Back To The Galaxy
Brandon Sanderson Gave Me Some Writing Tips
These Are the Scenes They Said You Shouldn’t Read Before Bedtime Secret Chapters of Book 4 Revealed Below!
Brandon didn’t email me personally (I wish!), but I did read an article where he described how he stays creatively sharp by working on several books at once. He might be outlining one, editing another, writing the first draft of a third, and marketing a fourth. The constant rotation, he says, keeps the ideas fresh and the momentum strong.
To my surprise, I realised I’d been doing the same thing, just less deliberately. Since reading his method, I’ve reorganised my own process to follow suit. It’s already paying off.
Here’s where I am right now:
- Book 1 – Return to the Galaxy is up for pre-order and goes live in one week’s time
- Book 2 – Reach for the Galaxy is finished and with the formatter
- Book 3 – Seek the Galaxy is going through its final detailed edit
- Book 4 – Defend the Galaxy has a full first draft completed and is being polished
- Book 5 – (working title classified) is already 60% written
I thought you might enjoy a sneak peek at what’s coming. Below, you’ll find the opening chapters of Book 4. They’re dark, emotional, and full of tension, and they hint at just how far Velal is willing to go to protect what’s left of the galaxy.
Here are the chapters. Let me know what you think. It’s a seven-minute read.
Book 4: Defend the Galaxy
Chapter 1: At This Time of Year?
The fire crackled low in the hearth, casting golden light across the stone walls and creaking beams. Jufin’s voice dropped into a gravelly growl as he read the giant’s lines from Little Pelin and the Giant, making Ternu and Filun giggle even as their eyelids drooped. The twins shared a bed, blanket tucked beneath their chins, grinning in anticipation of the ending they knew by heart. It didn’t matter that they could read the story themselves. What mattered was hearing it from him.
In the next room, six-year-old Chela had hugged him tight before she crawled in beside Sanba and baby Renva. They were sprawled together like puppies, the warm contentment of a good day wrapped around them like a quilt. Dulma’s hand had found his as he backed out of the room, her eyes still glowing from the news she’d shared last month. Their family was growing. Again.
Ten years ago, he and Dulma had come north with nothing but tools, seeds, and stubbornness. The forest had been thick, the land rough. Fourteen miles from the swelling settlement of Botis, they’d cleared the trees by hand and burned the stumps into ash. That first winter nearly broke them. But the soil had turned rich and dark, the harvests good. And now they had a home.
Their thousand-acre grant had seemed impossibly vast then. He’d managed to bring just over three hundred acres under plow. The rest would come, a few acres at a time. Every field carved from the wild felt like a gift he could hand to his children. He'd heard the newer settlers only got four hundred acres now, and half of that poorer land. He didn’t feel smug about it. Just lucky. And tired.
Dulma’s parents were talking about joining them. She was thrilled. Jufin had mixed feelings. Burin was a skilled carpenter, sharp-witted despite his age, and always ready with a rough joke and a helping hand.
Rusma was endlessly kind to the children, but her tongue never stopped wagging. Jufin figured a few crates of ale might convince Burin to build a men’s room extension, his first project on arrival.
His favorite place was the raised porch. He’d hammered every board himself, rough but honest work. From here, he could see over the gentle rise of cleared farmland, all the way toward Botis. The night air was warm, carrying the scent of turned earth and growing crops. Dulma had brought out chilled mead and a plate of cold meat and pickles.
He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She held her hand out for him to hold, but as soon as he took it, she pulled him down for a warm, happy kiss.
They sat in silence, the kind built from long days, hard work and deeper love.
"I just saw some meteors," Dulma said, her voice low. "High ones. Odd for this season."
Jufin took a sip of the mead, wiped his mouth, and looked up. A streak of white light arced across the stars. Then another. Then five.
"Ooh," Dulma whispered. "Those are brighter. Lower, too."
More came. Dozens. Then hundreds. The sky lit up as if burning threads were being pulled down from the heavens. Jufin rose slowly, the mug forgotten in his hand. He felt the earth shift beneath his boots. A soft rumble, deep and far away.
Then came the flashes.
Over the hills, in the direction of Botis, a string of lights burst in rapid succession. White, then red, then black columns rising like thunderheads. Dulma stood beside him, hand clamped to her mouth.
"My parents," she whispered.
His last thought was that it was strange that the rapidly rising clouds seemed to be shaped like mushrooms.
The Ranid missile struck three miles west. Eighteen seconds. That’s what they had.
A firestorm raced through the farmhouse. Their skin vaporized before they could scream. Their bones blackened, their dreams incinerated. Twenty seconds later, the shockwave followed, flattening everything that remained, and extinguishing the fire.
And then, like nothing had happened, the stars blinked on again.
Two weeks after the last plume of radioactive ash settled over Botis, the Ranid returned.
An angular, gunmetal-gray assault shuttle drifted through the irradiated haze before descending on rust-stained landing struts. Its underside cracked open, spilling out a full company of Ranid Marines. The arachnids moved with crisp coordination, each wearing a chitinous black battlesuit that shimmered faintly as it adjusted to the toxic atmosphere.
Their mission was simple: locate and recover any advanced technology the Saret might have hidden. Their commanders knew the odds were low, but Ranid doctrine did not allow for assumptions. And more than tech, they hunted for survivors. A colony could regrow from a few individuals. Their task was to stamp out every last spark.
One platoon fanned out toward the northern perimeter, where farmland met crater-rim. The lead Marine paused at the edge of the ruins that had once been a farmhouse. His ocular cluster rotated slowly, scanning the collapsed structure and scorched soil. No heat signatures. No movement at all.
He advanced.
His armor hissed and shifted around him, adapting to the ambient radiation. He moved with methodical grace, legs clicking as he skittered over what remained of the porch. Ash rose in plumes beneath his clawed feet. The wooden boards had fused into warped, blackened slabs. A scorched ring marked where the fire had consumed everything in seconds.
He bent low and probed the debris. He found Filun’s left leg. With a faint hydraulic sigh, he quickly opened his face mask to chew on the appetizing mouthful. He searched for more but only found Chela’s right foot, which was barely a morsel.
He uncovered a larger leg, half-charred. His faceplate opened again. He ignored the painted toenails and brought it to his mandibles. The meat was dry, but edible. He bit off a chunk and chewed slowly, savoring the smoky flavor.
Beneath a warped beam, he spotted a book. The paper had baked into brittle curves, the cover still partially legible. He tapped it once. A scanner in his chest blinked, sent data to the orbiting dreadnought. A second later, the reply came: no value. Little Pelin and the Giant. Children's story. No military relevance.
He discarded it without another glance.
The Ranid soldier moved on, eyes sweeping the horizon for movement, his claws already hungry for more.
Forty-three years later, the Saret survey ship fell into orbit. They found a poisoned world, lifeless and still.
Missing Persons Velal Farn
I was walking on the streets of a small town on a destroyed Wild Colony planet. We didn’t know its name, and now it didn’t matter. It would never matter again.
Gray dust clung to the soles of my boots, rising in slow, lifeless spirals with each step. The air tasted of old ash and broken stone. No wind. No sound. Just the silence of extinction.
The Bugs had done their work thoroughly. Nuclear fire had swallowed every city. Dirty bombs had poisoned the sky. The soil would reject life for ten thousand years.
I walked through what had once been a town square, trying not to think about how much of this dust had once been human. A flicker of movement caught my eye. A girl in a red dress. Small, maybe six. Black shoes, black belt, red ribbon in her hair. She was walking away from me.
"Wait," I called. My voice sounded too loud, like it didn’t belong here.
She didn’t stop. Just turned a corner and vanished.
I broke into a jog, boots crunching over debris. Gray powder sprayed with each stride. I rounded the corner and froze.
Twenty figures stood in the road. Clusters of men, women, children. All dressed in simple medieval garb. Most had their backs to me. The few who faced my direction stared down at the ground.
"Who are you? How did you survive?"
The girl turned. Her face was a horror of peeling skin and raw lesions. Her eyes were nothing but dark, glistening sockets.
The others turned too.
One had tumors bulging from his neck and arms. Another’s mouth oozed yellow pus. A woman opened her lips and white maggots spilled out, writhing down her chest.
They stepped toward me. I backed up and felt a wall behind me. Nowhere to run.
The girl pointed at me. "You could have saved us,"
An old man dragged himself across the broken pavement, his elbows scraping stone. "You were too slow."
"Too lazy," said a crone with skeletal hands, her claws twitching.
A younger woman nursing a baby said, “Too late to save my child.” She pulled the baby away from her withered breast and opened the baby’s shawl to show a tiny skeleton mewling pathetically with hunger.
The crowd surged. Bony fingers clawed at my uniform, tearing, grabbing, reaching for my face.
"Velal," they screamed. "Velal, why didn’t you save us?"
I tried to draw my sidearm.
But all I found were sheets, soaked with sweat and tangled around my legs.
“Velal, Velal, wake up, you’re screaming again.” I felt gentle hands caressing my face and stroking my hair. As I drew in a ragged breath, Vana gathered me in a gentle embrace. As soon as I realized where I was, I wrapped my arms around her in a fierce grip. Even though I knew I must be hurting her, I couldn’t let go.
After a few more deep breaths, I was able to relax my grip and sit up in the large bed in the Admiral’s quarters. My body was completely soaked, sticky sweat running off my sides into the sheets on the floating bed. I could feel more pooling under my breasts and sliding unpleasantly down my spine. Vana said, “Was it the same dream?”
I could only draw in a breath and nod, completely drained and dispirited. Before we’d gone to sleep, we’d made love for two hours, starting with a long, relaxing massage. Vana tried everything she could think of to help me unwind and get the restful sleep that kept evading me.
Before Vana could say anything else, I stood up from the bed and said, “Thank you so much, Vana, but I need a shower. If you can make me a coffee, that would be great. I need to do something about this. If any of Stane, Leris, or Morin are available, could you ask them to come to our lounge in half an hour?”
“Of course. You go and relax and make yourself feel better. I’ll ask Qinas to reach out to anyone who’s awake. Now go.” She gave me a quick kiss and looked on worriedly as I went for a shower.
I stood in the huge shower cubicle while cold water blasted my flesh, pummelling me. The fierce jets battered my head, and icy needles of spray deluged my shrinking flesh.
After five minutes, I felt I’d punished myself enough and allowed the water pressure to reduce and the temperature to rise. I was just in time as Vana walked gracefully into the cubicle. Even in my miserable state, I marveled at how smoothly and elegantly she moved.
I said, “Vana, I’m so sorry; I’m just not in the mood to make love again.”
“That’s just as well,” she said, “Because neither am I. I just wanted to share a hug and a warm shower with my beautiful wife. You have so many responsibilities. You need someone to look after you. Now turn around and let me wash your back.”
I was grateful she wouldn’t take no for an answer, as the pampering was exactly what I needed. As she sponged my body, I had to lean against the wall because my legs were shaking so much. I felt as weak as a newborn kitten.
After a couple of minutes, she kissed me passionately. Suddenly, I wished we had time to go back to bed, but she slapped me lightly on the buttock and said, “Go get dressed, Admiral; the Navy needs you! I’ll join you in a couple of minutes. Now get.”
She gave me a quick peck on the lips and shoved me out the shower.
Ten minutes later, I stood looking out over the large central park that made up the middle of my dreadnought, Quiet Strength. I could see the waterfalls and the gentle simulated evening light glinting off the surface of the larger lake
I returned to the circular stone table and sat beneath the glowing canopy of JJ's garden design, its flowering vines releasing a subtle fragrance that curled through the night air. The villa’s lighting was low, mimicking dusk, though the dreadnought’s internal clock never stopped. My hands were still damp. The cold water hadn’t rinsed the nightmare from my skin.
Stane joined me first. He'd been pulled from a strategic meeting on Anadroid production; an issue that could wait. Our freighters had enough units in hibernation to outfit a dozen systems. Now he sat beside me at the stone table, not as my officer, but as my partner. He took my hand, said nothing. It was enough. Vana gave him a kiss and sat down on my other side.
Footsteps approached. Morin arrived next, already in uniform, eyes sharp from duty. Suna followed, fresh from her shift, her captain’s uniform slightly rumpled. Then came Leris, his jacket half-fastened, hair tousled with sleep. I felt a pang of guilt. He should have been resting. I gave Qinas no instruction to wake him. Still, I was relieved he was here. Of them all, Leris had been with me the longest. He understood the weight I carried, even when I said nothing.
I hesitated. The silence stretched. Then I said, "I need to tell you something."
Their expressions shifted. No one spoke. Good. Let it hang.
"The dreams haven’t stopped. They're worse. Clearer. And they’re not just echoes. My psyche’s been pressing me, warning me. Not with logic. With guilt."
Suna leaned forward. Her eyes never blinked when she was locked in.
"We've been in orbit over Trimon for months," I continued. "First to study them, then to insert our reconnaissance teams. And I still believe that was the right call. We have to understand how these Wild Colonies think. How they’ll react when they learn how dangerous the galaxy has become."
I looked up at the artificial stars. They were perfect, but distant in all the wrong ways.
"But in that time, we’ve confirmed the destruction of six other colonies. Poisoned. Burned. Gone. The Bugs didn’t wait. They never wait. And while we were studying, they were killing."
I let that settle. The scent of the vines drifted between us.
"We have the ships now. More than enough to defend this planet. We can divide our forces. We can act. We must."
My voice was steady. My decision, final.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are going on a bug hunt."
I hope those short chapters whetted your appetite for Book 1, Return to the Galaxy, released on Amazon on the 17th of June.
ExporeWho Wants To Be A Billionaire?
We live on a rock with limited resources, surrounded by an ocean of possibility.
For most of human history, we didn’t know what was out there. We stared up at the night sky and saw stories. Gods, monsters, and threats. But now we know the truth is even more extraordinary. Because space isn’t just stars and silence. It’s full of energy, metals, and life-changing ideas waiting to be used.
And for the first time in human history, we might actually reach them.
There’s a metal-rich asteroid called 16 Psyche floating between Mars and Jupiter. NASA plans to survey it in 2028. Scientists believe it could be worth around ten quintillion dollars in gold, copper, and precious metals. Enough to make every person on Earth a billionaire. And that’s just one rock.
Thousands of asteroids hold water, platinum, and rare earth elements we’re already struggling to source here on Earth. There are magnitudes more resources in the asteroid belt than we’ve ever mined down here, and they’re just sitting there, untouched, waiting.
But the solar system isn’t just about metals. One of the most important substances out there is the simplest: water.
There’s ice locked in the shadowed craters of the Moon. Water beneath the dusty red surface of Mars, frozen but present. And beneath the thick ice crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa, lies a vast hidden ocean, containing more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Water matters. Not just because we need it to drink, but because it can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. That gives us breathable air and rocket fuel. Wherever there’s water, we have the beginnings of a self-sustaining outpost. It’s no exaggeration to say that water is the key to unlocking the solar system.
Some people still say space exploration is a distraction. Too expensive, too far away, too self-indulgent. Too many selfies of celebrities drinking champagne in Zero-G.
But space has already transformed life on Earth in ways we’ve come to take for granted.
Everyone knows about Teflon, but space research has given us much more. GPS and weather tracking. Scratch-proof lenses. Wireless headsets. Medical monitors. Advanced prosthetics. Image sensors in phone cameras. Water filters that save lives in disaster zones. Insulation that keeps buildings warm. Radios used by emergency responders. Satellites, worldwide live TV and internet.
Every time we push into space, we create tools we end up using here at home. Space has always paid off, often in surprising ways.
And now, the cost of getting into space is plummeting. When the space shuttle launched, it cost around fifty thousand dollars to send a single kilogram into orbit. With reusable rockets, SpaceX has already pushed that figure down to about one thousand, and it’s still dropping.
It’s easy to roll your eyes at billionaires floating around in zero-G, but every one of those joyrides is funding better engines, smarter navigation systems, and stronger life-support tech. These flights are trial runs. For the colonies, factories, and survey ships that will surely follow.
So, what do we do with all this?
We imagine bigger.
The first wave of expansion won’t be led by astronauts. It’ll be micro-satellites, solar-sailed drones, and ion-engine scouts, flitting out to the asteroid belt to map the terrain and tag the richest rocks.
Before we finish, let me take you back to Europa.
This moon, barely smaller than ours, hides an ocean beneath its frozen shell. An ocean that’s never seen sunlight. It’s warmed only by the tidal pull of Jupiter. Some scientists believe it may even contain hydrothermal vents like the ones in Earth’s deepest oceans, where life thrives without sunlight.
We may not just find resources out there. We may find life.
If that doesn’t stir your imagination, I’m not sure what will.
But fiction often gets there first.
In Return to the Galaxy, you’ll find space mining, planetary colonization, alien invaders, interstellar battles, hidden alien tech, courage, betrayal and love. It’s the story of how a galaxy-spanning federation gets ripped apart and about the terrifying monsters coming for Earth. The only thing standing in their way is a cancer-ridden seventy-seven-year-old special forces veteran on his death bed.
Well, him and the sarcastic alien avatar who turns him into a twenty-year-old bio-engineered super soldier.
The humans are coming.
The galaxy better be ready.
Discover More Free Sci-Fi Adventures
Each month, I’ll team up with a group of talented sci-fi authors to bring you an incredible selection of free books. Whether you’re looking for thrilling space battles, deep space mysteries, or first-contact encounters, these promotions are packed with stories to fuel your imagination.
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Author Spotlight
We Just Won in London AND Los Angeles
A quick update, and an exclusive never before released chapter, just for you, at the bottom of this page
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.
ExporeMy Favourite Character? I’ll Let You Into a Secret
Readers often write to ask who my favourite character is, and where the creative part of the process starts.
Well, I’ll let you into a secret.
If you’ve read Return of the Star Lords, you’ve met her. Her name is Kya.
She was originally a side character in my third book, Seek the Galaxy, but she was so fierce, funny, and full of courage that she demanded her own story. That story became Return of the Star Lords, the first piece of fiction I ever published, less than four months ago.
At the suggestion of my editor, I entered it into six writing competitions.
It went nowhere in one.
Runner-up in another.
And, to my amazement, it won the other four. Gold awards, no less.
I owe Kya a lot.
So much, in fact, that I wrote a follow-up about what happened when she and her younger sister Syla returned to Earth with Ewan and the crew of the Dagger. It follows Kya trying to blend in at a Florida high school, posing as an English public schoolgirl, with amusing and exciting consequences.
But here’s the catch: it’s 11,000 words long. (About 35 pages.)
Too long to include in a fast-paced space opera. It’s still a bit raw and unpolished. So, I’ve never published it. I might never.
But if you’d like to read it, just hit reply to this email and ask. I’ll send it to you with a smile.
And where do I write? Well, at my computer, of course.
But the creative part, the fun part, that starts somewhere else.
The ideas, the characters, the spit-balling madness? That often begins here:
The King’s Arms in Prestbury, my local country pub just outside Cheltenham. (Yes, that picture below is the real place.)
I sit with a blank page and mind-map story arcs, character dilemmas, alien cultures. Sometimes I write out scenes freehand.
The pub’s great for ideas. Less great for actual writing.
I’ve learned I need to stop after two pints. After that, the page starts to look like a drunken spider dipped all eight legs in the inkwell and staggered across the paper writing in Swahili.
Still, more than a few scenes in Return to the Galaxy were born at that very table.
Right. It’s late on Saturday afternoon here. Time to get creative.
I wonder if they’ve opened the door at The King’s Arms yet?
I might go see if Ewan, Velal, or Jera are in, and if they fancy a pint.
...Oh, and before I go, I'm starting to get some good reviews in, too. I've added one of them from the British review service Wishing Shelf lower down. See what you think of it.
Still missing one of the short stories?
Some stories unfold centuries apart. Some on distant worlds.
Some right under our noses, here on Earth.
But they’re all part of a shared timeline, a single galaxy where choices ripple, tech evolves, and empires rise and fall.
Return of the Star Lords – Kya will do anything to save her sister, even help kill a god
When the Going Gets Tough – A mission gone wrong. A soldier pushed too far
The Honeytrap Protocol– Seduction, betrayal, and a target who won’t play along
School Trip to the End of the World – He stole a starship to save his family
Chasm City– This city breaks people. Not all of them stay broken
You can download any you missed by clicking on the books on my website right here:
This email is already long so I’ve shortened my normal science article to a 3-minute read, placed down below. I had quite a dark article planned for today, but I received a lot of emails thanking me for the positive tone of the last one, so I changed tack. This one is uplifting, too.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
EDITORIAL REVIEW 15th May 2025
TITLE: Return to the Galaxy
AUTHOR: BA Gillies
Star Rating: 5
I must say, this is a very enjoyable sci-fi novel. In fact, I started reading it on Monday morning and kept going till I finished it on Monday night! And I loved every word of it.
Now, it’s not ‘literary’ in any way – thankfully – the author smartly offering sci-fi readers what they want: fast pacing, short chapters, accessible vocab, a complex, slightly broken protagonist (Ewan), and a thrill-a-page plot.
So, what did I enjoy the most? Well, Ewan is fab! Written from his POV, we first meet him during the Falkland’s conflict back in 1982, when the British sent a taskforce to retake the islands from the invading Argentinians.
Later, when he’s dying of cancer, he gets the opportunity (with the help of a little nanite tech) to stop a powerful enemy which is hunting for Earth. For me, he was very much the strongest character in the story – strong, brave; basically, fit for the fight! The perfect protagonist.
I also enjoyed the pacing of the novel. The cover for the book – a spacecraft being destroyed in battle – suggests one thing: this is going to be a non-stop, lots of things happening all the time, sort of novel. And that’s very much what you get.
So, all you sci-fi nuts out there, I’d strongly recommend this novel to you.
I see from the website, www.bagillies.com, this is the first book of three. They all look FAB! So much so, I’m going to be checking out book two (Reach for the Galaxy) and book three (Seek the Galaxy) myself.
I love it when an author knows his/her readership and what they want – and that’s exactly what you get here.
All in all, a bit of a gem!
A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
The Tiny Revolution
(3-minute read)
Right at the beginning of Return to the Galaxy, Ewan is dying. Seventy-seven-years-old, broken, forgotten. Until the nanites bring him back. They don’t just heal him. They rebuild him.
Piece by piece, cell by cell, until he’s stronger, faster, sharper than he ever was. A soldier again. But not quite the same man.
In the book, that’s science fiction.
But just beneath the surface, it’s already becoming science fact.
Because the real revolution in medicine isn’t happening with scalpels or miracle pills. It’s happening with machines so small you couldn’t see one if it flew past your eye.
They’re called nanobots. Or medical nanites, if you’re speaking in fiction. And they aren’t coming. They’re already here.
Researchers around the world are building microscopic devices that can:
Target and destroy cancer cells with extreme precision.
Dissolve arterial plaque without surgery.
Deliver chemotherapy directly to tumours, bypassing the healthy cells entirely.
Detect viruses in the bloodstream days before symptoms appear.
Repair damaged tissue at the molecular level.
Transmit live diagnostic data from inside the body, silently, wirelessly.
Some of these devices are still in clinical trials. Others are already in use.
A team in California recently tested a nanobot that navigates through blood vessels using magnetic fields, like a microscopic submarine, piloted by code.
In China, researchers launched a swarm of bots into infected lung tissue. The result? Five times the effectiveness of standard antibiotics.
And we’re just getting started.
In the next ten to twenty years, we could see programmable nanites that live inside us long-term. Always on. Always scanning.
Like immune system companions, spotting problems before they start, correcting chemical imbalances before symptoms ever appear. Keeping us steady. Quietly nudging us back toward health.
They won’t replace doctors. But they might prevent the emergency.
And what’s striking is how human this technology feels, not cold, not clinical, but intimate. For centuries, we’ve fought sickness with brute force. Sawbones. Syringes. Scalpels, even leeches. Now, we’re beginning to heal from within, not with violence, but with understanding.
That’s what drew me to nanites in Return to the Galaxy. Not as miracle tech. Not as magic. But as a symbol of something deeper.
That maybe we don’t need to become gods. Or machines. Maybe we just need to become a little better at fixing what we used to break. A little better at restoring what was lost.
But we should always remember to believe in good people and the hope they bring. All around the world brilliant doctors and researchers are advancing medicine constantly, turning the science fiction of our parents into science fact for the next generation.
Because sometimes the most powerful changes don’t roar in. They arrive silently. On machines too small to see.
But too amazing to ignore.
P.S. Don’t be shy. If you'd like to read Kya’s secret story, just hit reply and say so. Just say "Kya at school story please." and "I’ll send it your way happily.
ExporeAncient humans had steam engines, batteries, even computers. Why didn’t history change?
In my forthcoming novel Return to the Galaxy humans find the tech of zero gravity which transforms society.
In my last article I looked at a near future invention – nanobots. In this article I thought I would look back at some astonishing near misses. Technology the ancients had and didn’t develop fully.
If you've ever yelled at a sci-fi character for missing the obvious, don’t be too quick to judge. Real history is full of missed opportunities. Civilizations that touched the future, then shrugged and turned away.
Here are seven astonishing near-misses and three tragic absences. Together, they make you wonder how close we’ve come, more than once, to living in a very different world.
1. The Roman Steam Engine
Hero of Alexandria built a working steam turbine in the first century. It spun and hissed with pressure. The Romans admired it, then used it to power novelty toys for wealthy children. The idea of replacing labor with machines? That never caught on. Why automate when you have slaves?
2. The Baghdad Battery
Found in modern-day Iraq, this 2,000-year-old clay jar may have been used for electroplating. It contained a copper tube, an iron rod, and acidic liquid. In short, a battery. But no lights, no motors, no spark of an electrical age. Just a forgotten experiment in a museum.
3. The Antikythera Mechanism
Salvaged from a Greek shipwreck, this astonishing device could predict eclipses and track planetary movements with mechanical gears. A computer, built in 100 BC, centuries before computers. Then the knowledge vanished, lost to history, only to be rediscovered when Charles Babbage designed the first true computer, the Difference Engine, in London in 1822 AD.
4. Greek Atomic Theory
Democritus proposed that everything was made of indivisible particles. He called them atoms. But in the absence of a scientific method, the idea was treated as elegant philosophy, not testable truth. Two thousand years later, it finally became science.
5. Viking Settlements in the Americas
Norse explorers reached Newfoundland around the year 1000, five hundred years before Columbus. They built houses, made tools, and traded with locals. Then they left. No sustained colonization. No exchange of knowledge. One of history’s greatest journeys, abandoned before it had time to matter.
6. The Egyptian Surgical Toolkit
Medical papyri from 1600 BCE show advanced understanding of anatomy, antiseptics, and even brain surgery. They splinted limbs, stitched wounds, and drained abscesses. But their knowledge remained isolated. If that knowledge had spread, global populations would have boomed. History would be very different.
7. Chinese Rocketry, Seismographs, and Navigation
By the 10th century, China had developed navigational compasses, multi-stage rockets, and even seismographs to detect earthquakes. But after the Ming dynasty turned inward, innovation slowed. Europe took their ideas, crossed oceans, and changed the map.
Now for the epic misses. Times when a civilization had everything. Except the one thing that could have changed the world.
8. No Wheel in the Inca Empire
The Inca engineered mountaintop cities, stone roads, and vast agricultural systems. They even made wheeled wooden carts as children’s toys. But they never used the wheel for transport. Without it, carts and wagons never rolled. And the idea of harnessing it for animals or machines never came.
9. The Islamic World and the Printing Press
When Gutenberg’s press began spreading knowledge across Europe, many Islamic leaders saw it as a potential way to spread heresy. For centuries, printing was banned or heavily restricted. A single invention that could have triggered a second golden age was left unused.
10. The Romans Never Industrialized Water Power
The Romans used aqueducts and watermills but never scaled them beyond local utility. They could have mechanized cloth or grain production but didn’t. They left the steam engine in toy form. 1,500 years later the British used both to start the industrial revolution. History could have been very different.
Final Thought
Progress is never guaranteed. Sometimes, a great leap forward arrives early, gets ignored, and vanishes.
What breakthroughs might we be overlooking right now?
ExporeAlien Invasion: Are We Begging for One?
Are we unknowingly announcing our presence to a universe that might be hostile?
For over a century, Earth has been leaking radio signals into space—TV broadcasts, radar pulses, and military transmissions, all traveling outward at the speed of light. But if the Dark Forest Theory is correct, have we already made a deadly mistake?
Writing & Book News
Exciting things are happening behind the scenes. My upcoming novel, Return to the Galaxy, is moving closer to launch, and I’ll soon be looking for ARC readers to get an early copy for free in exchange for an honest review.
If you’d like to be part of the advance reader team, please click the button below to request your sample copy!
Also, if you love free sci-fi stories, keep an eye on your inbox. I’ve got something special coming soon, exclusively for newsletter subscribers.
Request Review CopySci-Fi & Science Feature: Will Hostile Aliens Find Us? Are We Too Loud?
Since the 1930s, Earth’s strongest radio signals have been escaping into deep space, forming a growing bubble of noise. From early I Love Lucy broadcasts to modern satellite communications, our signals have traveled about 100 light-years in all directions. That creates a 200-light-year-wide footprint—a cosmic beacon announcing our existence.
But should we be worried?
How Many Star Systems Could Have Heard Us?
- Within this 200-light-year bubble, there are an estimated 15,000 star systems.
- Many of these could host planets in the habitable zone, meaning potential civilizations may have already detected Earth’s broadcasts.
- But here’s the catch: our signals weaken over distance. By the time they reach another star, they might be too faint to distinguish from cosmic background noise.
So, if an advanced civilization is out there, could they really hear us?
The Real Sign of Civilization? Our Atmosphere
Even if aliens can’t hear our radio transmissions, they might detect something even more revealing: our planet’s chemical fingerprint.
The James Webb Space Telescope is already analyzing the atmospheres of distant exoplanets, looking for biosignatures—traces of life. If aliens have telescopes like ours, they could study Earth’s atmosphere and see unmistakable signs of oxygen, methane, and industrial pollutants—a clear indication that a technological species exists here.
Even if we go silent tomorrow, Earth itself is a glowing signal that screams: life exists here. So, should we stay quiet or say hello?
If the Dark Forest Theory is correct, then staying silent might be the safest move. The idea suggests that the universe is quiet not because it’s empty, but because every civilization is hiding—afraid of being discovered by something far more advanced and dangerous.
But the reality is—we’ve already been broadcasting our existence, intentionally or not, just by breathing. Whether through radio waves or atmospheric clues, if someone out there is listening, they may already know about us.
And that’s a hopeful thought. Even if the galaxy is silent, it doesn’t mean it’s empty. Maybe, just maybe, someone out there is looking at our little blue world, wondering about us—just as we wonder about them.
What Do You Think?
Should we actively send messages to the stars, or keep quiet and just listen?
Of course, the aliens could have watched I Love Lucy and decided to steer well clear!
Email me and let me know—I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Writing Soundtrack of the Week
One of the things that helps me get into the right headspace while writing is music. This week, I’ve been listening to Gollum’s Song from Lord of the Rings, sung by Emiliana Torrini, and it really captures the eerie, mysterious vibe of the Dark Forest idea.
Do you listen to music while reading sci-fi? If so, what’s your go-to soundtrack? Email me and let me know.
Looking for your next read?
Here's a book by another author that you might like. I enjoyed it - click the image to download your copy now:
Discover More Free Sci-Fi Adventures
This month, I’m teaming up with a group of talented sci-fi authors to bring you an incredible selection of free books. Whether you’re looking for thrilling space battles, deep space mysteries, or first-contact encounters, these promotions are packed with stories to fuel your imagination.
Each book is completely free to download—just follow the links below and explore new worlds. Don’t miss out, as these giveaways are only available for a limited time!
- FREE Fast-Paced Fantasy & Sci-Fi
- March 2025 ARC/Review Sci-fi & Fantasy
- FREE Sci-Fi and Fantasy
- Fantasy & Sci-Fi Mania
- Free Adventures in Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Fantasy & Sci-Fi March Freebies
Return to the Galaxy
An ancient Federation. A deadly alien war. A man reborn to save Earth from annihilation. A woman trying desperately to lead her people to freedom. Dive into a galaxy of colossal battles, inter-species love affairs, lost colonies, and a mission that will determine the fate of humanity.
The Humans Are Coming. The Galaxy Better Be Ready.
The astonishing truth? The human race didn’t evolve on Earth.
Ewan Scott was a dying SAS veteran, until a 300-year-old alien AI Avatar offered him a second chance: rebirth in a bio-engineered body, fitter, stronger, and movie-star handsome. His mission? Reunite humanity with its parent civilization, the Saret Federation, before merciless enemies erase all life on Earth.
Frigate Captain Velal, haunted by her past and bound by impossible orders, fights to save what’s left of her civilization. As worlds fall to alien invasion and nuclear fire, the ancient monsters she dreads are hunting for Earth.
An ancient empire falls to betrayal. A merciless enemy closes in. Earth lies defenseless. Its last hope a flawed hero reborn, and a woman who will fight until the stars go dark.Join Ewan, Velal, and wise-cracking Jera in an epic, fast-paced space opera packed with:
- Savage interstellar war
- Planetary colonization
- Special Forces warfare
- Found alien tech
- The secrets of a dying empire
If you love John Scalzi, Craig Alanson, and David Weber, the epic scale of Peter F. Hamilton, and the military brilliance of Elizabeth Moon
Mining A Harvest Of Extravagant Riches
Last time we talked about the staggering wealth floating between the planets, trillions of dollars in metals, ice, and rare elements, waiting in the cold and dark. But dreaming is easy. Doing is hard.
Mining A Harvest Of Extravagant Riches
Last time we talked about the staggering wealth floating between the planets, trillions of dollars in metals, ice, and rare elements, waiting in the cold and dark. But dreaming is easy. Doing is hard.
So how would we actually exploit the solar system?
Let’s think about the steps
Step 1: Survey the Unknown
We can’t mine what we haven’t mapped.
That’s where shoebox-sized mappers come in, fleets of tens of thousands of micro-drones launched from Earth. They could travel to the belt together in one rocket powered by light sails or whisper-efficient ion engines, spreading out on exploration missions on arrival. They could fan out across the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, and lunar surfaces, pinging back data on composition, mass, and structure. The main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter travels around the sun every five years, so they could use less fuel by letting the asteroids rotate around to them.
Imagine them like a flock of spacefaring honeybees, sniffing out which rocks hold iron, nickel, water ice, or platinum. The scale is enormous, so they need autonomy. Each drone would carry AI decision-making and swarm software, able to reroute itself if one of its companions fails.
Step 2: Secure the Data
There’s no point spending billions on exploration if someone can just intercept your signals and copy your treasure map.
To protect the data goldmine, we’d need tightbeam laser communication, ultra-narrow beams that stay focused across millions of miles, making them almost impossible to eavesdrop on. Onboard encryption and “dead drop” relays, (think of them as secure mailboxes in space,) would further lock down the information.
In the race to space riches, knowledge is everything and stealing it could be the first frontier war.
Step 3: Mine Smart, Not Big
Traditional mining with bulldozers and dynamite won’t cut it in microgravity.
Instead, think of Von Neumann machines, self-replicating robotic factories that can build copies of themselves from local materials. We’d seed a small number of parent machines on promising asteroids. They’d dig, refine, and construct more miners, exponentially increasing our capacity without endless resupply from Earth.
Nanite swarms could also play a role, microscopic miners programmed to separate metals from rock at the molecular level, leaving behind ultra-pure ore.
Step 4: Process Where You Mine
Shipping raw ore home is like mailing a mountain across the ocean.
Instead, we’d smelt and process material in situ, turning asteroid rock into refined metal, and even manufacturing components right there. 3D printing in space isn’t science fiction anymore. It’s happening on the International Space Station today. Soon, we’ll be building ship parts, habitats, and fuel tanks where the raw materials are.
Step 5: Bring It Home or Bring It Closer
Once you’ve got something worth hauling, you need to move it carefully.
We could send refined metal back to Earth orbit using mass drivers, essentially space railguns, or slow, steady solar-electric tugs. But the real dream is bringing the asteroid itself into a controlled Earth orbit.
Picture this: we shepherd a small metallic asteroid into a stable orbit around Earth or the Moon, mine it locally, and transform the leftover shell into habitat space. What was once a rock drifting between Mars and Jupiter becomes a spinning, sunlit world with greenhouses, cities, and docking rings.
In a hundred years, our grandchildren could be living inside what we today call space junk.
Why This Matters
We stand on the edge of the greatest resource rush in human history, one that will decide what kind of civilization we become.
If we do it right, we won’t just solve resource shortages. We’ll rewrite what’s possible for humanity.
And yes, in the world of Return to the Galaxy, we go a little further: Galactic wars, alien superweapons, and desperate humanity clawing its way into the stars.
But all great futures start with a first step.
So, let’s imagine, let’s build, and let’s claim the solar system.
Discover More Free Sci-Fi Adventures
Each month, I’ll team up with a group of talented sci-fi authors to bring you an incredible selection of free books. Whether you’re looking for thrilling space battles, deep space mysteries, or first-contact encounters, these promotions are packed with stories to fuel your imagination.
Each book is completely free to download—just follow the links below and explore new worlds. Don’t miss out, as these giveaways are only available for a limited time!
Author Spotlight
Fewer Space Elves, More Giant Spiders!
If you’re expecting our first alien encounter to be with tall, noble beings who look vaguely human, I have some bad news…
Because if evolution works the same way in space as it does on Earth, then the first extraterrestrials we meet won’t be anything like us. Instead of graceful humanoids, we might find ourselves negotiating with something that has more legs, more eyes, and no concept of personal space.
The Math is Against Us
Let’s look at what evolution tells us about what works best:
- 7,000+ species of octopuses
- 50,000+ species of spiders
- 1 million+ insect species (making up 80% of Earth’s biodiversity)
- And humans? Just one.
Nature favors small, adaptable, multi-limbed creatures over big-brained bipeds like us. If survival and reproduction drive evolution, then intelligent alien life might look more like spiders than space elves. A terrifying thought—or maybe just a practical one.
Tentacles Over Hands?
Science fiction has convinced us that aliens will be bipedal, but is that really the smartest design?
- Octopuses have nine brains—one in their head and one in each limb.
- They can solve puzzles, use tools, and camouflage themselves like alien shapeshifters.
- More limbs could mean greater adaptability, which is why many scientists suspect that alien civilizations might be arachnid- or cephalopod-like.
Maybe we should stop assuming we’d shake hands with an alien… and start wondering how many hands they’ll have to shake back with.
Predator or Prey?
Would intelligent aliens be peaceful explorers or something much worse?
- The smartest creatures on Earth—wolves, dolphins, chimpanzees, humans—are all predators or opportunistic scavengers.
- Intelligence often evolves from competition, not passive survival.
- Gentle herbivores don’t usually need advanced problem-solving skills to survive.
If first contact happens, we’d better hope they don’t see us as food or a primitive species taking up valuable real estate.
Where Do They Live? How Does That Change Things?
The kind of planet an alien species evolves on could change everything about their body type and intelligence.
- Water worlds? Tentacled creatures might dominate—no bones, just endless adaptability.
- Low-gravity planets? We could see creatures that are taller, thinner, or even balloon-like, floating rather than walking.
- Extreme environments? Insect-like or burrowing creatures could thrive where humans wouldn’t last a minute.
Maybe we’ve been thinking too small. Instead of imagining one dominant alien species, there could be thousands of intelligent forms—each shaped by their unique home world.
But Maybe It’s Not All Bad…
If intelligence favors adaptability and social cooperation, then maybe aliens are more like chimps and dolphins—clever, resourceful, and possibly even friendly.
And even if they turn out to be hyper-intelligent spiders… well, at least we know they’ll be fantastic at pest control!
Readers Are Hooked—Want to Join Them?
I wanted to share a quick note from a beta reader who just finished an advance copy of my novel - Return to the Galaxy—in less than 24 hours!
The book is awesome. I am hooked and waiting for the next one. It was very well written. Reminds me of the Doc Savage series to some extent. 5 stars all the way!—Willow
And another reader? They couldn’t put it down twice!
I absolutely loved this book. I sat down to read it for an hour one evening, but read until I finished it six hours later. Two weeks later, I read it again. Definitely 5 Stars!—Connor
Want to see what all the excitement is about?
But be quick—I’m only offering a limited number of advance copies to my email subscribers, and once they’re gone, they’re gone!
What Do You Think?
- Would an advanced spider-alien civilization be terrifying, or would you shake one of its eight hands?
- Have you ever read a sci-fi book where the aliens weren’t humanoid? What did you think of them?
Contact me and let me know!
Next Time: The Best British Sci-Fi Authors
In two weeks, I’ll be diving into some of the greatest British science fiction authors of all time—the writers who shaped the genre and inspired modern sci-fi. From Arthur C. Clarke to lesser-known legends, I’ll be sharing my top picks.
Until next time, keep looking to the stars… but maybe keep quiet while you do.
Looking for your next read?
Click the image below to download now:
Discover More Free Sci-Fi Adventures
Each month, I’ll team up with a group of talented sci-fi authors to bring you an incredible selection of free books. Whether you’re looking for thrilling space battles, deep space mysteries, or first-contact encounters, these promotions are packed with stories to fuel your imagination.
Each book is completely free to download—just follow the links below and explore new worlds. Don’t miss out, as these giveaways are only available for a limited time!
- FREE Fast-Paced Fantasy & Sci-Fi
- March 2025 ARC/Review Sci-fi & Fantasy
- FREE Sci-Fi and Fantasy for March 2025
- Fantasy & Sci-Fi Mania
- FREE Adventures in Sci-fi and Fantasy
- March Fantasy/Sci-Fi Freebies
- Free Sci-fi & Fantasy