The Vestige Protocol
Cover reveal, pre-orders, and the beginning of a new journey.
He came for salvage. He found something waiting.
Many of the thought experiments we explored here in the past weeks, about generation ships, interstellar salvage, and the practical realities of deep-space travel, finally come together as a novel. I'm delighted to share it with you today.
The Vestige Protocol is a hard science fiction thriller following salvage operator Stan Falk as he boards a generation ship that vanished centuries ago. He expects to recover valuable technology; instead he discovers that the ship is not as abandoned as he believed.
It’s a story about first contact, grief, interstellar archaeology, and a question that became the foundation of the novel: How do we recognise a person when they are nothing like us?
Both the Kindle and the paperback editions are now available for pre-order.
Release date: 7 August 2026.
Kindle Unlimited readers can download it from release day.
If you're planning to read The Vestige Protocol, pre-ordering is one of the most helpful ways you can support the launch. Amazon counts pre-orders toward release day, helping a new book gain visibility and reach readers who might otherwise never discover it.
Looking Ahead
In a few days I’ll share the complete opening chapter here, so you can meet Stan and step aboard the Epochal for yourself before launch.
I’ll also start a short series called Worldbuilder’s Notebook, with some insights on some of the science and engineering challenges that writing The Vestige Project entailed: the economics of interstellar salvage, generation ships made obsolete by the technology that replaced them, the practical challenges of boarding a vessel that’s drifted through deep space for centuries. Each piece stands on its own and I’ll avoid major spoilers.
If this one’s for a friend who’d enjoy hard Science Fiction with a first-contact spine, forward it along; that’s the easiest way to help a new book find its readers.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
Until next time,
—Vincent
PS: In case you wonder: Black Box Case #002 is still very much alive—I haven’t forgotten it.