The Fire That Tests Gold

Beulah Gresham crossed millions of miles believing she understood love.

Mars has other ideas.

When the merchant aethership Phoenix arrives at the ancient city of Seven Canals, its mission seems straightforward: secure the liftwood and grav panels needed to keep Earth’s expansion into the heavens alive. Instead, the crew finds itself drawn into a world unlike any they imagined—a world of powerful noblewomen, deadly political rivalries, hidden agendas, and courtly rituals where a single mistake can cost more than money.

For Beulah, the greatest challenge is not trade, intrigue, or even danger. It is the realization that everything she thought she knew about society, romance, and herself may be wrong.

As powerful factions maneuver to control Phoenix and its priceless cargo of power crystals, Beulah must decide whether she will cling to comforting illusions—or allow the fires of Mars to forge her into something stronger.

Set in the acclaimed Greshamverse, Martian Phoenix is a tale of adventure, political intrigue, romance, and personal transformation amid the glittering canals and ancient courts of a dying world.

Sometimes gold is not tested until it enters the fire.