The Evidence

When navy pilot John Wells enters astronaut training school, little does he realize that his calling toward the stars will lead him to Mars to thwart an alien invasion. Or that he will face so many challenges to his devout faith.

Wells, the protagonist of The Evidence (NavPress, 2006), book one in the Mars Hill Classified series, is on his first flight aboard the International Space Station when a massive terrorist attack takes out much of the U.S. military’s infrastructure as well as the command center for NASA. The terrorists aren’t, however, foreign-born nationals but homegrown renegades led by a dangerous ex-air force officer named Nick. Nick seems to be in it for the money, but who are the puppet masters pulling his strings? All evidence points to mysterious signals emanating from the Red Planet. While special agent Terrance Kerry tracks the terrorists, Wells comes home, only to find himself in command of a mission to Mars to learn the truth.

A former navy pilot, astronaut finalist, and space systems engineer, author Austin Boyd ’77 knows the technical ins and outs well enough to ground The Evidence in solid science and engineering. What is more unusual is to see a near-future, high-tech thriller laced with profound Christian sentiment. Although this may seem at odds with the science-fiction aspects of the story, Boyd doesn’t see it that way. “Christian fiction writing lacks the technological and edgy real-life situations that are showing up in mainstream writing,” he says. “We need to deal with those issues in a novel environment. We should be writing fiction that shares truth, which is what Jesus did with his parables.”

Book two of the Mars Hill Classified series, The Proof, hit stores in September, and book three, The Return, will be released in June 2007.

—Christopher Dow