Continuing the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well-established on the moon andlooking forward to its next step: journeying to, and eventually colonizing, Mars.
Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but there’s a lotriding on whoever the International Aerospace Coalition decides to send on thishistoric—but potentially very dangerous—mission? Could Elma really leave behindher husband and the chance to start a family to spend several years travelingto Mars? And with the Civil Rights movement taking hold all over Earth, willthe astronaut pool ever be allowed to catch up, and will these brave men andwomen of all races be treated equitably when they get there? This gripping lookat the real conflicts behind a fantastical space race will put a new spin onour visions of what might have been.