New Book, Old Series: BY THE BOOK

So, I write crime fiction, and I write historical fiction and sometimes I revert to my first love, Science Fiction, which returned to the surface of my consciousness thanks to Covid 19 and the Lockdown. Fed up with everything grinding a halt, with no obvious light on the horizon, I dug out a trilogy, SALVAGE, that I had written a few decades ago, and I rewrote it to bring it all up to date. That sounds odd when it’s set about 250 years in the future. Can you bring the future up to date? Yes, because futuristic fiction is never really about the future. It’s about the here and now, studied from an oblique angle.

The world has changed since the 80s and 90s when I first got involved in the trials and tribulations of the fools on the space freighter Heloise, so of course there were changes to be made. But not as many as might be thought. I was predicting a world in which capitalist free enterprise was making hay across the Solar System, while Planet Earth collapsed in a maelstrom of war, pandemics and environmental catastrophe. I began writing them when the world was dominated by Cold War, Thatcher and Reagan. It turns out that everything I foresaw has become more rather than less predictable. How encouraging is that?

My friends on the Heloise embarked for a year-long journey to Triton in INSIDE OUT and managed to cope with the aftermath in MAKING WAVES. I am pleased to announce that they have completed their mission in life (more or less) and the last volume of the trilogy, BY THE BOOK, is now about to spring on the world.

Here is the blurb:

“Welcome to the Outer Circles beyond Jupiter, where enterprise is free, law non-existent and mega-corporation Ragnox Inc. rules—or did. Director Jordan Pascal has lost his power base on Triton, but Commandant DeWitter intends to take it back, and more. Much more. First, however, he needs to deal with the man he replaced, Commandant Smith, who is dead… or is he?
Former Commandant Smith has other plans for Ragnox. Plans that involve wiping the corporation off the map and returning the Outer Circles to those for whom it is home. But before Arkadia can be restored, the monstrous war machine that DeWitter is creating must be neutralized. Force will never be enough to defeat overwhelming military might. It requires something more powerful: words.”

BY THE BOOK will be published on November 1^st, as an e-book and paperback and the Kindle version is available for pre-order now. Its message: never underestimate the power of books. So if you fancy it, dare I say Buy the Book.

Pre-order now.