Blog Archives
A Necessary Journey
Why: Earth 2278 follows a general and his inner circle as they engage in a global conflict, and they question the motives of the people in charge of their controlled society. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
In the history of Earth, humans have always had a tragic past. The abuse of power has resulted in many millions of innocent lives lost, from the time of the caveman until now. It is called war, and the heartfelt pain resulting in conflicts around the globe. I hope the readers do not dwell on the painstaking decisions of Butch Sweeney but find his pain worthy of hope and a necessary journey.
My family and I spent hundreds of hours traveling to my daughter’s sporting events, and my daughter and I spent time on some trips talking about Earth 300 years into the future. In retirement, I decided to write a futuristic novel that was centered on a military backdrop. Using my degree in marine engineering, it was gratifying to create a futuristic civilization in the thought-provoking world of Sci-Fi.
What is the most challenging aspect of writing science fiction? The most rewarding?
Being an engineer, the most challenging part was proper grammar and sentence structure. I loved creating characters and blending them into a futuristic society. The Sci-Fi part was fun to create and rewarding. I was surprised to find how passionate I became in writing Sci-Fi. This week, when I finished my final approval with the production team for the interior and cover of Why: Earth 2278, it was a testament of a three-year project becoming a reality. I have to say that was my biggest reward.
As any author will tell you, the reward is for the reader to find joy in their work. This is why I write.
Do you have a favorite scene in this novel? One that was especially satisfying to create?
When Butch squares off with his friend Grouch, it is a scene of consequential significance to have to fight your comrade. This moment in Why brings an unfathomable conscience to live with. The tough burden on a man trying to resolve Earth’s future for its people.
The satisfaction in this scene was to embed deep-rooted feelings of a man shouldering the entire planet, Earth. A man in power must have a conscience to achieve greatness.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I have started Where: Earth 2280. It should be completed in a few months. Hope to launch my second novel in 2027.
The Dog Pack Series will be, for now, a trilogy. The backbone of any good novel is the intertwining of solid characters. The Dog Pack is this backbone.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Website | Amazon
Why: Earth 2278
Why: Earth 2278 is a military science fiction thriller about a future Earth run by the Union, where order is kept with ruthless clarity, and where the people in charge are starting to look a lot like the monsters they claim to prevent. It follows Butch Sweeney, the Union’s top general, as he watches the system strain under rebellion, resource theft, and creeping corruption. The opening drops you straight into that reality with a public execution and the chilling logic behind it: “You kill, you die.” From there, the story widens into a global conflict where Sweeney and his tight inner circle, the Dog Pack, start asking the most dangerous question in a controlled society: what if the “stability” is the problem?
I enjoyed the book’s commitment to momentum. It’s written in a direct, boots-on-the-ground voice that feels like someone briefing you after a long night, still keyed up, still running on duty and adrenaline. The tech details (smart suits, ships, surveillance, AI systems) are delivered with a kind of matter-of-fact pride, like the hardware is part of the characters’ identity. And then you get these tonal pivots where the Dog Pack starts cracking jokes, swapping nicknames, and needling each other. It humanizes them fast. Sometimes it’s crude, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s both, but it does what it needs to do: it makes their bond feel lived-in, not just declared.
Under the action, the idea engine is pretty clear and kind of unsettling: a system built to stop humanity from repeating its worst habits can quietly become the thing that traps people in them. The book lays out how the Union was designed as a streamlined alternative to old political chaos, and then shows how Thomas Kraft twists it into something close to a dictatorship, even extending term limits to keep control. That thread felt more interesting to me than the pew-pew parts, because it’s not abstract. It’s procedural. It’s the small levers. And when Sweeney starts running out of “clean” options, the story doesn’t pretend there’s a painless fix. It basically admits, through him, that every path forward leaves bruises. Even the romance with Eva lands in that same messy place, tender in moments, but always under the shadow of the bigger war machine.
By the end, the author commits to the “thriller” promise: escalation, damage, and a clear setup for what comes next, with an epilogue that puts a target on Sweeney’s back and makes the conflict personal at the highest level. I’d recommend this most to readers who like military sci-fi that mixes chain-of-command politics with big combat stakes, plus a squad dynamic that leans on loyalty and gallows humor. If you’ve enjoyed the tradition of Starship Troopers or the forward-driving, high-stakes feel of Red Rising, this will probably hit a similar part of your brain, even though Hill’s voice is more blunt and conversational than stylized.
Pages: 254 | ASIN : B0GB3ZSSHS
