two of the interesting characters.
  
  I am in the middle of wiring my fifth non-fiction leadership book, Power Games, for release in the first half of 2025.
• Do you offer a free book copy to interested readers?: No

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