For the progress that rushes at a gallop, humanity pays with its dependence on high-tech miracles: if there is a failure, the entire civilization will crumble like a house of cards. However, if backwardness is deliberately cultivated and progress is artificially hobbled, you can get into an even more serious crisis: any conqueror can defeat you not with bombs, but with the help of seductive high technologies released into the wild.

Strauss's debut novel , a space opera about the distant future, was released in 2003 and was nominated for “Hugo” 2004 and “Locus” 2004 (7th place). The following year, its sequel was released - Iron Sunrise (2004), which was nominated for Hugo 2005 and Locus 2005 (2nd place). Together they form the “Eschaton” duology.