Tag: space opera

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

Related Posts and Pages

Explore the series index for the Genesis Earth Trilogy.

Visit the book page for Genesis Earth for more details.

Find out if Edenfall is for you.

See all of my books in series order.

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

Related Posts and Pages

Explore the series index for the Genesis Earth Trilogy.

Visit the book page for Genesis Earth for more details.

Ponder the loss of innocence in Edenfall.

See all of my books in series order.

The Meaning of Home in Genesis Earth

Genesis Earth is a thought-provoking science fiction novel about humanity, isolation, and the search for home in a vast and empty universe. In this post, I explore the deeper themes behind the story—how the meaning of home shapes the characters, and what that says about us as human beings.

What does it mean to be human when everything familiar—home, society, the Earth itself—is gone? What does it mean to lose one’s home, or to never really have a home in the first place?

In Genesis Earth, a work of existential science fiction, the story of Michael and Terra explores what it means to be human when isolation pushes the boundaries of identity and connection. Michael and Terra grew up away from Earth, isolated and estranged from humanity’s homeworld.

Their need to be rooted in something (or someone) drives the core theme of belonging and identity in the book. The mission is supposed to be about discovery, but what they truly discover is themselves—how fragile, lonely, and deeply human they are.

Where the Idea Came From

The central concept of Genesis Earth is that humanity has created an artificial black hole and opened a wormhole to some unknown part of the universe. In order to create that black hole, though, they would need to travel far from Earth, on the fringes of our Solar System—hence the isolated colony mission where Michael and Terra grew up. And because of the long distances from the wormhole to the star system on the other end, their mission would isolate them even further, not only in space but in time. Everyone would be gone by the time they got back home, if they could even call it “home” by then.

All of this drove me to explore the meaning of home, and how it would play out for these characters who are so isolated and separated from the rest of humanity.

How the Meaning of Home Shapes the Story

In Genesis Earth, Michael begins as a dutiful scientist. He’s loyal to “the Mission,” but that loyalty is hollow—he’s chasing a ghost of Earth rather than living for anything real. His arc is about realizing that meaning doesn’t come from data or duty, but from connection.

The story strands two people—Michael and Terra—alone in deep space. The physical isolation mirrors their emotional one. Their arguments, awkward silences, and gradual trust-building drive the tension far more than the alien mystery.

The “alien ship” and “new Earth” they find are really reflections of humanity’s own legacy: ruins of a civilization that destroyed itself but left behind traces of what it once was. This discovery forces Michael to see that knowledge without empathy leads nowhere. The universe is full of dead monuments to reason untempered by love.

In the end, the story is less about finding Earth again—or finding home—as it is about beginning it anew, through human love and connection.

What the Meaning of Home Says About Us

Michael and Terra inherit a civilization that has mastered the stars but lost its soul. Their journey shows that intellect without empathy leads to extinction. We can map galaxies, but if we forget why we exist or who we’re doing it for, all that brilliance turns sterile and meaningless.

It’s a mirror to our own age: we’ve never known more, but we’ve rarely been lonelier. And ultimately, the message of Genesis Earth is that we are not defined by where we come from, but by whom we choose to love and what we choose to build. Heart and home matter more than hubris and knowledge.

Why the Meaning of Home Matters to Me

After I left home, I spent nearly two decades of my young life as something of a modern nomad, rarely living in one place for more than six months. During this time, my parents moved not once but twice, so I lost all connection to my childhood home.

This personal loss of home and sense of being uprooted was a major influence in the writing of this book, though I didn’t realize it at the time. And the conclusion that Michael and Terra ultimately come to—that “home” isn’t found in a place so much as it is in the depths of the connections with the people in your life—was something I experienced as well, as I ultimately settled down and started a family of my own.

Where to Get the Book

Related Posts and Pages

Explore the series index for the Genesis Earth Trilogy.

Visit the book page for Genesis Earth for more details.

Read more to learn if Genesis Earth is for you.

See all of my books in series order.

Is Genesis Earth for You?

Genesis Earth is an introspective, awe-driven, charactor-anchored YA science fiction novel. It’s not a laser-blasting space opera; rather, it’s a quiet, psychological odyssey through the cosmos, through the eyes of a lonely young explorer haunted by the memory of Earth. Through this book, readers will experience the loneliness of deep space, the mystery of first contact, and the fragile human connection between two young scientists flung far from home.

What Kind of Reader Will Love Genesis Earth?

This book is perfect for readers who:

  • Love hard SF stories of space exploration rooted in both plausible science and human emotion,
  • Enjoy classic SF from authors like Clarke and Asimov—thoughtful, concept-driven, but with relatable, human characters,
  • Appreciate slow-burn tension and stories that make them think, long after they set the book down,
  • Are fascinated by themes of first contact, isolation, coming-of-age, and the psychological cost of human exploration, and
  • Crave science fiction that feels possible, where the sense of wonder comes from realism, not fantasy.

If any of that describes you, then you should definitely give Genesis Earth a try!

What You’ll Find Inside

Genesis Earth follows a young scientist, Michael Anderson, and his mission partner Terra as they explore a dangerous anomaly on the far side of a wormhole, that could either threaten or hold the key to humanity’s future. The result is an immersive and contemplative book that starts as a psychological drama and turns into a story of discovery, both cosmic and personal: what it means to be human when Earth is a ghost and “home” is light-years away.

What Makes Genesis Earth Different

Fans of classic science fiction will recognize the trope of the lonely astronaut or scientist setting out to explore the unknown, but where most protagonists in classic hard SF are seasoned professionals, the explorers in Genesis Earth are barely adults, raised in isolation on board a space colony, and psychologically unprepared for what awaits them. The story explores beyond the question “can humanity survive?” and asks “what happens to the human soul when it’s untethered from home?”

Distinctive features include:

  • Psychological depth: The fraught relationship between Michael and Terra gives the story an undercurrent of tension and unease that’s rare in classic hard SF.
  • Tone: Quiet, human, and melancholic—more existential wonder than space adventure.
  • Perspective: Told through a deeply personal first-person lens, with an almost diary-like immediacy.
  • Balance: Seamlessly blends scientific authenticity (cryonics, wormholes, planetary science) with literary emotion.

What You Won’t Find

This book is not for readers seeking:

  • Fast-paced, action-heavy sci-fi with constant battles, explosions, or villains.
  • Romantasy or sexually explicit romance plots — while there is emotional tension, it’s subtle and cerebral, not sensual or melodramatic.
  • Soft or mythic sci-fi full of alien empires or space wizards — the story stays grounded in realism.
  • Hard nihilism or grimdark — while introspective and serious, the book is ultimately hopeful, not bleak or cynical.
  • Readers who dislike slow builds or introspective narration.

If you’re looking for Star Wars, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for Arthur C. Clarke’s emotional heir, you’ve found it.

Why I Think You Might Love Genesis Earth

I wrote Genesis Earth when I was a lonely, single young college student trying to find my place in the world. That personal struggle in my own life definitely affected the conflict and themes of the book. I read a lot of classic SF in this time, including books by Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Charles Wilson, and Orson Scott Card, and I wanted to create something that was just as awe-inspiring and thought-provoking as the great books by those classic authors.

If you’re looking for a book that sticks with you long after you’ve read it, and helps you to find your own place in the world, you should definitely give Genesis Earth a try!

Where to Get Genesis Earth

Related Posts and Pages

Explore the series index for the Genesis Earth Trilogy.

Visit the book page for Genesis Earth for more details.

Discover the meaning of home in Genesis Earth.

See all of my books in series order.

Passengers, rearranged

I didn’t see this movie when it came out (even though I’ve been told it’s very similar to a lot of my early science fiction), but this analysis of the story structure is really amazing. And I have to admit, it makes it a MUCH more interesting movie if it starts with Jennifer Lawrence waking up, and focuses on her as the main character.

Starting with Chris Pratt is safe, but also boring, because it unambiguously makes him the good guy. But is he really? What if he’s not? What if that question is what drives the tension through most of the movie? What if she decides he’s the bad guy, and lets him die to save the ship, only to find herself alone in the end, contemplating the very same choice—whether to wake up another one of the passengers so that she doesn’t have to spend the rest of her life alone?

“Not gonna lie, the ending where she is contempating the exact same decision hits so good.” That’s one of the top comments, and I have to agree. But that gives the movie a little too much of a horror vibe for me. Instead, if I were writing it, I would have them separate long enough that she realizes, on her own, that she would have done the same thing that he did, even if she doesn’t admit it. So that when the accident happens and he has to sacrifice himself to save the ship, she decides to save him after all, not because she loves him, but because she forgives him (and also doesn’t want to be pushed to make that decision herself).

Or what if there never is an accident, and she decides she can’t forgive him, but since they can’t stand to be alone together the enter into a pact to wake up two more people: she wakes up another girl for him, and he wakes up another guy for her. That way, the bad guy is the other person, and the love interests can… maybe I’m overthinking this.

In any case, it’s a great thought experiment (though speaking from experience, it really does suck when you write half a book only to realize that most of it should be relegated to backstory).

Going for fun

They say that you should put as much of yourself as you can into what your right, and that’s true to some extent. But when you’re writing SF&F, there’s a much more important rule:

BE ENTERTAINING.

While I don’t think I’ve necessarily broken this rule, I haven’t always paid close attention to it. So for my current WIP, I’m pulling out the stops. I figure that the best way to entertain people in a book is to make it fun to read, and if it’s fun for me to write, I figure it will be fun for my readers as well. So my primary goal with this book is to have fun.

The working title is Gunslinger to the Stars, and if I had to give you the Hollywood pitch it would be this: Monster Hunter International meets Guardians of the Galaxy on the set of Firefly.

The main character is a freelance starship pilot named Sam Kletchka, who travels the galaxy taking various mercenary jobs. He was born and raised in the Gliese colonies, on a planet called New Texas, but although he was a gifted student, he dropped out of Earthfleet Academy his freshman year because he didn’t get stuck on a refitted Cold-War era submarine protecting colony ships in Earth-space (the galactics gave us cheap ground-to-orbit, which means that we used what we had when building our first fleet of starships).

The book starts when he gets stranded in the armpit of the galaxy, natch. The only other human who’s stranded there with him is an attractive twenty-something xenolinguist named Jane Carter, with whom he has a history. Let’s just say that she isn’t all that enthusiastic to see him.

At one point, he describes his guns:

MERCY is a supressed Ruger 22 Charger™ Rimfire Pistol. She’s fairly small and doesn’t pack much of a punch, but she’s as silent and stealthy as a Zan cloakship in deep space. Besides being perfect for cloak-and-dagger type stuff, Mercy is also good for hunting small game, on the few occasions where I’ve been stranded planetside without supplies.

The next two guns are really different components of the same gun, an AR-15 with two uppers that I can swap out depending on my needs. FAITHFULNESS is a suppressed 300 Blackout with a 9” barrel, perfect for boarding action. I use a homemade subsonic round with the ballistics tuned down just a notch, to allow for onboard fire that won’t accidentally puncture the ship’s hull. The suppressor is excellent for firing in confined spaces, and the standard 30 round magazine gives you plenty of firing capacity to stay in the fight.

RIGHTEOUSNESS is a .50 Beowulf upper that I can swap out for Faithfulness. This massive gun packs an enormous punch, enough to blow through a bulkhead and vent some atmo. I mix an oxidizer in the cartridges to allow it to fire in a vaccuum, making it an excellent weapon for extravehicular assaults. You just have to be careful to lock your magnetic boots firmly onto the ship’s hull, otherwise Newton’s third law will send you flying.

JUDGMENT is an M203 grenade launcher that attaches quite nicely onto Faithfulness and Righteousness. She makes the rifle a little heavier, but in zero gravity, that doesn’t really matter much. With the proper munitions, Judgment can light up a firefight like Christmas.

PRESERVATION is an 18” Mossberg 590A1™. She’s a tough little girl that can pack a serious punch. I keep her on the wall of my cabin within easy reach for home defense purposes. She has a capacity of 8+1, but I usually don’t load her with slugs unless I’m doing a breach and entry. The best thing about shotguns, though, is that the ammunition is super easy to fabricate. If I were going away for a while and could only take one gun with me, it would be Preservation.

LOVE is my father’s trusty old 1911. She’s been in the family for quite a while, and when I left the Gliese colonies for the stars, he wanted me to take her with me. She’s chambered in 9mm and has a capacity of 17+1. In spite of the .45’s stopping power, I prefer a good 9mm handgun simply for the increased accuracy and carrying capacity. Besides being stupidly rugged, the 1911 is also quite easy to maintenance or to fabricate replacement parts. For that reason, it’s the handgun of choice for most offworld colonists.

KINDNESS is the Gliese Arms 2011 .45 ACP that you’ve already met. The 2011 is a lot like the 1911, but the 140mm double stack magazine allows for a capacity of 14+1. As you already saw from the gunfight at the Oasis, Kindness has gotten me out of a lot of tough spots.

TRUST is a Himalayan Imports Chainpuri 15” Kukri: not a gun, but an excellent combat knife. The Nepalese Gurkhas were some of the most badass warriors of Earth, and the kukri is their signature weapon. I acquired Trust at the Earthfleet Academy on Luna, after winning a game of poker with my fellow cadets. She’s such a beauty, I wouldn’t dream of ever gambling her away.

Thing is, he’s as good with guns as he is horrible with women. As you can probably guess, hilarity ensues.

The book was actually inspired by the most recent Schlock Mercenary storyline, where one of the subplots involves rescuscitating Vog, the twelve million year-old member of an alien race that is functionally immortal. When the mercenaries revive him, he’s lost ten million years of his memories and thinks he’s an elite warrior from when his race was in its prime. Little does he know, his civilization has collapsed, and the mortal junior races have gotten a little uppity.

Thinking about the implications of immortality on intergalactic politics made me come up with a fantastic idea for a near-future space opera universe. When CERN does a new sub-atomic particle experiment, it alerts the galactics to our presence, much like Zefram Cochrane’s first flight with the warp drive alerts the Vulcans in Star Trek. The galactic junior races have all been patronized by the Immortals, who have built a massive jumpgate network that unites the galaxy together. The Immortals don’t interact with the junior races directly however: they use mediator races as proxies. And the Immortals aren’t interested in ruling the junior races so much as… I won’t spoil it for you.

In any case, that’s the story I’m writing right now, and even by chapter three it has been loads of fun so far. Lots of shooting, lots of action, lots of intergalactic secrets and intrigue. With luck, Gunslinger to the Stars should be out sometime early next year.

Trope Tuesday: Colony Ship

It’s been a while since I did the weekly Trope Tuesday posts, but those were a lot of fun and they still get a lot of traffic, so I’m going to bring them back with a couple of changes. Instead of focusing on the trope itself, essentially rewriting the description on the tvtropes page, I’m going to pick apart what I like about it and focus instead on the trope’s appeal. I’m also going to pick tropes that are in my own books, so that I can talk about how I’m using them.To kick things off, this week’s trope is the Colony Ship. A staple of space opera, this trope is exactly what it says on the tin: a giant starship, often a worldship or a starship luxurious, taking a band of colonists to settle the final frontier. Essentially, this trope takes the wagon train to the stars concept to its logical conclusion, since what is a wagon train but a band of hopeful colonists? And since this is space, there’s no limit to where you can take it!

I love this trope because it’s so hopeful. Even in dark post-apocalyptic stories like A Canticle for Leibowitz, the possibility of taking humanity to the stars shines like a beacon of hope, an interstellar ark that can fling a light into the future. No matter how badly we screw up Earth, we can still atone for our sins by starting over with a clean slate out among the stars.

One of the other things that makes this trope appealing is that it’s not that far removed from reality. On that other wiki, there’s an article on Generation Ships with a link to this very interesting academic paper on the feasibility of building giant worldships. Just as Science Fiction conceptualized satellites, robots, and cloning before they were actually built, this may very well be the case with interstellar colony ships as well. I doubt that NASA or SpaceX are currently working on any prototypes, but we’re definitely on a path that will lead us there, if we have the courage and tenacity to follow it through.

If faster-than-light travel is in play, then the people who set off on the colony ship are usually the same people who build the colony. If FTL is not in play, though, things get really interesting. Sanderson’s second law of magic states that the limitations of a magic system are inherently more interesting than the powers, and since sufficiently advanced space travel is itself a kind of magic (see Clarke’s third law), then it makes sense that sublight colony ships are more interesting than FTL ones.

Sublight colony ships come in two basic types: generation ships and sleeper starships. In a generation ship, the colony ship itself becomes something of a miniature world, often like a city in a bottle (with all of the juicy story implications that come with it). In a sleeper starship, the colonists freeze themselves in stasis, opening the possibility for stuff like lightspeed leapfrog.

In my current WIP, Heart of the Nebula, I’ve combined both of these subtropes to create a hybrid generation sleeper ship. The ships are designed for sublight travel through a region of space where FTL is impossible, but there are too many colonists to fit in all the cryotanks. Subsequently, those who don’t go to sleep have to turn their tiny little ship into a self-enclosed home. When the sleepers wake up, they find that they’ve become living relics to the great-great grandchildren of their friends and relatives.

The main character in Heart of the Nebula is James McCoy, who you might remember from Bringing Stella Home. Just before he goes into cryo, he rescues his people from a terrible enemy, so that when he wakes up he’s a living legend. People have been watching movies about his exploits and doing grade school reports on him for generations. But the thing that made him a legend also put a lot of lives at risk, so that he’s also an extremely divisive figure. To make things worse, most of his friends didn’t go into cryo, so they’re all gone by now. But their great-great grandkids are still around …

As you can see, Colony Ships can be a lot of fun to play with. I’m definitely having fun with it now, and I plan to return to this trope often in the future!

The most unmarketable story every conceived

I have an awesome idea for a story that absolutely, completely, 100% unmarketable. It blends two completely unrelated genres in such a way that it will almost certainly offend large numbers of readers in both. The best way to blend genres is usually to label it clearly as one and don’t let the others know that they’re invited. Well, with this particular story, that’s impossible.

The story blends Mormon religious fiction with Space Opera. It takes place in the Millennium, hundreds of years after Jesus Christ’s second coming to the Earth. The lamb has laid down with the wolf, and the lion eats straw like the ox. There are no more wars or armed conflicts: the swords of the Earth have been turned into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. Satan has been bound, that he has no power over man, and Christ reigns in power and glory upon the Earth. People live to the age of a tree, and when their time comes, they are changed from mortality to immortality in the twinkling of an eye without tasting death. Resurrected beings regularly come down to visit the Earth.

All is not well, however. The events that launched the Millennium set off a thousand-year chain reaction that will turn the Earth to a sea of glass. At that time, it will become a great Urim and Thummim and be rendered uninhabitable for mortal beings. For that reason, Christ descended in power and glory to unite the nations of the Earth so that they could pool their resources and build a generation ship that will take the last remnants of humanity to the stars. This Millennial ark, the Starship Lachoneus, now represents the last hope for the continuation of humanity.

By now, you can probably see why this story is completely unmarketable. Science Fiction fans will be turned off by all the overtly religious stuff (I plan to make Jesus Christ an actual character), and Mormons will be turned off by all the Science Fiction mixed with their religion. There’s no doubt that I’ll offend large numbers of people in both genres if/when I ever write it.

At the same time, though, the concept really fascinates me. The Mormon version of Christ’s Millennial reign is completely different from most other Christian flavors, in ways that make for some very interesting story possibilities. For example, we believe that there will still be unbelievers in the Millennium–that people will still be free to reject Christ and deny the existence of God, even though He lives and walks among them. What kinds of life experience would lead a person to do that? And how would they react if Christ Himself took the time to have a personal chat with them?

Then there’s the question about which audience the book should be written for. Clearly, it’s meant for people who have at least a passing familiarity with Mormonism. It would be far too tedious for both myself and the readers if I had to stop and explain every religious reference. At the same time, though, I don’t feel that it’s right to limit the audience exclusively to Mormons. The Left Behind series was written almost exclusively for Evangelical Christians, and if you try to read those books, it readily becomes apparent that there’s a wide gulf between the gentile unbelievers and the faithful–not only in the books themselves, but in the eyes of the authors as well (full disclosure: I have only read parts of the first book). I don’t want this book to be that hostile or alien to anyone, whether they’re part of the intended audience or not.

By far, though, the most difficult issue is going to be the world building. What the heck is the Millennium supposed to be like? The last time any Mormon General Authority spoke in-depth about it was sometime in the 70s–not because we’re any less fervent in our Millennialist beliefs, but because whenever a church leader talks about it over the pulpit, people tend to freak out and think that the world is about to end (literally!). And aside from the issue of research, there’s the practical difficulties of fitting it all together in a way that doesn’t strain incredulity. If the lions, wolves, and other carnivorous animals no longer hunt or kill for their food, how can the Earth have a functioning ecosystem? If resurrected beings regularly visit the Earth, what’s to stop them from doing all our work for us?

In spite of all these challenges, though (or indeed, perhaps because of them), I really, really want to write this book. In some ways, I even feel like it’s something I’m supposed to write. I already have the title picked out: Starship Lachoneus, based off of a story from the Book of Mormon about a prophet who saved his people by gathering them all together for a lengthy siege that starved out their enemies and brought his people closer to God. I also have the first chapter planned out in my head, though as for the rest of the story, I have no idea.

For now, it’s probably just going to be another side project of mine. It might take years to get it done in a way that I find satisfactory. But it’s definitely something I plan to write, starting now.

Space Opera promo for free Kindle

Hey, just a quick post to let you know about a group promotion I’m participating in with a bunch of other science fiction writers.  It’s a rafflecopter give-away, where we all pooled together to get a Kindle Paperwhite as the main prize.

There’s a bunch of things you can do to enter–for example, if you download a copy of Star Wanderers: Outworlder (Part I) (or really, just visit the book’s Amazon page through the rafflecopter link) that will get you an entry from me.  Also, besides the Kindle grand prize, a bunch of us are giving away copies of other books to other winners as well.  I’ll be giving away a few omnibus copies of Star Wanderers, so if you haven’t picked one up yet, here’s an opportunity to get one!

Besides my books, there’s a bunch of other books by science fiction writers as well–specifically, space opera like Star Trek or Firefly.  These days, it seems like dystopian fiction and other Earth-based sci-fi dominates the charts, so if you’re looking for an escape to other stars and planets, here’s a chance to find some of that.

The promo ends this weekend, so you should probably check it out today or tomorrow if you want to pick up some of the free books.  Outworlder will still be free after this promo, but I don’t know about the others.

Take care!

Starliner by David Drake

starlinerWelcome to the Empress of Earth, the finest luxury liner in all of settled space.  Whether you’re alien or human, first class or economy, there is a place on the ship for you.  Just watch out for those Grantholmers and Nevassans–those planets are about to go to war, but don’t worry, the Empress is strictly neutral territory.  The envoys from Earth will see to that.  And as for the rumors that one of those sides might try to hijack the ship, I’m sure the crew is capable enough to deal with such threats.  Even if they are unarmed…

I saw this book on my also-boughts on Amazon, so I decided to pick it up.  It was an enjoyable read.  David Drake is very good at showing competent characters dealing with all sorts of complicated problems, operating within a strict chain of command while sometimes bending the rules a bit to get the job done.

The book is really a series of small vignettes, all tied together through the main viewpoint character, Ran Colville.  There is an overarching storyline about the Empress’s role as a coveted pawn in a larger interstellar war, but that only really drives the story at the very end.  Really, it’s more of a slice-of-life story about the crew of the ship, punctuated by all of the strange and exotic stops along the way–and boy, are there plenty of those!

Even though the Empress is neutral, she’s a potentially valuable military asset that both sides in the Grantholm-Nevassan war want to capture.  To complicate matters further, some of the passengers are dignitaries from either side.  At one point, there’s a romance between the peacenik daughter of a Nevassan diplomat and the son of a Grantholmer nobleman who is honor-bound to fight in the war.  That subplot was a lot of fun.

As you can imagine, there’s plenty of violence.  And really, what would you expect from one of the world’s best military science fiction writers?  Drake does a really good job showing the adrenaline-soaked excitement of combat, as well as all the ugliness.  Even the mooks get a viewpoint from time to time, and when they die, it’s messy and traumatic.  For that reason, the violence feels very realistic, especially in how it affects the main characters.

Ran is something of a player, so there is a fair amount of explicit sex (including a bit of inter-species action).  Drake doesn’t mince words or shy away from the gritty details–he puts it all on the page as matter-of-factly as any other aspect of life.  The sex was brief enough that it didn’t really bother me that much, but Ran’s relationship toward one of his coworkers takes a turn at the end that seemed to come completely out of left-field.  I could understand why, for the purposes of the story, it had to happen, but the way it was handled I just didn’t buy it.

That was probably my biggest gripe.  If I had another, it would be that the story seems to meander a bit in the first two-thirds, but the world-building was interesting enough that it didn’t really bother me.  Overall, it was a fun, light read (well, light for military sf).  The ebook version is free on Amazon, so it’s definitely worth picking up.  If you haven’t read any David Drake yet, this isn’t a bad place to start.