Gerald Brennan 
Alone on the Moon 
A Soviet Lunar Odyssey

May, 1970. A two-person Soviet crew approaches the moon, ready to accomplish the greatest feat in human history—provided they can overcome their own petty jealousies, and the unforgiving harshness of space.




Alone on the Moon chronicles a Soviet moon mission through the eyes of Boris Volynov, a backup who’s been pressed into service helping Alexei Leonov (a man he despises) attempt humanity’s first lunar landing. Thoroughly researched, it’s a detailed and plausible rendition of two larger-than-life personalities facing incredible challenges. It’s also a meditation on luck, trust, the nature of observation, and the burden of being chosen—plus the way our personal narratives can shape (or poison) our perceptions of the present. Do the stories we tell ourselves shape our fate, or can we write a new chapter? The answer awaits.



The titles in the Altered Space series are wholly separate narratives, but all deal with the mysteries of space and time, progress and circularity. Each one is an ensō of words in which orbits of spacecraft, moons, planets, and people allow us fresh perspectives on the cycles of our own lives.

Circa l’autore

Gerald Brennan earned a B.S. in European History from West Point and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. He’s the author of Resistance, which Kirkus called “an extremely impressive debut, ” and four space books including Island of Clouds. ("Speculative sci-fi at its finest." - Neal Thompson, author of Light This Candle.) His writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and Newcity and was on the latter’s 2019 Lit 50 list of notable literary Chicagoans; he’s also the founder of Tortoise Books, a Chicago-based independent press that WGN Radio’s Rick Kogan recently called “…one of the best, most provocative, and rewarding publishing houses in the entire country.”