The Ellington Chronicles

The Shadow of Apollo

By: Andrew Kirkley

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In The Shadow of Apollo, the first gripping installment of the Ellington Chronicles series, President Raymond Ellington—a battle-hardened Vietnam vet turned commander-in-chief—uncovers a conspiracy that shatters the myth of America’s lunar triumph. When a mysterious thumb drive lands on his desk, revealing NASA’s Apollo landings as a staged hoax filmed in a pool, Ellington enlists geophysicist Evelyn Hart to dig deeper. What begins as a hunt for truth spirals into a relentless war against unseen forces—government shadows, black-ops assassins, and a subterranean entity tied to the Moon’s darkest secrets. From the stormed-ravaged White House to the depths of Subterra’s Delta-7 facility in West Virginia, they battle to expose a lie spanning decades: the landings were a cover for Project Horizon, a mission that retrieved something alive, adaptive, and buried beneath the earth. As Subterra collapses and the entity breaks free, the truth ignites the world—but the war is far from over. This 80,000-word thriller sets the stage for a series where Ellington and Hart face the fallout of a reality unmoored, with shadows stretching far beyond the horizon.


The Ellington Chronicles, are works of historical fiction. While it is inspired by real locations such as Rome, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as historical events and figures including the Cherokee presence, early settlers, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) projects, the story, characters, and underground society depicted herein are entirely products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to real events beyond the broadly historical context is purely coincidental and not intended to represent factual history.

The author, Andrew Kirkley, with contributions from Grok 3 (xAI), has taken creative liberties to weave a narrative that blends historical settings with speculative elements, including the fictional Subterra pact, the underground community, and the supernatural beings known as the Vein. References to real places, such as the Coosa, Oostanaula, and Etowah rivers, Sand Mountain Church, and forts like Attaway and Norton, are used as a backdrop to enhance the story and should not be construed as accurate depictions of their historical or current states. Similarly, the portrayal of President Raymond Ellington and his family is a fictional construct and not reflective of any real individual or lineage.

This novel is intended for entertainment purposes only. Readers are encouraged to view it as a work of imagination rather than a factual account. The author and publisher assume no responsibility for any misinterpretation of historical events, geographical details, or cultural references presented within these pages.