Tom Shepherd's Blog

Tucson, Arizona / October 2025

Hey, Cosmic Ramblers, I’m Dr. Tom Shepherd (not medical), the sci-fi author who writes the Star Lawyers series. [“Arrested on an alien world — who you gonna call?”] I’ve been writing this Cosmic Ramblings blog for my newsletter, and I’d like to invite you aboard for the ride.

This week, let’s talk about world-building. We’ll tiptoe along the boundary of cosmology and fiction to consider a surprising fact of your existence, i.e., that you exist at all.

It’s not natural. you know… the Universe, with billions of galaxies, each filled with billions of stars and planets. Life in its grand diversity — including self-aware creatures like you and me — cannot be easily explained. The most “natural” state would be dark, primordial nothingness of an empty Cosmos.

But here we are. And since you’re reading these words, we can say with 100% probability that intelligent life exists in the Universe. Based on the sheer numbers of worlds out there, a lot of people find the likelihood of intelligent life beyond Earth as close to 100% as probability gets.

Now, here’s where it gets cool and metaphysical. Where did intelligent consciousness come from? Some say God, or an Olympian arrangement of eternals, or the force of Nature. Whatever you call that motivating source, it had to be intelligent consciousness, because the part can contain no property not present in the whole. (If you see a mouse, there are mice in the evolutionary options of the Cosmos.)

This is wandering too close to religion, which was not my intent but might be inevitable when considering world-building. People look at the landscape of life, find it a mystery, and create a backstory for daily reality. The story evolves as science fixes the details.

In my sci-fi novels, the struggle to survive, thrive and drive forward often causes characters to reflect on this mystery of life. They may be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or atheists — the great questions reappear in whatever culture or era where humanity looks to the stars with wonder about the meaning of it all.

As a sci-fi author, one of my ongoing challenges is world-building. For me, that involves creating the richness of a living society with its unique customs and traditions, foods and holidays, local and regional politics, and their major religions. Considering the diversity present on the only planet we know to harbor intelligent life, crafting a whole new biosphere is both a staggering problem and an extraordinary opportunity to build a world. Let there be light… and a little dark for conflict and adventure.

I look forward to exploring new worlds with my readers. Let the journey continue.

Tom Shepherd / Oct 2025

Where my thoughts find a home.

Here’s another excerpt from work-in-progress Star Lawyers Origins Book 3 – Secrets of Rahjen. To be released October 2019. (Exact date and pre-orders TBA.) See the first excerpt of Secrets of Rahjen if you missed it! In this passage, top-notch code writer Sally Ann Palmer and her married physicist friends Tanella and Perry Jennings are …

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Friends & Lovers of Sci-Fi: Here’s a Shepherd-Blog special peek at the cover of the upcoming Star Lawyers Origins Book 3 : Secrets of Rahjen (release date Sept. 2019), plus an excerpt from the opening sequence. Get a cool drink, sit back, and stand by for a steamy opener. (Who says nerds can’t have a …

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“Let justice prevail, and the divine plan forever endure.” Motto of the Ounta-Kadiis League, 18K light years from the galactic core The Ounta-Kadiis call themselves Firstborn Children of the Universe. Until 3099 T.C.E., five years before the Star Lawyers series begins, the O-Ks thought they were the only intelligent life in the Universe. For a …

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STRENGTH, RECIPROCITY, RETALIATION : Motto of the Parvian Republic The Parvian Republic – Origins The Parvian Republic was a predatory star nation until eight centuries ago. They entered a consolidation phase after conquering and annexing all their neighbors. The Republic commands over 1,800 light years of space in every direction. Their homeworld is in the …

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Sampler Weekly Feature #1 Progress Report on Book 5 – The Stellar Light Conspiracy: Book 5/TSLC is the most far-ranging, exciting Star Lawyers adventure yet. Four simultaneous jury trials in the midst of a Galaxy-wide conflict. I thought a good use of this Blog space would be to provide deep background on characters, races, deities, …

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When the lift reached Jaco’s floor, Rosalie and Inspector Platte drew their weapons. Flames licked the wall and the unmistakable spray of burned blood caked the flameless sections. Two Ounta-Kadiis men and a woman, badly burned and motionless, lay in red smears on the floor. They had the typical OK ruddy complexions with dark blue locks. The woman clutched a scorched handbag to her breast.

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Notes from Dr. Tom’s Desk Writing science fiction can be an abstract artform. You create (discover?) unknown civilizations, cultures, and religions, and populate them with new species speaking alien languages and holding values distant from Earth as their homeworlds. Technologies must be sci-fi friendly. Faster Than Light travel (if it exists in the Universe you …

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Note about Alien Diversity from Dr. Tom’s Desk* Reviewers and informal correspondents often remark about the array of alien races, planets, cultures and religions encountered in the main Star Lawyers series and its prequel spinoff, Star Lawyers Origins. Readers often comment positively on the multi-cultural spacefaring society I envision for the 32nd century. The complexity …

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