The much unanticipated debut novel
by Myles Roberts
It's Out There
It’s a thousand or so years in the future. The Galactic Human Empire collapsed ignominy and myth centuries ago. Life is good, but Turchin Shelton is bored. He longs to travel, to see the stars, and now he has finally been made redundant, the only thing keeping him on his home planet of Linto is the gravity. So, when an abandoned spaceship mysteriously floats into his home starsystem, it seems like it might offer a low budget way to explore the cosmos.
This is the tale of Turchin’s comic adventure across the galaxy in a ship that cannot remember what its original mission was but is sure it was something important. And, in the absence of a definitive history of the Galactic Human Empire, it might also be the most authoritative work on that topic to date.
Extracts
It's Out There...
“So, where did you two come from?” said Dryni.
“Linto,” said Turchin, “in Gliese Major.”
“Never heard of it,” said Ochir from the far side of the ship.
The point was redundant. The galaxy was a very big place and, once you started travelling intersystem, it was a pretty safe bet that no one had heard of anywhere. There was a standard response to this, used across the galaxy.
“It’s out there,” said Turchin.
Empire
No other intelligent species in the galaxy had a word for empire, and most had pointedly refused to create one. It was a uniquely human concept, untranslatable into most cultures. Humankind had overcome this philosophical barrier by firmly rooting the concept into the material existence of countless planets across the galaxy for almost half a millennium. But that was centuries ago, Turchin thought, and probably did not justify abandoning him outside a deadship on the fringes of the star system.
About the Author
Myles Roberts is not an author – this is his first book and he’s almost fifty. I mean, come on. He lives in Bristol, UK, with his son, his cat, his skateboard, several electric guitars, a lot of books and even more records. Now he’s discovered the joys of writing stupid little books, it seems even less likely that he’s ever going to cut his hair, pull up his jeans, and actually do something with his life.
About the Cover
Luke Oram definitely is an artist. I mean, look at that cover - amazing. He does Sci-Fi/Fantasy style artwork for album covers, books, magazines, and games of all descriptions. He combines traditional and digital techniques to produce fantastic stuff, which is way more satisfying than AI slop. And he does music, which is how I met him.
Buy the Book
Preorders now available.
Preorder It's Out There now and receive a free postcard of the amazing cover art by Luke Oram.
Ships May 2026.
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