Hello, friends and fans!
This seemed like a great time to tell you more about Panic! Horror In Space – my latest sci-fi series! But… what is there to panic about? 
Okay, let me tell you!
“Panic! Horror In Space” is a series of satirical horror misadventures in deep space with the crew of the starship Mercury – which, of all the starships in the Terran Space Fleet, is probably the unluckiest ship in history!
Not once, not twice, but many times over, the same hapless crew – give or take a couple of replacements – on a supposed voyage of deep-space exploration, stumble into the weird, wake the creepy, and trip over the downright terrifying and possibly even supernatural.
Panic! Is a sci-fi horror parody. It is a satirical blend of the horror movie and paranormal investigation TV show trope, and the sci-fi space exploration genre. That said, aside from the paranormal gags, it’s still a good-old-fashioned sci-fi adventure overflowing with thrills and adventure! There arefour books in the series for now. If you enjoy reading them and want more, don’t despair – the next book is already under construction!
Also available as audiobooks!
Here’s a brief look at the characters and storyline:
While the locations change in each story in Panic!, the main characters remain constant; these are Stuart Flane, the Captain of the starship Mercury, Commander Vic Chapman (his best friend and EXO) and Dr. Fred Killian (the ship’s chief medical officer) who lends a scientific perspective to their paranormal pursuits. The rest of the ship’s crew is, unfortunately, fairly expendable and tend become casualties of whatever terrifying paranormal experience happens to be the flavor of any particular episode of Panic! – but that’s okay because Flane is notoriously inept at remembering their names!
Since Panic! is science fiction (more or less) the horor/paranormal tropes – things like zombies, ghosts, haunted or cursed objects as well as assorted kinds of paranormal activity – feature in settings like deserted space colonies or outposts, or derelict space ships or stations – but a good horror story isn’t ALL about the horror, is it? Horror needs a build-up, and there have to be releases from terror, otherwise constant terror becomes monotonous, loses its edge, and becomes dull – and the reader, bored.
Panic! gets around this by occasionally diverting the reader’s attention to the other aspects of the story – space travel, procedure and protocol, and of course, to add a little humor to the mix. After all, who hasn’t seen the potential for “funny” in a paranormal investigation TV show? Come on, who’s watched an episode of Ghost Adventures with Zak and his crew and never thought “wow, wouldn’t it be funny if x, y, or z happened?”
One of Vic Chapman and Stu Flane’s key phrases when faced with some or other mind-boggling para-whatsit mystery, is either “Well… shit!” or “Well… fuck!” In case you’re wondering, I never indulge in gratuitous swearing in my writing. Every time I do use profanity it’s to lend a particular energy to the story – and what could be funnier than a well-spoken, well-mannered officer and gentleman faced with a situation that reduces their vocabulary – somewhat appropriately – to a four-letter word?
So how did Panic! come about?
By 2017 I was busy working through some old archives of short stories I’d written at high school, and rewriting some of them as material to include in the next “Space Sucks!” book, “Space Sucks Too!“. One of them was a very rough old thing called “The Curse” I’d written way back in 1987 when I was 14 years old – but it had a certain something that often popped up in my meanderings, and I resolved to do something with it! So it was that I rewrote the entire thing – and not only did it end up being far longer than the original four hand-scribbled A5 pages, but it was also one of the best cliff-hanger short stories I’d ever written! Retitled “Mercury Rising” received some really good responses from a test audience. Based off that response, it was suggested that I write more stories based off that one and make them into a new series – and thus, Panic! Horror In Space was born! (Sorry, “Space Sucks Too!”) 
If you’re interested, you can check out the two guide books below that give more detail (and diagrams!) of the ships and tech you’ll see described in Galaxii. You can also find (and enjoy) the books of the series by clicking on the buttons below as well!
The series was received pretty well I think, and it’s been available in various forms since 2006 (and with tons of gradually improved covers over the years). The first three books have been turned into audiobooks, narrated by Darla Middlebrook. There’s also a brilliant book trailer video about the series below!
Buy now:
Thanks a lot for all your friendship and support, I hope you know it is deeply appreciated! Catch me next time – and remember, keep reading!
