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                          Caveat Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain, as are the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Alexander Dumas. However, freshly-created, original fiction is the copyright of the author. Note that my work adresses adult themes, and is therefore not recommended for YA or children. Copyright All textual material on this website is copyright by Mike Adamson. All artwork with the exception of the book and magazine covers is copyright by Jen Downes. |
Introduction Since 2016, Mike has been building a future chronology of the exploration and settlement of the stellar neighbourhood through the medium of short stories. Many are quite independent while others revisit characters or form story arcs. Collectively, they form a highly detailed panorama of the human race's future as a space faring people, and a member of a peaceful community of races. Almost forty stories have been accepted for publication (though a couple have not yet appeared) and Mike has almost twenty more doing the rounds. Below are an essay on this expanding science fiction universe, a listing of all stories published to date in their chronological order (as distinct from order of writing or publication), a complete listing featuring links to purchase, or in some cases read for free, an Encyclopedia of the Middle Stars and a Gazeteer of Worlds. These listings will be updated as new stories are written and find their publication venues. In keeping with the overall site design, the vertical column at right also features the covers of publications including these stories, and all are live links. by Mike Adamson My first story, "Magellan Rising," was based on a dream image — the slow-motion explosion of a vast starship in the night sky, viewed by scientists on the ground who treated it as a phenomenon. Well, such an evocative image had to be written up with a plot, a point, emotional content, stakes... It's ironic that that story has not yet scored a publisher! But subsequent pieces found their audience and have appeared in scores of markets over the years — thirty-nine stories placed at time of writing, with nearly sixty completed. Tales of the Middle Stars follows no particular characters, but some characters recur as one moves through time. I postulate that current research into the abolition of age-related disease will result in vastly elongated human lifespans, and that centuries down the road one may live as long as one wishes. This allows the same eyes to see events unfold in different centuries, certainly a tantalising possibility that fundamentally reforms the human outlook. There are certain characters about whom events evolve, people and ships central to pivot points in history. Captain Luce Cantrell of the freighter Royal Swan, with her military background and shadowy connections to secret intelligence and the closing events of the Colonial War, which must remain forever classified... Captain Jeff Daily of the freighter Astral Princess, who manages to be at ground zero when things are most important. Other familiar names pop up in more than one tale. Where might a reader new to this cycle begin? As most stories are independent of their neighbours, one might start anywhere, but thechronological listing below provides for reading in order if preferred. This list will be expanded as new stories are written and find markets. I would describe the future I conceive of as hopeful. Not perhaps in the Star Trek sense of an idealisation of human thought and behaviour which deeply reorganises who we are and how we go about living, yet not bleak in The Expanse sense, which assumes the human race will take all its very worst qualities with it into space. Of the two, the latter is, sadly, the more likely, but I'm determined not to be too pessimistic about tomorrow, and have conceived of a future in which the human race has risen to the challenge. It has overcome dire obstacles, such as mastering the art of terraforming, pulling Earth itself back from climate catastrophe, refining faster than light travel to a stable, reliable mainstay, and so forth. Good and bad are of course found on all human worlds, corruption remains with us, but in general the human race has "lifted its game," perhaps mainly because we have discovered that we are far from alone. There are a dozen alien peoples within a few hundred lightyears, every one of them older, rather wiser, at peace with each other, and welcoming "the new kid on the block" as they have before when other peoples "escaped their planetary cradles." That means we are morally accountable to those who have accepted us as members of a community, and, though not everyone is happy about it, we behave ourselves on the interstellar stage. That is, until AD 2496, when we get it very wrong indeed, coming into conflict with an insular and "diplomatically difficult" people called the Sendaaki. A people of mystery, willing to use military force when they sense territorial compromises occurring — the entire industrial output of the Middle Stars is called upon, in a war that scars a generation. Nothing is ever as it seems, of course, and the truth about how the war began explains the way it ends to the few privileged, or cursed, to know the facts... The most common theme in the cycle of stories must be contact with alien life. A great many feature first contact situations, or exobiologists and other experts studying and making diplomatic gestures to the life encountered out there. This is certainly a Star Trek-trope, but spread over many, many years, and featuring the input of a wide variety of people. Some alien beings are humanoid and speak languages we can learn, some are amorphous, vast and telepathic. One kind covers a planet in a single organism, another race is microscopic. Most come from oxydizing environments, one comes from a reducing chemistry. And some are beings on a titanic scale, who can navigate space itself. Science fiction is perhaps the leading speculative genre, for it offers infinite possibilities within its own rules, and while I make no claim to imbuing my stories with the kind of hard science that many do, I hope my projections are always within the realm of the plausible, and in exploring alien biology and environments I have given full rein to my imagination. Allowing for ongoing stories appearing in the cycle as inspiration strikes, what major parts remain incomplete? I will be writing more stories in the earliest era, dealing with the beginnings of stellar exploration, first contact and such, and the early days of colonisation on at least one more planet. The Colonial War arc is incomplete, there are seven stories so far, five published, and probably as many more to go to round out that chapter of history. A cycle of stories forms a prelude to my first planned novel, six completed (three published) and three or so further instalments planned — it's easy to imagine the group anthologised to compliment the novel, but that may be wishful thinking! And stories beyond the novel: one older piece falls comfortably farther in the future and another is planned. Who knows where the next inspiration may take me? Well... I did set a story in the 31st century, "In the Garden of Crystal Synapses," published by Hiraeth in The Martian Wave in 2022. It tends to open the door to another era centuries later, and could indeed lie in the same contiguous chronology as the Post-Habitable Earth and Middle Stars compendia. There's no reason why not. In the end, I suppose I will continue to write stories as the fancy takes me, as submission calls prompt, and for as long as the pieces find a market. They are a lot of fun, and the worlds of the Middle Stars are like going home, from the deserts of Susa to the fjords of Ericson's World, from the islands of Oceanea to the Earth-like peace of Utopia. I hope you'll join me for the journey! This is a complete listing, in chronological order, of all stories currently completed, including those published, placed but not yet published, and written but not yet placed. New listings will appear from time to time. Events appear in plain text, story titles are in bold. 2229 First starship explores the Near Heavens 2234 First alien encounters 2234 Reconstitution of the Global Council for Cetacean Relations on Earth. 2248 Belchas opens diplomatic contact with Earth 2269 First landing on Utopia 2271 First survey of Ericson's World 2272 Foundation of Darwin's World in the Near Heavens 2286 The Trikonian Gambit 2292 Foundation of Susa in the Middle Stars 2293 Terraforming begins on Ericson's World 2300 The Centaurus Event 2306 Rain Girl 2338 Magellan incident 2367 Magellan Rising 2371 Petrichor 2379 Gerome Delcanto begins his voyage 2383 Survey ship finds energy-lensing 'mineral' on an unnamed planet 2391 Leif Ericson brings first settlers to Ericson's World 2395 Lo, These Many Gods 2402 Strangers on the Shore 2411 Departure of Longreach III for 'Sarpedon' 2421 Departure of replacement expedition to Sarpedon 2441 The Foresaken 2473 Cyclogenesis 2478 The Salamandrion 2481 The Eternals 2485 Last Stop Paradise 2489 The Land-Rays of Menkaure 2490 Binary Fusion 2492 The Dreaming Giants 2493 The One That Is All 2493 Dreamworld 2494 The Mnemosynian Trap 2495 Sing to Me, the Alien Said 2495 The Alien Way 2496 Lux Aeturna 2496 Bio-Mass 2496 Colonial War begins 2496 A Line in the Sky 2497 Elusive Target 2497 Downtime at Ranger Station 2498 One Shot Kill 2498 Mano a Xeno 2499 I'll Never Miss Her Special Day 2499 Vital Dispatches 2499 Dragon in the Shadows 2500 Ghost Run 2501 Colonial War Ends 2501 Annie Lustrum's Psychedelic Shag Wagon 2501 North of 25 2502 In the Graveyard of Ennui 2502 Wake 2502 Go, My Child 2502 Tarquin's Gold 2503 Extraction Run 2503 The Stars of Home 2503 The Marachel Job 2504 Last Man Standing 2504 Sky Tears 2504 Wharf Rat 2505 Gaming Aquarius 2505 The Lost Empire 2505 Wisdom 2506 Ascending 2507 Tam of the Breakers 2507 Windwalkers 2507 Keeper of the Ways 2508 Heart of the Stars 2508 An Epiphany in Zangrion 2508 A Silent Sphinx 2509 Beyond the Burning Stars 2509 On the Shoulder of a God 2560 Existential Bliss The Trikonian Gambit The Centaurus Event Rain Girl Wyldeblood, 4/2023 FR Magellan Rising Petrichor Wordland 8: Time We Left Galaxy Anthology Series #5 Lo, These Many Gods SQ Mag #28, 9/2016 FR Strangers on the Shore Andromeda Spaceways #79 The Foresaken Cyclogenesis The Salamandrion Black Hare Books The Eternals Phantaxis #7 Shelter of Daylight V.3, No.2 Last Stop Paradise Stupefying Stories #24 The Land-Rays of Menkaure Binary Fusion Synthetic Reality #7 (site discontinued) A Sacred Duty Phantom Thieves The Dreaming Giants Outposts of Beyond V.7, No.2 (out of print) The One That Is All Outposts of Beyond V.6, No.1 (out of print) Etherea #17 Dreamworld Zetetic Record, 2/2017FR Lockdown Sci-Fi #4 The Mnemosynian Trap Alien Dimensions #15 Sing to Me, the Alien Said Wavelengths The Alien Way Visions VII: Universe Lux Aeturna Helios Quarterly Bio-Mass Strange Religions A Line in the Sky Elusive Target Spring Into SciFi 2021 Downtime at Ranger Station Alien Dimensions #24 One Shot Kill Spring Into SciFi 2018 Mano A Xeno Forthcoming in 4 Star Stories I'll Never Miss Her Special Day Utopia SF V.3, No.2 Vital Dispatches Phantaxis #3 Dragon in the Shadows Ghost Run Annie Lustrum's Psychedelic Shag Wagon Forthcoming in The Back Forty North of 25 Uprising Review, 7/2017 FR Lockdown Sci-Fi #2 In the Graveyard of Ennui Wake Mythic #5 Go, My Child Page and Spine (website discontinued) Tarquin's Gold Forthcoming in SF Revu, December 2023 Extraction Run The Stars of Home Trouble Among the Stars #3 The Marachel Job Andromeda Spaceways #68 Last Man Standing Sky Tears Alien Dimensions #17 Xenobiology Guide Galaktika #401 Wharf Rat NewMyths #52 FR The Lost Empire Wisdom Gaming Aquarius Forthcoming in NewMyths Ascending Emerging Worlds, 11/19 FR Metastellar 11/2022 Tam of the Breakers Andromeda Spaceways #82 Windwalkers Shelter of Daylight V.2, No.3 Keeper of the Ways Alien Dimensions #24 Heart of the Stars An Epiphany in Zangrion A Silent Sphinx Abandoned Beyond the Burning Stars Blood Moons (anthology cancelled) On the Shoulder of a God Selene Quarterly Existential Bliss Mind Candy 
 
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