A sequence of eight science fiction tales set in a lightly-revised version of the author's "Forest" universe (published via HMS Press in Canada in the mid nineties) this work includes seven original Katie Hounsome illustrations (in addition to the Katie Hounsome cover art, above) and seeks to add AI-free artistic value to the text while it is testing the waters for the significant investment of work required to revise and republish "Forest", "Tiger" and "Protegeé" and finish the fourth novel in a Milligan's trilogy: "Badge of Stars."
(The only tale containing any serious (but entirely proportionate) mayhem is left unillustrated out of prudence rather than prudery.)
Delays in completing this work are all down to the author and his battle with two different life-threatening illnesses, and in the meantime Katie Hounsome has been busy on other projects: https://katiehcreates.com/
There will be an e-book edition of this, but only some e-readers will be able to reproduce the art-deco-style colour illustrations to a satisfactory standard, so the plan is for there to be an Amazon print-on-demand paperback for those who want the text with the illustrations in tangible form and for appropriate platforms to carry e-books in a format that will allow colour rendition on I-pads, PCs and similar devices.
On Kindles and other simple e-readers, the text may appear with the illustrations appearing in monochrome. If this doesn't work well, a text-only edition may have to be created. The hope is that readers who appreciate the illustrations, will buy the paperback and those who are happy with the text won't have to.
None of the e-book editions will be particularly expensive.
It currently looks as if this will be available by Autumn 2026.
