Those Alien Skies follows three gripping stories that explore the uneasy bonds between humans and aliens as flawed, desperate people search for truth, redemption, and meaning across the vast unknown. For readers new to the Milijun universe, what do you hope they take away from Those Alien Skies as their first entry point?

As the scope of the Milijun books developed, I grew to love the characters [human, alien, and robotic] decorating their pages. ‘Those Alien Skies’ is a cosmic extension of their escapades and a substantial broadening of their horizons; the next leap into the universe, if you like.

For readers new to the Milijun universe, I hope they can closely relate to the various personalities, the situations they face, and the world-building of their universal surrounds. After finishing this book, I hope they remember the intimate reflections on survival and belonging. Hopefully those will linger long after the final page.

Humans are unique and wonderful creatures—but likely not the zenith of creation. We should remain open to sharing our life journeys and unafraid of what may seem paranormal or beyond our understanding. Where do we lie within the vast measure of creation? What is our relationship with the universe and what lies within it?

Elias Weber’s moral unraveling is one of the most memorable parts of the collection. What inspired his internal struggle, and did you always know where his arc would end?

Elias Weber first came to the fore in ‘Alien Whispers: Conflict and Communion’, Milijun Book 3, where he was a strong leader of an aggressive Tellurian military group based on the moon. The Tellurians are a powerful world-wide organization with an archaic mandate for their home planet—no exploration beyond Earth’s atmosphere. They are also the sworn enemy of the breakaway ‘Alien Communication Enterprise’, known as ACE, a group that vehemently opposes the Tellurian creed. There is a warlike rift between the Tellurians and ACE.

Captured by ACE, and totally embittered, he endures a meaningless life on Mars. Resentment grows, and Elias needs to understand what has happened to the Tellurian cause on Earth, and why it appears to be waning.

His future is in his own hands. He can accept the ACE doctrine of universal exploration with the alien Rbuzen, or he can seek revenge fuelled by a wistful desire for days long gone. 

Each novella balances awe-inspiring sci-fi concepts with deeply personal emotional beats. How do you decide which element leads a given scene?

There is no conscious decision making involved. The overall immediate plot comes first—something that can be described in a few sentences. From then on, it is the characters that create their own sub-plots and the flow of events: what they think, how they react with other people and their surrounds, how they overcome adversity, how they develop, how they succeed or fail.

The characters’ actions in given circumstances tell the story, and I just need to get inside their heads and make their reactions plausible. Quite often it is a balance between action and reaction – as are many of the things in our daily lives. Life is full of decisions – some of them minor, others critical to our future.

In a nutshell, I believe the plot is the foundation of the book, the characters are the stuff it’s made from.

The stories touch on belief, doubt, and the shaping of truth. What drew you to explore these themes in a futuristic setting?

I wonder at our universe, even though we are seemingly only a small part of it. Transitioning to interstellar space and coming across other lifeforms is just another mode of creative exploration that can become a wonderful backdrop to any story. How close would aliens be to ourselves? How different? 

Ideas can come from everywhere and anywhere. Pondering the universe. Pondering religions. Checking out the human condition. Exploring possibilities. And quite often surfing thoughts on waking up in the morning.

From the Milijun Series there is a Terran translation of an Rbuzen idiom, well before the aliens’ discovered extra-dimensional space: ‘Like the worm in the soil, or the spider in the web, we know nothing of creation, save that of our immediate surrounds, for that is all we need to know in order to survive.’ 

I believe that well describes the human condition. Who knows what lies outside our visible spectrum?

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