If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I now have permission to discuss a small novella that has recently been accepted by Starry Eyed Press for their 224-Verse series.

First, a little background from their 224-Verse page:

What is the 224-Verse?

The 224-Verse is an interconnected fictional universe set within the sprawling starscape of Galaxy NGC 224 – Andromeda.

In terms of sheer size, Andromeda is 220,000 lightyears across and is home to a trillion stars and roughly four-trillion planets.

So the “verse” is a shared set of stories set in the Andromeda galaxy, potentially over hundreds of thousands of years of time and 220,000 lightyears of space. But that’s not it.

According to the Canonical History page:

All space-faring civilizations, regardless of individual collective intelligence, reach an inevitable tipping point of exploration potential. The process breaks itself down into two separate and unique phases, each no more or less important than the other. The first is to create the technology and possess the understanding necessary to leave their host planet—To advance in such a way that ingenuity allows for the breaking free of their planet’s gravitational influence and thus stepping proverbial foot into the vast expanse of which it is a part. The second phase is the discovery of jump drive technology. This phase is, more often than not, gifted rather than discovered by one’s collective self. However, as is mandated by Galactic Treaty, the second phase can never, for any reason, precede the first. For with jump technology, the unimaginable distances separating stellar objects become infinitely more approachable for biological beings, which, with a few exceptions, typically live in spans under two-hundred-and-fifty years.

There’s a lot more, but essentially, the Galactic Assembly, which is a vast empire of various systems and species, administers the only method of faster-than-light travel physically possible, a “gift” from an ancient race that has now since become incorporeal.

The Assembly will only make itself known to a species if that species has developed technology that enables them to break out of their gravity well, and perhaps to explore other bodies in their own system. Having achieved that, the Assembly will tender an offer to join. If the new system agrees, the Assembly then provides information on jump ship and stargate technology.

As I mentioned, that’s only a taste and you can follow the links I’ve provided to learn more, especially if you would like to submit a work of your own to this shared universe.

My first story (I’m hoping to write others) is called “The Fallen Shall Rise.”

Archeologist Jepheth Shinzi has discovered a collection of ancient legends and folk tales revealing that thousands of years ago his planet had been part of the Assembly, but for some reason lost the ability for interstellar space travel. It was at that same time that his race had also been thrown back into the Bronze age by some nameless, global catastrophe.

His people having once again established interplanetary travel including colonies on nearby planets and moons, Jepheth takes his information to the government in the hopes of getting together an expedition to find the old jump ships and a gate. However, the government, being repressive to the point of totalitarianism, at first shuns his information, declaring him a fake.

In a sudden reversal, he is befriended by a high ranking government official and such an expedition is funded. But there’s one condition, that Jepheth himself make the first interstellar jump and establish contact with the unknown species on the other side of the gate. He reluctantly accepts, not knowing that his planet’s military have developed a scheme not only to contact, but to conquer races that had once been their foes in an unspeakable war in the distant past.

Can Jepheth find allies on the other side to help him avert interstellar conflict, or has he simply been moved from being a pawn to a prisoner of war?

The still unnamed compilation in which my novella “The Fallen Shall Rise” is appearing will be published in Spring 2022. I’ll provide more information as it comes along.