For lovers of Andy Weir’s The Martian, here’s a true hard science-fiction tale set on the red planet—a terrific blend of high tech and high tension, of science and suspense, of character and crisis.

—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Red Planet Blues and Quantum Night

Science fiction as it should be. Retrograde combines realistic characters with depictions of Mars as our explorers will one day find it in a powerful story. A must read!

—Ben Bova, six-time Hugo Award-winner and author of The Grand Tour series

Post-apocalyptic disaster meets fractured utopian space exploration in this terrifying tale, which Cawdron (Anomaly) sets in a scientific outpost on Mars. Geologist Liz inhabits one of four subterranean modules built through massive cooperation among earth’s space agencies. Hazy news of a widespread nuclear war back home sends the astronauts into paranoid seclusion. […] Readers craving scientific realism will appreciate the frequent narrative interruptions that provide details on what a Martian colony would actually need, including radiation protection and divisions of labor. This tense cat and mouse game [leads] to satisfying [conclusion].

—Publishers Weekly

Unlike Weir’s tale, which presented a lone, abandoned astronaut’s struggle for survival, Retrograde expands the concept to show us the group dynamics of people who are left to fend for themselves. They not only must put aside longstanding international grievances and suspicions in order to survive in their new home, but they must also figure out who the real enemy is. Cawdron also seems to have painstaking[ly] given us realistic depictions of a future Martian life, whereas Weir admittedly not only got some of the science incorrect, but also took some artistic liberties…..The facts are interwoven into Liz’s narrative, not bogging down the story, so once you get the lay of the land, you can read through Retrograde quickly and most enjoyably.

—Geeks of Doom