Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far Book 1)

This is a full length 80,000 word novel. The first in the military science fiction series, A Star Too Far.

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Interview with the Author

When I started writing Trial by Ice I wrote a story I wanted to read. A story that combined survival in a daunting situation and ended it all with a starship battle. But most of all I wanted a great story that was just plain fun to write and mirrored the sort of fiction I enjoyed reading. I usually read military science fiction, space fleet stories, maybe an alien invasion, but also enjoy a good slog in a survival story, like Shackleton. I like to see protagonists who take the worst and struggle to come out on top.


A Star Too Far was my chance to mix up a few genres, set a different tale where the hero isn’t a dashing space marine, but instead a young officer who’s struggling to find himself. While it’s definitely military science fiction it’s without a doubt a survival story melded in. Later on in the series the more traditional space fleet aspects come in, but through it all William Grace is struggling to lead men and women through the worst of it.

It’s a series that keeps the action moving and you, the reader, engaged. Through it all you get to watch the characters evolve, change, win, and even lose.

The trick to writing good science fiction is to retain a basis in actual science. It doesn’t have to be exactly how we think the universe works, but it has to follow laws that are close. So while you may still find faster than light travel, you’ll also see Newtonian physics at work. Some engagements were simulated on a PC so that the timeframes would all mesh together.

Tales of survival. Shackleton, Perry, Mawson, along with stories of great naval battles like the Aubrey and Maturin series. And through it all shines inspiration from the Golden Age of scifi, Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, and some of the great modern fiction like Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, Armor by John Steakley, and Forever War by Joe Haldeman.