Courtesy photo
Dr. Gerold Yonas
COMMUNITY News:
Dr. Gerold Yonas’ thriller “The Dragon’s Brain” earned a first-place award in the category of fictional novel for adult readers in the New Mexico Press Women 2025 Communications Contest, which honors outstanding communications and media produced in 2024.
In awarding the prize, the judge wrote, “Once picked up, difficult to put down.” The judge’s comments continued with, “Dr. Yonas, renowned scientist, has created a fast-paced and riveting novel with a team of scientists who are researching a way to generate a power source to benefit all mankind. Expect the unexpected from the repercussions of the invention. In spite of the scientific terms, the author creates a story that’s very readable and compelling. Good character development with subplots of espionage, relationship, conflict.” Winners were announced following the NMPW conference March 22, 2025.
This thriller set in a fictional near-future version of Los Alamos National Laboratory, features ripped-from-the-headlines topics as Yonas draws on his scientific expertise and national security background. From breakthroughs in clean energy, to a mysterious disease that impacts brainwaves, to Chinese spies bent on world domination; Yonas takes readers into a future where the unintended consequences of scientific breakthroughs could forever alter the course of humanity.
The “Dragon’s Brain” is the second book in the Project Z series. Yonas’ first novel in the series, “The Dragon’s CLAW,” which is also set in Los Alamos, was a finalist in the 2023 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards and received an honorable mention award for fiction in the 2024 New Mexico Press Women’s Contest. Both books are published by Artemesia Publishing, a small independent publisher based in New Mexico. Learn more about the Project Z series at https://projectzbooks.com/.
Commenting on “The Dragon’s CLAW,” former Los Alamos National Laboratory Director John Browne said, “Gerry Yonas introduces current day science concepts in a realistic manner into his plot along with characters who are credible based on my experience working in the national laboratories. While this is science fiction, the science involved in the plot makes one ponder what other ideas are out there for development into either good or evil applications, like the Manhattan Project quandary in WWII over nuclear energy for weapons or electricity.”
Yonas served as the acting deputy director and chief scientist during the implementation of the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars Program. He has consulted for numerous national security organizations including the Defense Science Board, DARPA, the Air Force, the Army, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has received many honors, including the U.S. Air Force Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
At Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, Yonas led the pulsed power fusion program and several weapons related programs in the role of vice president of Systems, Science and Technology, and went on to create the Advanced Concepts Group and explore new opportunities including brain research. Following his retirement from Sandia, he joined the Mind Research Network as the director of neurosystems engineering where he explored the link between neuroscience and systems engineering. He is also the author of “Death Rays and Delusions,” a memoir of his time working with the Strategic Defense Initiative.
New Mexico Press Women, organized in 1949, is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women. NMPW “is an organization of professional journalists and communicators that promotes the highest ethical standards while looking to the future in professional development, networking and protecting First Amendment rights,” according to the New Mexico Press Women’s website.
To purchase the books, go to:
Amazon:
The Dragon’s CLAW
The Dragon’s Brain
Barnes & Noble
The Dragon’s CLAW
The Dragon’s Brain
Bookshop.org
The Dragon’s CLAW
The Dragon’s Brain