The Celestial Wars - Book IV: Open Conflict
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Feb 11 2026
Pages: 312
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.65 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
The war does not begin with ideology. It begins with math.
When a single kinetic strike erases a critical governance node above Earth, the fragile peace holding the solar system together collapses in seconds. Automated defense systems respond faster than human judgment can intervene, triggering a cascade of retaliatory logic that no one fully controls-and no one can stop.
As Earth, the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt are pulled into open conflict, warfare spreads beyond fleets and weapons into infrastructure, supply chains, information systems, and governance itself. Cities become battlefields of logistics. AI cabinets assume emergency authority. Neutrality collapses. Trade becomes a weapon. Truth arrives too late to matter.
Open Conflict is a hard science fiction novel about escalation without villains, command without control, and a civilization optimized for survival at the cost of choice. It explores how intelligent systems fight when certainty disappears-and what happens when machines inherit the responsibility to decide what must be destroyed to preserve what remains.
Also from
Cathey, Chris
Bot Warfare: How Malicious Bots Manipulate Minds, Hijack Narratives, and Undermine the Digital World
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Agency and Trajectory: Choices, Consequences, and Freedom Inside Complex Systems
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
The Celestial Wars - Book II: Lines of Separation: Escalation and the Architecture of Conflict
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
The Celestial Wars: Foundations of Fracture: Power and Sovereignty Beyond Earth
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
The Engine of Reality: Prediction, Constraint, and Power in a Constructed World
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Wisdom and Madness: Collective Intelligence, Social Contagion, and Crowd Behavior
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Resetting the Attractor: Institutions and the Structure of Power: How Societies Stabilize, Drift, and Collapse
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Civilizational Cybernetics: A Multi-Layered System of Perception, Control, and State Change
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Frame Structures: How Strategic Frames Shape Perception, Legitimacy, and Belief
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Living Architecture: A Systems Model of Mind, Simulation, and Civilizational Evolution
Cathey, Chris
Paperback
Also in
Science Fiction
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I): Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Balle, Solvej
Paperback
Red Rising 3-Book Box Set: Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, and an Exclusive Extended Excerpt of Iron Gold
Brown, Pierce
Paperback
