Why this universe?

The 35th century world of Rome's Revolution took me some 40 years to develop. It is based upon carefully researched physics, astro-geology, archeology, sociology and so much more. Once you have completed world-building, only then can you tell a cogent story about the characters that live there.

This has always been the hardest part of telling an origin story. You have the added burden of introducing the reader to a totally novel world while simultaneously trying to engage them with your characters and their travails.

Many times an origin story can be crushed under its own weight. But, if it somehow survives critical review, it opens up the way for a sequel. As I wrote earlier, sequels should always be better than the origin story. The reader has already done all of the work learning about the new reality and now you just pump up the action and adventure.

So, in summary, I am lazy. I (and hopefully you) have already learned all about the Vuduri and PPT tunnels and MASAL and OMCOM so it is time for you to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. By placing The Milk Run in the same universe as Rome's Revolution, I can dispense with pretty much all the heavy duty science and just get on with it.

By putting it in the same universe, it also allows me to bring in characters from the past just to sweeten up the pot. Rome and Rei, while not the primary focus of the novel, make a significant contribution. Edgar Rice Burroughs did that with the John Carter of Mars series. While many of the books were about John Carter, some of them were not with John Carter only making a guest appearance.

And finally, believe it or not, I still had some loose ends to tie up. The biggest one was: what the hell has OMCOM been doing out there for the last 25 years?

Finally, you will find out.