Launch Trajectory

2005 – I'm sitting in my cubicle at Boeing Space Systems, designing satellite antenna assemblies for XM Radio. During breaks, I engage my fellow engineers with science fiction story ideas. Long hours. Late nights. No time to write. Satellite launches don't wait. My world revolves around design, manufacturing, and testing... while quietly crafting a few space stories in the back of my mind.

2019 – COVID unexpectedly creates room for long-overdue projects. My son and I build a large raised-bed garden for my wife. My friends and I discover bourbon through virtual tastings. And, after years of talking about it, I finally begin writing Transit Three.

2020 – The first draft is complete. My first reader is my wife. She loves it. Easy to call her biased... except she's read more science fiction than almost anyone I know--Steve. But as a subject matter expert, her opinion mattered. She nudged me forward, convincing me it was worth sharing.

2021 – After incorporating her feedback, I send the manuscript to ten beta readers. Hitting "send" is terrifying. Waiting is worse.

The responses exceed every expectation.

My beta team includes a registered nurse, a microbiologist, two aerospace engineers, a geologist, several authors, and lifelong science fiction fans. They challenge the science, question the characters, poke holes in the plot, and somehow make the story stronger. Every one of them contributes something valuable.

2023 – I begin writing Book Two in the series. My process hasn't changed: write, outline, abandon the outline, discover something better, then hand it off to the beta team.

2023–2024 – Revision becomes the job. Draft after draft. Incorporating feedback. Reworking scenes. Tightening dialogue. Polishing every chapter until it earns its place.

2024 – Book Two is completed and sent to the beta readers.

2025 – I attend the San Diego Writers' Festival, where one instructor notices my naturally staccato writing style and introduces me to the em dash. At first, it seems like a lesson in punctuation. But it wasn't.

It was a lesson in trust.

Trust the reader to connect the dots. Eliminate unnecessary words. Tighten the prose. Keep the story moving. Since then, I've embraced fragments, semicolons, and the em dash—not as stylistic fluff, but as tools that keep the focus where it belongs: on the story.

Later that year, I attend the Las Vegas Writers Conference and meet Maer Wilson of Ellysian Press. She reads Transit Three in three days and loves it. I sign with the press later that month, and the novel begins its professional editing process.

2026 – I complete the final revisions to Book Two and begin writing Book Three which is the final book of the Terminal Solution Series.

I'm also heading to Comic-Con with bookmarks in hand, hoping to introduce Transit Three to new readers—one conversation at a time.

Winter 2026 – The goal is simple: publish Transit Three. It's been a long journey, and I can't wait to share it with you.