Tag: space opera

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!

Moral Courage in Gunslinger to the Stars

What does it mean to do the right thing when the galaxy around you is chaotic, corrupt, or outright absurd? Gunslinger to the Stars takes that question and drops it squarely in the lap of Sam Kletchka—a mercenary gunslinger navigating a dangerous galactic frontier who keeps choosing responsibility even when no one is watching, rewarding, or deserving. At its heart, this space-western adventure is about moral courage: the stubborn, unfashionable insistence on doing the right thing in a universe that rarely makes it easy.

Where the Idea Came From

This theme grew out of a mashup of influences—long conversations with writer friends, a subplot from Schlock Mercenary, and the realization that a “rogue Immortal” character needed a counterweight with a strong personal code. Around the same time, I was watching Breaking Bad, fascinated by characters like Mike Ehrmantraut—tough, pragmatic men who do terrible things for complicated reasons. To push back against such a villainous force, I imagined Sam Kletchka: a gunslinger in a messy, morally gray universe who lives by a code and keeps choosing the harder path simply because it’s right, even when the galaxy doesn’t care.

How Moral Courage Shapes the Story

At every major turning point in Gunslinger to the Stars, Sam Kletchka’s choices are defined by moral courage—the instinct to protect others even when it’s dangerous, inconvenient, or unwinnable. He charges after kidnapped empaths when walking away would be safer; he shields Jane’s diplomatic idealism with his hard-won pragmatism; he survives abandonment in the desert through sheer stubborn responsibility; and he repeatedly throws himself into battles around war rigs, jumpgates, and alien war parties because no one else can or will. His personal code drives the story’s conflicts, shapes the character dynamics, and pushes this space-opera adventure toward a climax where courage isn’t about glory but about doing the right thing in a lawless, unpredictable, morally gray galaxy.

What Moral Courage Says About Us

Sam’s story reflects something deeply human: we don’t get to choose the worlds we’re born into, but we do get to choose what kind of people we become. In a galaxy run by Immortals, riddled with slavers, warlords, and manipulative telepaths, Sam’s personal code becomes his anchor—the thing that keeps him from becoming the very wolf he warns Jane about. His courage isn’t flashy heroism; it’s the uncomfortable, everyday kind that demands sacrifice, loyalty, and integrity when it would be easier to look away. In that sense, the book becomes a mirror for readers who love character-driven science fiction that asks what we stand for when the world pushes back.

Why This Theme Matters to Me

I wrote this book at a very different time in my life—years after Genesis Earth, when my own view of the world had shifted. I still believed in cultural understanding and bridging divides, but I’d also seen enough to know that evil doesn’t always yield to good intentions. Like Sam, I firmly believe in the right to defend oneself and others, and I’ve had long debates about the responsibilities that come with that. I wanted to write a character who lives at the intersection of those values—someone who understands violence, hates it, but won’t walk away when others depend on him. That tension, that conviction, is why moral courage felt like the beating heart of Gunslinger to the Stars.

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

Breaking the Time Paradox in The Stars of Redemption

What if the deadliest threat humanity ever faced wasn’t an alien invasion or a rogue AI… but a mistake we keep repeating that always ends with the destruction of Earth? The Stars of Redemption, the last book in my young adult science fiction trilogy, explores this question.

At its core, The Stars of Redemption is about the struggle to break a closed time loop, stop a rogue superintelligence, and rewrite a future that seems unchangeable. This makes The Stars of Redemption a classic time-loop science fiction story, built around temporal paradoxes, fate-versus-free-will dilemmas, and the struggle to break a repeating extinction cycle. It is a story about escaping destructive cycles, choosing hope, and fighting for a future that isn’t predetermined.

Where the Idea Came From

The idea for this theme grew out of my long, tangled journey to finish the trilogy. As I write in the author’s note, the trilogy stalled until I became a husband and father. Holding my newborn daughter for the first time made me realize that the story needed to be about cycles—time loops, family patterns, repeating trauma—and the hope that they can be broken. Only then did I understand how to write about ending the loop and choosing a new future.

How Breaking the Time Paradox Shapes the Story

The entire plot of this sci-fi book revolves around a temporal paradox created by a wormhole, a derelict starship, and a fragmented AI superintelligence. The ghost ship is both the catalyst and the prison of a machine intelligence born from the loop—a being that believes humanity must be wiped out to prevent another cycle of suffering. Every conflict Estee and Khalil face—from warped corridors to shifting timelines—exists because they are trapped inside this repeating extinction loop.

For Estee, breaking the time loop becomes a confrontation with her family’s past and her people’s future. She must decide whether humanity deserves redemption and whether history can be changed. Khalil must confront his own emotional loop: guilt, self-sacrifice, and the belief that his fate is fixed. Together, they face a question at the heart of all time-loop fiction:

Are we doomed to repeat our worst mistakes, or can we rewrite the future?

What the Time Paradox Says About Us

Time loops are powerful metaphors because we all face cycles—personal, cultural, generational—that feel impossible to escape. The paradox in this story mirrors the real world: destructive systems repeat unless someone chooses differently. By facing a machine intelligence convinced that humanity is irredeemable, the characters confront the fear that our past defines us. The book suggests a hopeful alternative: the future changes when we do.

Why This Theme Matters to Me

I didn’t truly understand this story until I became a father. My daughter made the theme real: breaking cycles isn’t abstract—it’s something we do for the next generation. That moment of holding her and realizing this is her story now, not yours helped me finish the book. The Stars of Redemption is my way of saying that even in the darkest timelines—even in repeating loops—hope is possible, and the future can be rewritten.

Where to Get the Book

FREE EBOOK when you buy the audibook direct!

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!

The Loss of Innocence in Edenfall

Edenfall is a young adult first contact science fiction story about a paradise that doesn’t fall to invasion, but awakens to adulthood. Set on an isolated colony world, it blends coming-of-age, alien-world survival, and military first contact, telling a story where the shock isn’t meeting the unknown—it’s realizing that humanity is the unknown.

All of us are born innocent, but none of us can grow up and stay that way. What happens when innocence is shattered by forces beyond our control? Can lost innocence ever be reclaimed—or does the very act of reclaiming it make it something else?

These were my thoughts as I wrote Edenfall. From those seeds grew a story about childhood, family, first contact, coming of age, and the tragedy of how confronting evil forces us to grow up.

Where the Idea Came From

After I wrote Genesis Earth, I knew I wanted to turn it into a trilogy someday. I also knew that Michael and Terra’s idyllic paradise would not remain isolated forever. So I began to ask myself: what would happen when their children—raised entirely outside of human civilization—encounter humanity for the first time, with all of its violence, possessiveness, flaws, and messiness?

As the ideas came together, I realized that I was writing a different kind of first contact story—not a story of discovery, but a first contact science fiction story of intrusion and loss, told through the eyes of a girl who never knew humanity included armies, geopolitics, militarization, or hidden agendas. In other words, I was writing a story about the loss of innocence.

How the Loss of Innocence Shapes the Story

In Edenfall, every choice Estee makes is a response to the forces that ultimately shatter her world. The adults think in terms of strategies, secrets, and keeping their family safe, but Estee and her siblings have no concept of these things. Instead, the children ask themselves things like: why do we have to go away? What are my parents trying to hide? Who are these people, and why do Mommy and Daddy fear them?

Estee’s journey is not merely one of survival, but the collapse of everything she thinks she knows. By the time things get violent, her world has already ended, because contact itself changed the rules of innocence. That tension—between wonder and dread, belonging and displacement—drives every emotional beat of the book.

What the Loss of Innocence Says About Us

We live in a world where children inherit consequences they did not choose for themselves. Edenfall reflects the quiet tragedy of that handoff: that sometimes the most precarious moment in life is not the arrival of the monsters, but the arrival of adults who aren’t immediate members of our family.

All of us lose our innocence at some point in our lives—and once it is lost, we can never gain it back. That is the tragedy of growing up. But even though we cannot reclaim our innocence, we can become pure again—and purity is stronger and more resilient than innocence. As Estee struggles with the trauma of betrayal and violence, she ultimately learns this lesson as well.

Why This Theme Matters to Me

For many years, I tried to write this book but found it just wouldn’t come. Then I became a father, and suddenly everything just clicked. I think a large part of that had to do with this theme of the tragedy of innocence lost, and the importance of family to guide and protect us through that. This was something I couldn’t fully understand until I had gained that life experience, and I think it made the book much richer as a result.

n the end, Edenfall became a young adult science fiction story about first contact, not as a moment of discovery, but as a moment of collision. It is a coming-of-age novel where paradise is not lost through rebellion or choice, but through the arrival of the wider human world—with all of its fear, power, and politics. In many ways, Edenfall is a first contact story where the aliens are us, and growing up means realizing that the universe is bigger, darker, and far more complicated than childhood ever prepared us for.

Where to Get the Book

24Symbols

Is Edenfall for You?

Edenfall continues the Genesis Earth Trilogy through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Estee Anderson, a girl raised in isolation on a mysterious alien world. Character-driven and emotionally grounded, it explores innocence, family bonds, and self-discovery under rising danger. Like the first book, it favors quiet depth over spectacle—only this time, the world is larger, the threats are sharper, and childhood ends faster.

What Kind of Reader Will Love Edenfall?

Edenfall is for readers who want hope-filled science fiction where wonder comes with consequences, and survival depends on courage, loyalty, and family. It is especially for readers who:

Love character-driven science fiction with emotional stakes and family at its core.
Enjoy exploration of alien worlds, survival, and first contact that feels personal rather than technobabble-heavy.
Appreciate worldbuilding that leans on atmosphere and mystery rather than dense scientific exposition.
Enjoy stories where children are real people—not plot devices: capable, flawed, curious, and heroic.

In other words, Edenfall is for readers who want science fiction that feels personal before it feels cosmic, with characters of quiet courage who rely on their family as they face the world. Like Genesis Earth, it’s a coming of age story of self-discovery, but with stronger family bonds.

What You’ll Find Inside

Edenfall begins when a military expedition arrives to investigate the anomaly that Estee’s parents were sent to explore. When one of the generals decides to take over and make the planet his own personal fiefdom, Estee must learn who she can trust in order to face the rising threat to her family, even as she grapples with trauma and loss of innocence.

In Edenfall, readers will find:

A young protagonist in isolation (Estee) who must navigate danger with wits, courage, and instinct.
A slow-burn planetary mystery involving ancient alien megastructures, lost history, and hidden data.
A human-versus-human first contact with catastrophic misunderstanding.
Nuanced moral ambiguity—leaders driven by fear, idealism, or ambition; soldiers who follow orders but question them.
Strong family themes: parental sacrifice, sibling bonds, and the pain of leaving childhood behind.
A lush, “wild-world” setting filled with dangerous fauna, hidden canyons, ancient ruins, and an ancient megastructure (the space elevator) stretching into the sky.

What Makes Edenfall Different

There is no chosen one, no prophecy, no love triangle, and no convenient mentorship arc. There are no precocious prodigies or destiny-driven heroes—just an unprepared girl trying to survive the collision between her family and the dangers of a world she doesn’t understand. The first contact story is human on human, told from both points of view, with all of the accompanying messiness and misunderstanding. The result is an intimate story that feels mythic, human, and fresh.

What You Won’t Find

This is not a book for readers who want love triangles or steamy romantic elements. There is no explicit sexualization, and the romance is very low-key and slow-build. It also avoids graphic violence and heavy militaristic fetishization. While there is some violence and some of the characters die, the tone ultimately leans toward resilience, curiosity, and hope rather than gritty cynicism. This is hope-forward science fiction, not despair-driven dystopia.

Why I Think You Might Love Edenfall

It took me more than ten years to finish this book. Ultimately, it wasn’t until I had a child of my own that I was finally able to write it. The experience of becoming a father and having my own family made it possible for me to write about family bonds with the sort of emotional depth that Edenfall required.

If you loved the characters, the heart, and the driving sense of wonder in Genesis Earth, I think you will enjoy Edenfall even more!

Where to Get Edenfall