Return to the Galaxy has just picked up two major honors:
Winner – London Book Festival 2025 (Science Fiction)
First Runner-Up – Los Angeles Book Awards 2025 (Science Fiction)
Honestly? I’m stunned. This is my first-ever novel, and now it’s collecting international awards. (You can enter before it’s published.)
Since submitting it, I’ve rewritten the entire book from the ground up. Version 2 has been professionally assessed across 18 key storytelling and commercial factors. Everything from pacing and character arcs to emotional depth and world immersion.
The result?
My editors said it’s over 20% stronger across the board. That’s the version that will be published on Amazon in June.
But here’s the twist - it’s Version 1 that just won in London and LA.
That version is available to download free on Book Funnel until May 1. After that, Amazon’s exclusivity rules kick in and I’ll have to take it down.
So, if you haven’t read it yet, now’s your last chance to grab the award-winning edition:
Or of course, you can wait until Version 2 launches in June. (But full disclosure, I might spend your money on beer and use the buzz to write something even better!)
For those of you who downloaded Return to the Galaxy but have not cracked it open yet, what are you waiting for? They’re not going to give me a Nobel Prize!
Seriously though, I owe you a huge thank you.
Next week, I'm uploading a brand-new, 100-page novella to BookFunnel and StoryOrigin, and you can grab it for free.
It's called Wild Prince at the Starfighter Academy, and it follows Prince Beryn through his next two years at the Academy, just before everything explodes into chaos.
(Heads-up: the first 15 pages overlap with Return to the Galaxy, but after that, it's all-new action.)
One small ask: If you are willing, all I'd love in return is a short, honest review. Even two sentences would be amazing!
Thanks again for being part of this galaxy.
You are in on the ground floor, and I am honored to have you here. It means more than you know.
If you do send a quick review, feel free to also let me know your favorite moments. I always love hearing which parts you like most.
Exclusive Bonus Scene – Subscribers Only
Version 2 has new content, several new scenes, including this one, unreleased anywhere else.
It’s short (about five minutes), but if you like high-stakes galactic politics, emotionally charged revelations, or the feeling of being punched in the heart by a hologram…
This one’s for you.
Message from the Dark | Ewan | 2039 AD
Now that he had more nanites, Jera had been trying to connect to his deeper memory vaults. Fragments lost during orbital insertion. It didn’t work.
But the attempt triggered something unexpected. A signal. Weak. Fragile. A scatterpod, long hidden in a stealth orbit above Earth. Stirred once and sent out a pulse. Then it shut down; burned out like a flare in the void.
Jera caught it.
She appeared in mid-air in the cave, projected in flickering light: auburn hair, pale blue eyes full of urgency and pain. Human-shaped. Fully formed. But not human. Not anymore.
Not Jera. Another avatar. Her body crackled, nanite clusters flickering erratically in the haze.
“If you’re seeing this… I didn’t make it.”
My mouth went dry.
“My name is Arel. I was one of twenty avatars assigned to Earth’s rescue fleet. We launched from Jintel with cruisers, destroyers, a freighter packed with upgrade tech, and a hibernation carrier full of engineers and troops to save your splinter colony. But we were betrayed.
“The Kuskoi, the centipede species. Software specialists. They’ve been quietly allied with the Ranid for decades. We never suspected. They inserted a backdoor into our navigation AIs. Elegant. Devastating. We dropped out of hyperspace into ambush.”
She swallowed. Paused.
“The Bugs had more dreadnoughts than we had ships. The others fought and died to give me this chance. I launched this pod blind. It was never designed to reach this far, not in this condition. But the Ranid can’t get this information.”
Her voice cracked, then steadied.
“We managed to destroy Earth’s exact coordinates before they breached our bridge. The Ranid don’t know exactly where you are. But they know you’re in the Orion Arm. And they’re coming.
“They fear you, Jera. They fear Earth. If you can get a population of ten billion prepared, armed, trained to fight? It could turn the whole war.
“But if they find you as you are now, weak, divided, primitive? You won’t last a day. Probably not an hour.
“Get them ready. You owe it to us, Jera. To all those we lost. They’re searching, Jera. Coming for you. You’re out of time.”
She looked directly at him now, softly, then with rising fury.
“The Kuskoi corrupted everything. It’s obvious now. Federation members for centuries but they were the ones who inserted the betrayal code into our ship AIs, even before the mutiny started. We trusted them. Thought they were friendly and helpful.
“I’m sending you their world’s coordinates. If you can get there, don’t hesitate. Burn them, Jera. Their whole rotten, treasonous species. Billions of Saret ghosts demand vengeance. Don’t fail them.”
Her image glitched again. Reappeared. She smiled, barely.
“I was supposed to be your liaison. I was so looking forward to meeting you, Jera.”
Then she seemed to look straight into my eyes.
“Honor our sacrifice.
“Fight well, brother.”
She smiled, a sad, quiet curve of her mouth. Waved once.
Then she was gone.
The cave felt colder after Arel vanished. The silence tightened like a noose. No hum of systems. No joke from Jera. Just my own pulse, hammering in my throat.
Her message echoed like massed artillery fire in my skull. Rescue fleets betrayed, engineers and soldiers atomized, Earth’s location barely erased in time. I clenched my fists. Staring at the empty space where she’d been.
It felt like I’d been gut-punched by a ghost.
That fleet, they’d been the cavalry. The ones coming to save us.
But we never heard their bright bugles ringing out.
They’d never made it over the hill.
Somewhere out there, the Ranid were getting closer. And the centipede traitors who’d sold us out were still breathing.
Thanks again for being part of this journey. Your support, your feedback, and your presence here mean more than I can say.