Tag: found family

Is Friends in Command for You?

Friends in Command is a character-driven military science fiction novel and space opera series installment about leadership, loyalty, and the quiet terror of being responsible for other people’s lives. Set during an escalating interstellar war, it follows a small starship crew forced to grow up fast—personally, morally, and professionally—when command stops being theoretical and starts being real.

This is the fourth book in the Sons of the Starfarers military science fiction series and builds directly on the events, relationships, and character arcs established in the earlier novels.

What Kind of Reader Will Love Friends in Command?

If you love…

military science fiction that focuses on people, leadership, and consequences, not just tactics
character-driven space opera about friends becoming leaders under pressure
stories where command is a burden, not a reward
long-running series with deepening relationships and evolving roles across multiple books
emotional arcs about loyalty, responsibility, and hard-earned maturity in wartime

…then Friends in Command is probably your kind of story.

What You’ll Find Inside

The story centers on a young crew—many of them longtime comrades—now thrust into positions of real authority aboard a frontline warship in a character-driven military space opera. As the war grows more complex and dangerous, friendships are tested, mistakes carry higher costs, and leadership becomes a daily moral trial. The tone is thoughtful and tense, balancing moments of action with introspective, character-focused scenes, and the pacing reflects the pressure of command: urgent when it must be, deliberate when it matters most.

What Makes Friends in Command Different

Unlike many military SF novels that focus on ascension and glory, Friends in Command is about the awkward, painful middle stage of leadership—when characters are no longer protected by inexperience but not yet confident masters of their roles. It functions as a bridge book within the series, deepening character arcs and setting the emotional stakes for what comes next. Readers who enjoy ensemble casts and long-form character growth—rather than clean standalone victories—will find this installment especially rewarding.

What You Won’t Find

This is not a standalone novel, and it’s not designed for readers who want a reset with each book. You also won’t find nihilism or shock-for-shock’s-sake violence; while the story is intense and serious, it remains grounded in loyalty, conscience, and earned hope rather than cynicism.

Why I Think You Might Love It

I think Friends in Command resonates because it captures a moment many stories skip over: when people are promoted before they feel ready, and the cost of getting things wrong suddenly includes the people they care about most—a moment many readers recognize from real life as much as from fiction. This book mattered to me because it let the characters stop reacting and start choosing—sometimes badly, sometimes bravely—and those choices ripple forward through the rest of the series.

Where to Get the Book

Get the ebook FREE from my online store!

Is Brothers in Exile for you?

Brothers in Exile by Joe Vasicek is a character-driven space opera / adventure sci-fi about two brothers trying to survive as independent starfarers on the edge of a growing empire. When their routine run takes them to a silent derelict station—and a discovery they can’t ignore—the story turns into a tense, momentum-driven ride through frontier ports, bad deals, and the early tremors of interstellar conquest.

Brothers in Exile is Book 1 of Sons of the Starfarers, a clean, character-driven space opera series about starfarers caught in the early tremors of imperial expansion.

What Kind of Reader Will Love Brothers in Exile?

If you love…

frontier space opera: starships, stations, salvage, dangerous trade routes
space opera with heart: loyal crews, sacrifice, and family bonds under pressure
clean, hopeful science fiction (minimal profanity, no explicit sex) with faith, family, and conscience in the background
high-stakes trouble that escalates fast: one decision → bigger consequences → empire-scale ripple effects
mystery + rescue momentum, where “we can’t just walk away” drives the plot

…then Brothers in Exile is probably your kind of story.

What You’ll Find Inside

Isaac Deltana is the careful one—the older brother trying to keep their ship, their finances, and their lives from flying apart. Aaron is the spark—reckless, brave, and stubbornly determined to do the right thing once he believes something matters. The tone is tense but humane: a fast-paced, character-driven space adventure with heart, built around survival, moral choice, and the bond between brothers as the Outworlds begin to feel the shadow of the Gaian Imperials stretching outward.

What Makes Brothers in Exile Different

A lot of space opera is driven by lone wolves or chosen ones; this one is driven by family—two brothers who can’t stop being brothers even when everything is going wrong. It has the frontier trading feel of classic space opera, but puts family and moral choice front and center. It has a “scrappy ship on the fringe” flavor you might associate with Firefly, but the moral center is steadier and the tone is less cynical. And while there’s big-picture geopolitics (expansion, control, annexation), the story stays grounded in human-scale decisions: what you owe a stranger, what freedom costs, and how far you’ll go to keep someone from being used or erased.

What You Won’t Find

You won’t find grimdark nihilism, explicit sexual content, or shock-for-shock’s-sake violence. This is clean, character-driven space opera—fast-moving and emotional—rather than slow, technical hard sci-fi. The science is ‘believable enough,’ but the focus is on choices, consequences, and the bond between brothers.

Why I Think You Might Love Brothers in Exile

I wrote Brothers in Exile because I wanted a space adventure where the relationship mattered as much as the action. In my author’s note, I talk about how the brother dynamic in the film Gettysburg (and the real emotional weight behind it) helped shape the characters Isaac and Aaron—the older brother trying to be the responsible one, and the reckless younger brother who pushes back against the authority figures in his life. If you enjoy stories where family is both the complication and the strength—where two people face the void together and refuse to stop caring—I think you’re going to enjoy this book.

Where to Get Brothers in Exile

Get the audiobook FREE from my online store!

Is Gunslinger to Earth for You?

Gunslinger to Earth is a character-driven space opera adventure about crossing a cosmic no-man’s-land to discover what happened to the home you thought was lost forever. It blends gunslinger-style starship action, found-family dynamics, political revolution, and end-times mystery as Rex Carter, Sam Kletchka, and Jane Kletchka risk everything to follow Earth into an impossible anomaly. It’s a fast, hopeful, and surprisingly tender finale that wraps up the Gunslinger Trilogy with both high stakes and a genuine sense of homecoming.

What Kind of Reader Will Love This Book?

If you love…

Space opera that feels like Firefly meets end-times science fiction, with a gunslinger pilot, a loyal found family, and a war-torn galaxy trying to pull them apart
Stories where faith, prophecy, and cosmic mystery actually matter to the plot, not just as window dressing
Coming-of-age under fire, as Rex Carter tries to decide who he is and where he belongs while revolutions, wormholes, and vanished planets rearrange the map of human history
Character-focused military SF with moral clarity, loyalty, and hope, rather than grimdark cynicism

…then Gunslinger to Earth is probably your kind of story.

What You’ll Find Inside

Gunslinger to Earth is a story rooted in space opera adventure, end-times science fiction, and prophecy-driven mystery. The hero of this third book in the trilogy is Rex Carter, a cadet still reeling from the day Earth and Luna vanished into an impossible anomaly. Torn between his patriot girlfriend Charlotte, his loyalty to Sam and Jane, and his fear for his family back home, Rex has to grow up fast as he’s swept into a mission to follow Earth across the “world-bridge” and find out what really happened.

The mood balances tense, boots-on-the-deck action (derelict ghost ships in the anomaly, desperate battles near wormholes, claustrophobic escapes from Luna) with a deep, almost awe-struck sense of wonder as the crew finally confronts a transformed Earth and the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. The style is fast-paced, voice-driven, and accessible—more “frontier adventure with big ideas” than hard-science textbook—with a strong throughline of family, faith, and the search for home.

What Makes It Different

Fans of classic space opera and military SF—think Firefly, The Expanse, or David Weber—will recognize the starship battles, political tensions, and ragtag crews, but Gunslinger to Earth takes those ideas in a very different direction. Instead of treating religion and prophecy as background flavor, this book leans straight into them: the disappearance of Earth isn’t just a physics problem, it’s tied to the City of Enoch, the fulfillment of Latter-day Saint-style millennial prophecies, and a literal “new Earth” where history has turned a corner.

Where many space war stories focus on winning the next battle or installing the next regime, this one asks what happens when the war is suddenly dwarfed by something much bigger—when the homeworld itself is renewed and taken off the game board. It’s less about toppling empires and more about how ordinary, stubbornly decent people respond when God, history, and politics all collide at once. And because it’s the capstone of the Gunslinger Trilogy, it doesn’t just raise the stakes; it actually lands them with a clear, hopeful ending.

Readers who enjoy the moral backbone of Lois McMaster Bujold, the frontier grit of Firefly, and the cosmic mystery of The Expanse will find familiar elements here—but woven together in a way that feels genuinely new.

What You Won’t Find

You won’t find grimdark nihilism, graphic sex, or wall-to-wall gore here. The story has violence, war, and real loss—this is a revolution and an end-times crisis, after all—but it’s written at about a PG-13 level, with the camera panning away from anything needlessly explicit. You also won’t find a sneering, anti-religious tone; faith and prophecy are treated respectfully and sincerely, even when characters struggle to believe them. This is a cleaner-but-still-intense sci-fi adventure that focuses more on meaning, loyalty, and wonder than shock value.

Why I Think You Might Love It

I wrote Gunslinger to Earth during a major turning point in my own life—just after I started dating the woman who would become my wife, at a time when I was reinventing my writing process so I could tell better stories more consistently. In a lot of ways, this book is about that same kind of turning point on a galactic scale: the moment when old patterns break, a long-promised future finally arrives, and you have to decide who you’re going to be on the other side of it. My hope is that if you care about loyalty, about home, about the possibility that history is going somewhere meaningful, then this story will leave you with the same feeling it gave me while I was writing it: that even in the middle of chaos, there’s a way through—and it leads somewhere worth fighting for.

Where to Get the Book

Being Equally Yoked in Gunslinger to the Galaxy

At its core, Gunslinger to the Galaxy is a space-opera story built around a deceptively simple question: what does it mean to be equally yoked when the universe is coming apart at the seams? Jane Kletchka isn’t just trying to save Earth; she’s trying to build a marriage, a family, and a vocation that all matter in an honest, eternal way. The story keeps circling back to this tension: how do you stay true to your gifts, your faith, and your partner when war, politics, and Immortal-sized crises keep demanding more?

Where the Idea Came From

When I wrote Gunslinger to the Galaxy, I was working part-time at a warehouse in Iowa and later grinding through a 40+ hour per week construction job in Utah. I wasn’t married yet, but it was something I definitely wanted in my life, and I poured that into my writing, forcing myself to write a few hundred words a day even when I was exhausted and everything around me felt like a dump.

That experience of trying to build something meaningful in the middle of chaos is baked into Jane and Sam’s story. At its heart, Gunslinger to the Galaxy is about two people trying to be a force for good while the universe keeps trying to knock them flat. I kept that theme close even through the difficult circumstances surrounding its writing—and, fittingly, around the time I finished the book, I also met the woman who would become my wife.

How Being Equally Yoked Shapes the Story

“Equally yoked” isn’t just a passing phrase in this book; it’s the backbone of Jane’s entire arc. From the early garden conversation with her mother—where Mom worries that Jane will end up standing in Sam’s shadow instead of using her own God-given talents as a xenolinguist—the story keeps pressing on a single pressure point: is this marriage helping both partners become what they’re meant to be, or is one being swallowed by the other’s path?

When the jumpgate network collapses and the Immortal civil war throws the galaxy into crisis, Jane has every excuse to curl up and let events happen to her. Instead, the story turns when she realizes she can’t just be “the gunslinger’s wife.” Drawing on Sam’s blunt insight about control and trauma, she chooses to use her training, her languages, and her brain to actually shape events—digging into logs, mapping networks, and turning her grief and fear into concrete action that can save lives and maybe bring Sam home. Being equally yoked here means more than just sharing a last name; it means each partner brings their full self to the fight, and the marriage becomes a shared mission instead of a sacrifice of one person’s calling to the other’s.

By the end, when Jane and Sam are sealed in the temple and begin building a family, the book circles back to that original fear: will motherhood and marriage erase Jane’s larger purpose? The answer is no—but not because the galaxy gets easier. Instead, the story shows her finding ways to balance remote work for the Andromedans and the Intergalactic Council with raising John Moses, weaving vocation, faith, and family into a single, hard-won whole. The adventure isn’t over; it’s just moved into a new phase where “equally yoked” means building a life that can withstand both warp drives and diapers.

What Being Equally Yoked Says About Us

In science fiction, we often see lone-wolf heroes or solitary saviors, but Gunslinger to the Galaxy takes a different path by centering a married-couple partnership in a space-opera setting. Under all the jumpgates and Immortals, this is a story about something very human: the fear that love will cost us our calling—or that our calling will cost us love. Most of us aren’t piloting starships, but we know what it feels like to worry that marriage, family, career, or faith will pull us in different directions until something breaks. Gunslinger to the Galaxy suggests a different model: the people we love most should help us become more ourselves, not less. Being equally yoked doesn’t mean never struggling or never disagreeing; it means pulling the same direction when the load gets heavy, and trusting that God can turn two flawed people into a team that does more good together than either could alone.

Why Being Equally Yoked Matters to Me

I wasn’t married when I wrote Gunslinger to the Galaxy, but it was definitely something I was looking forward to. I wrote it during a season of my life that was chaotic, exhausting, and frankly not very glamorous, but I pushed forward anyway, trusting that the kind of woman I hoped to marry someday would value that dedication. And sure enough, when I finally met her, one of the things that drew her to me was my hard work and dedication to my writing—a dedication that I have also channeled into our marriage and family life.

For me, Gunslinger to the Galaxy is a story about faith, marriage, and the stubborn belief that ordinary people can still choose to do the right thing together, even when it hurts. If this book resonates with you, I hope it’s because you see a bit of your own struggle to be “equally yoked” in a world that always seems on the brink—and you feel a little more hope that it’s worth the fight.

Where to Get the Book

Is Gunslinger to the Galaxy for You?

Gunslinger to the Galaxy is a character-driven space opera about two gunslingers and the interstellar war that forces them to risk everything for Earth. It’s a fast-paced space-opera adventure told through the sharp, heartfelt, often hilarious voice of Jane Kletchka—a xenolinguist newly married to a mercenary gunslinger whose moral stubbornness keeps getting them both into trouble. This is a story about love, loyalty, danger, and the terrifying size of the galaxy when everything collapses at once. Expect a cinematic blend of military sci-fi, first-contact intrigue, and found-family courage.

What Kind of Reader Will Love This Book?

If you like…

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga
Character-driven space opera where the heart of the story is a loyal crew that refuses to quit
Western-flavored sci-fi heroes who charge headlong into impossible odds (with big guns and bigger convictions)
Xenolinguistics, alien politics, and intergalactic mystery woven into a sweeping adventure
Married-couple banter, warm emotional stakes, and a hero/heroine partnership forged in fire
High-stakes battles, warp-drive exploration, and cosmic consequences

…then Gunslinger to the Galaxy is absolutely your kind of story.

What You’ll Find Inside

You’ll follow Jane Kletchka, a brilliant xenolinguist, as she returns to Earth with her gunslinger husband Sam—only to be swept into a galactic crisis involving shattered jumpgate networks, Immortal civil wars, refugee swarms, and a catastrophic threat to Sol itself.

The tone blends romantic adventure, military sci-fi tension, and classic space-opera wonder, all grounded by Jane’s warm, honest, often funny narrative voice. Expect tight pacing, big emotional beats, and a story that moves from intimate family moments to galaxy-spanning stakes without missing a beat.

What Makes It Different

Fans of The Expanse, Honor Harrington, or Firefly will recognize the blend of frontier grit, military realism, and cross-species politics—but Gunslinger to the Galaxy takes those ideas in a fresh direction by placing a married couple at the emotional center of the story. Where many space-opera series focus on lone-wolf heroes, this book leans into the dynamics of partnership, trust, and being “equally yoked” in the middle of interstellar chaos. It combines xenolinguistic problem-solving, Immortal cosmic lore, and Western-style gunslinger ethos in a way no other space-opera series does.

What You Won’t Find

This isn’t grimdark, dystopian, or nihilistic sci-fi—there’s hardship and tragedy, but the story is ultimately hopeful, heroic, and rooted in family and faith. There is no gratuitous violence, no graphic romance, and no cynical “everyone is corrupt” worldview. If you’re looking for bleak anti-heroes or hard-SF technobabble at the expense of character, this won’t be the right fit.

Why I Think You Might Love It

At its core, this book is about ordinary people thrown into extraordinary crises who choose—over and over—to do what’s right, even when it costs them everything. Jane and Sam aren’t superheroes; they are a married couple trying to build a life together while the galaxy falls apart around them. Their courage, humor, and stubborn devotion give the story its heartbeat. If you’ve ever wanted a space-opera that delivers big adventure without losing its humanity, Gunslinger to the Galaxy was written for you.

In short, if you’re looking for a hopeful, high-adventure space opera filled with alien civilizations, military sci-fi battles, found-family warmth, and a fiercely devoted married couple, Gunslinger to the Galaxy delivers exactly that.

Where to Get the Book

Get the ebook for $2.99 until August 31st!

Is Gunslinger to the Stars for You?

Gunslinger to the Stars is a character-driven space opera novel that blends Western adventure, first-contact science fiction, and pulpy action. It’s fast-paced, voice-driven, and built around a loyal, reluctant hero navigating a dangerous galactic frontier. It’s told in the unmistakable voice of Sam Kletchka—half gunslinger, half star-hopping troubleshooter, and 100% fun.

What Kind of Reader Will Love This Book?

If you like…

Classic space adventure with modern voice and humor, where the hero solves problems with grit, guts, and an outrageous arsenal of lovingly described guns
Found-family dynamics between a rough-around-the-edges gunslinger, a principled xenolinguist, a telepathic outcast, and a trio of shapeshifting empaths
Galaxy-spanning mysteries, alien politics, and first-contact stakes that push characters to their limits
The feel of a Western gunslinger dropped straight into a richly imagined galactic frontier

…then Gunslinger to the Stars is absolutely your kind of story.

What You’ll Find Inside

Gunslinger to the Stars (Book 1 of the Gunslinger Trilogy) follows Sam Kletchka, a New Texas gunslinger stranded in the Gorinal Cluster just as the local jumpgate—the only way out—mysteriously goes dark. What starts as a simple job escalates into a battle for survival involving hidden alien races, shape-shifting empaths, worldships, and a rising threat the Immortals never wanted anyone to discover. The tone blends wry humor with escalating danger, and the style is fast-paced, voice-driven, and cinematic—equal parts action romp and big-idea sci-fi. The result is a story that feels both classic and fresh: a pulpy, heartfelt adventure that’s as much about loyalty and moral clarity as it is about space battles and exotic technology.

What Makes It Different

Fans of Firefly and Schlock Mercenary will recognize the snappy banter, the found-crew dynamic, and the blend of humor with high-stakes action. But Gunslinger to the Stars pushes those familiar ingredients in new directions: the gunslinger-as-space-ranger angle gives the book a distinctive American-frontier voice, while the empath culture, the Immortals’ centuries-deep manipulations, and the emergence of the Draxxians create a myth-arc that feels simultaneously expansive and personal. Where many space operas lean on military hierarchy or techno-fetishism, this one leans into character, moral philosophy, and the uneasy tensions between peacekeeping and necessary force—all told through Sam’s dry, self-aware perspective.

This story blends classic space western tropes — the reluctant hero, the ragtag crew, and the dangerous frontier — with a deeper mystery about ancient alien powers. If you enjoy space western stories with a strong first-contact throughline, you’re going to enjoy this book.

What You Won’t Find

If you’re looking for grimdark bleakness, heavy technobabble, or a cynical antihero who never grows, this isn’t that. And if you want romance-heavy sci-fi or endless political intrigue, this book doesn’t go down those roads either. But if you want hopeful, character-focused adventure with humor, heart, and a hero who takes responsibility for his choices—sometimes reluctantly—you’ll feel right at home.

Why I Think You Might Love It

I wrote this story at a time when I needed to shake things up creatively, by writing something fun, energetic, and different from what I had been writing at the time. I was also going through a time when my worldview was changing, and I was questioning a lot of my old assumptions. This book grew out of a number of things: from my conversations with close friends, my love of classic pulp sci-fi, and from the idea of a lone wanderer who tries—however imperfectly—to do the right thing. The result, I believe, was a book with a lot of heart that captures that spark of wonder that made me first fall in love with science fiction. If that’s what you’re looking for, I think you’re going to love it!

Where to Get the Book

Is The Stars of Redemption for You?

The Stars of Redemption brings the Genesis Earth Trilogy to its heartwarming conclusion, weaving together cosmic mystery, high-stakes adventure, and the emotional journey of a family caught between past and future. In this character-driven science fiction novel and grand finale of the Genesis Earth Trilogy, the secrets of the ghost ship, the wormhole, and humanity’s long-lost Earth collide, pushing Terra, Michael, Estee, and Khalil toward a destiny that tests their courage, their bonds, and their hope.

What Kind of Reader Will Love This Book?

If you like…

Character-driven science fiction where relationships matter as much as the big ideas
High-stakes adventure rooted in loyalty, courage, and found family
Deep-time, big-concept SF (time paradoxes, shattered superintelligences, dead Earth, existential threats)
Teens thrust into danger who must grow up fast without losing their humanity
Stories where the emotional journey hits as hard as the plot twists

…then The Stars of Redemption is exactly the kind of story you’re looking for.

What You’ll Find Inside

The Stars of Redemption follows Estee and Khalil as they ride a mysterious ancient ghost ship run by a fractured AI. The two young adults now know the truth about the time travel paradox that created it, but they aren’t sure how to stop it from going back and annihilating the human race. But solving the paradox will create an alternate timeline—one where many of their loved ones have lived totally different lives. The result is a tense, emotional, wonder-filled journey that blends survival, mystery, love, grief, and cosmic terror into a finale that feels both epic in scope and heartwarmingly personal.

What Makes It Different

Fans of classic time-paradox stories and authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Becky Chambers, or Michael Crichton will recognize the sense of cosmic mystery, but The Stars of Redemption takes those ideas in a uniquely human direction. Where many time-loop or AI-disaster stories focus on spectacle, this one leans into relationships, trauma, and the fragile bonds that hold people together when everything else collapses. And unlike most YA or near-YA science fiction, it refuses to sacrifice scientific wonder or thematic depth—holding the line on both heart and hard SF ideas.

What You Won’t Find

If you’re looking for grimdark nihilism, sexually explicit romance, or nonstop action with minimal character growth, this isn’t that book. But if you prefer science fiction grounded in hope, heart, survival, and meaning, with characters who feel real enough to bleed, you’ll feel right at home here.

Why I Think You Might Love It

I wrote The Stars of Redemption shortly after becoming a young father, and that life-changing experience deeply informed the conclusion of the Genesis Earth Trilogy. Starting a family of my own made Estee and Khalil’s found family more vivid, as well as Estee’s need to fill the hole left by losing her parents. This became the most mature and thoughtful book in the trilogy—the kind of story I always wanted to write but couldn’t until I’d lived a little more myself.

If you loved the high-concept wonder and emotional heart of Genesis Earth and Edenfall, I think you will find The Stars of Redemption to be a thoroughly satisfying, deeply meaningful conclusion to the trilogy!

Where to Get the Book

FREE EBOOK when you buy the audibook direct!