An Intro to The Shattered Stars

or, the first episode of our epic science fiction series is out today!

Today is the release of Colony Collapse, the first episode of our episodic science fiction series, The Shattered Stars, co-written and published under the name KE Wolfe. We’ve been selling it as “Star Trek: The Next Generation meets Firefly”, and that’s true, but you may have wondered—what does it mean for this series to be episodic, exactly?

Essentially, The Shattered Stars is our attempt to translate not just the feel and excitement, but also the episodic structure of retro science fiction into written form. So far, each episode has been about a hundred pages, so they’re the perfect way to just relax in the afternoon. And unlike normal books, they’re going to be on a consistent release schedule every three months. Currently our plan for our first “season” in 2023 is:

Episode 1: Colony Collapse (3/21/2023)

Episode 2: The Blood Dancers (6/21/2023)

Episode 3: Sleeping Giants (9/21/2023)

Episode 4: Libertatia (12/21/2023)

Each of the episodes will be available both as a physical book and ebook. It’s strongly preferable to read them in order, but each novella will also be its own, self-contained story—something you can pick up and have fun with any time. They’ll also be full of surprises and variety, following the same crew on their adventures as they explore a distant, dangerous region of the galaxy.

Currently four episodes have been written (totaling about 100,000 words, which is about a 500 page book), and there are more coming soon. But we also love the episodic structure for a different reason. Our plan is for every episode to be a new surprise, with new, exciting challenges, crazy adventures and strange new worlds, but also a cast of familiar characters who develop and change and have distinct storylines that carry from episode to episode.

Each time we start another episode it’s been another amazing surprise, and so far we’ve got notes for at least twenty more, plus some big “epic” arcs later on, so it’s going to be a wild ride.

So, what is the series about?

The Shattered Stars is the tale of The Burning Apollo. Similar to the Enterprise in Star Trek, their job is to explore new planets for a large imperial power. But their Federated Colonies, which were once held together by all-powerful AIs that mysteriously vanished, are a collapsed shadow of their former self. Humans have long since spread to distant corners of the galaxy, altering themselves through bioengineering to be better suited to whatever planets they might have landed on. But after the calamity, planets lost touch with each other for hundreds of years, and sometimes forgot how the humans who lived there had arrived.

Now, in what was once the center of an empire, a few of the federated planets are attempting to put their empire back together. They’ve constructed a fleet using what remains of ancient technology, crewed by outcasts and criminals and, in general, whoever is good enough for the job. The Burning Apollo is one of those ships, and when the series starts they’ve been sent to the frontier—a disparate corner, once a part of the Federated Colonies, which is so far away it takes most of a lifetime at near-lightspeed to arrive there.

The Shattered Stars is the story of the Burning Apollo’s struggles on the frontier as they attempt to reunite the scattered colonies of humanity and discover what happens to the ones who went silent. But it’s been a long time, and there are new powers on the frontier—ones that don’t appreciate the Burning Apollo being there. And that’s only one of many challenges they’ll be facing in their adventures.

I don’t like science fiction. Will I still enjoy the series?

Of course, this will be especially appealing to science fiction fans. Fans of Star Trek and the Firefly in particular will notice Easter eggs and the shadow of familiar concepts. But at the same time, we envision the series as much more than just an homage. Rather than just echoing old science fiction tropes, The Shattered Stars aims to infuse them with a deeply modern energy, excitement, and complexity—to keep going where those old stories left off, rather than just being a distant reminder of them, and we hope the series will appeal to anyone who likes interesting stories about enjoyable characters doing cool things.

Also, I don’t like aliens. Are there aliens?

Nope! In this universe everyone the crew encounters is human—at least, as far as anyone knows. It’s just that, sometimes, they might be humans so transformed they might as well be aliens.

I DO like science fiction. What will I get from the series, and is it just a dumb ripoff of Star Trek?

Definitely not. Of course, the series is heavily inspired by television science fiction, since it’s full of action and intense set pieces, characters bantering with each other, and fast paced plots. But at the same time it also draws influence from some of the most “serious” writers in the field. The series has a sociological scope inspired by our fondness for writers like Ursula Le Guin, Samuel R. Delany, or James S.A. Corey, and beneath all the excitement it’s also shaping into a sustained investigation of imperialism: What does it look like? What are the consequences? How does an empire enforce itself from far away, as the Burning Apollo works for a cause they might not even believe in? 

Also, the series will revisit a lot of old science fiction ideas, but we’re aiming to put a modern spin on all of them. The universe of The Shattered Stars is bleak and dangerous, and while this isn’t a grimdark series by any means, we’re still aiming for it to reflect the reality of a complicated, nuanced universe in the midst of enormous changes that no one within it entirely understands.

So, with all the other science fiction out there, why should I read this?

Characters are unusually important in this series. Part of this comes from the fact that, somehow, both of us consider Robin Hobb to be our favorite writer. Even when a story is set in space, the people are the most important part to us, and we’re very concerned with how relationships and personalities bend, fold, and change over time. Our hope is that even people who don’t enjoy science fiction (including those who find it corny or unrealistic, or just dip in on a rare occasion) will find a human element in the series they can engage with. No matter how strange the setting is these people really are just like us—except when they aren’t, but we’ve got good reasons for that!

That reminds me. Who are you, anyway, and why do you keep posting on Eddy’s blog and writing books with him?

Eddy and I have known each other for over 10 years, ever since we both met through a shared publisher. All that time we’ve been the first reader of each other’s writing, in addition to keeping a conversation about books, writing and life going on Skype that really hasn’t stopped since. Along the way our styles have evolved in different but parallel ways, though it was only recently that we considered writing together. So far we’ve been absolutely shocked by the results, and our current feeling is we’re producing better work together than we ever have individually.

As for my own work, I’m the author of The Pain Eater, a literary horror novel released in 2022 by Clash Books. Recently it was selected as one of the best books of the year at The Anciliary Book Review. Also, I’ve had stories published in places like Lightspeed Magazine, and I’m the writer and designer of The Pale City, a dark fantasy RPG for PC which was released in 2020.

Basically, though, we’re both just big nerds who like to make cool stuff.

But really. Why should I read The Shattered Stars rather than just watching Star Trek?

I mean, we love Star Trek, so have at it! But as much as we love those series—especially TNG and Deep Space Nine—it’s also difficult to deny that, looking back, there are certain things that (at least for us) show some room for expansion. I've loved those familiar characters since I was a little kid, but the adult in me sees a lot of places they might develop. From a modern perspective, that shiny universe where humans are always right just seems somehow.... comforting, but also a bit unsatisfying. Sometimes things were just a bit too easy for the Enterprise—but for the Burning Apollo, exploring space is hard, and that’s something we think no Star Trek series really offers.

But what about the new Star Trek shows? Watching those already takes too long!

That’s true—there’s a lot. But without going into much detail, both of the writers who make up KE Wolfe haven’t been entirely satisfied with the newer entries in the series. "(You can read Eddy’s thoughts on Discovery here). We feel there’s a lot of room to develop these older ideas into something newer, richer, and more nuanced, and we hope you’ll feel the same after you check out The Shattered Stars.

Is that all the series has in store for us?

This is barely even scratching the surface. But for now, thanks for going on this adventure with us. It’s a wild galaxy out there, and we can’t wait to explore it with you!

Colony Collapse is available on Amazon, here.