Rough Beginnings

United Earth #1

by R.M. Almonte

This is the 3rd edition of United Earth Rough Beginnings all newly re-edited and updated September 22. Rough Beginnings is 1st tale of United Earth. A young boy who loses his mother. A junkie father whose only emotion is numbness. Guided by some outside force. Stevie must learn his true inner power. Driven to follow his dream, Stevie must go beyond the norms of everyday society. How do you learn to do something no one else has done?

Genres: Science Fiction, Amazon

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2015

About the author

R.M. Almonte – The Author Who Turned Dreams Into a Publishing Empire

Raised in a crack-ridden New York neighborhood, R.M. Almonte defied the odds, guided by vivid, recurring dreams and his mother’s unwavering belief. In 2002, with $800 and no plan, he moved to Japan, where twelve years abroad — including meeting spiritual leader Kahn — expanded his worldview.

Now a Dominican-American author, speaker, and founder of R.M. Almonte Publishing/Media, he blends lived experience, ufology research, and a lifelong love of science fiction into bestselling metaphysical novels, reaching readers across six countries.

In 2025, he appeared on Paranormal 60 and was booked for a prime-time segment on Coast to Coast AM, cementing his reputation as a rising voice in the field. His mission: channel a lifetime of risk, travel, and transformation into stories that bridge the seen and unseen — and tell the truth, especially when it’s strange.

Reviews

[Akil Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

United Earth Rough Beginnings is a tight nit story that follows Stevie through transitions in his life both in logic sense and surreal sense. Where at first I couldn't tell what the plot of the book was, I sat there and figured it doesn't completely hurt the book.

While ultimately the goal of Stevie to build a spaceship is not necessarily directly built up to. The actions that happen during his astral projections do allude to his eventual curiosity to what is happening to him and to be honest is really where the story picks up for me.

Rough Beginnings is not a boring read, as I did find it interesting but I did catch myself asking somewhere in the middle, "where is this story going." The ending is intriguing enough that I do what to read book 2 and I'm actually looking forward to it.

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quick read surprised me with its depth as well as the issues it touched upon, and how they were tackled.
I saw another reviewer call it New Age Sci-Fi, and, yes, it's that, and so much more. Although I've been firmly on the Fantasy end of speculative fiction for the past little while, this more esoteric bent to Sci-Fi spoke to me. Especially so with the cultural and superphysical aspects of the story.
This novella is a great entry to a very intriguing tale.

[Linda Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good start to a great series

This story has a lot going on and is full of interesting details. Characters are excellent and you definitely get wrapped up with them. Well written with only some minor editing needed. Looking forward to reading more!!

[Scott Tengzelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

New age sci fi

I really enjoyed this rather new age sci first novel the mind is much more capable than we allow it to be

[Angela Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I enjoyed reading this book. I think that everybody else long try reading it to.Very well written.Good value to.Talks a lot about hard work

[Dan Buzenski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a different and more outer spacey type cover on the Kindle book. Great story about consciousness.

[W Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than I expected

The book was a good short read, like a good prequel I look forward to reading the next book especially enjoyed the ethnic diversity! Good job

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

EDIT: Since my original review (below in not italicized font) I have recieved the newly released edition which was edited by a new editor and it is incredibly easy and more enjoyable to read now! My original review gave barely 3 stars but the new edition is an easy 4 and I am excited to see where the series goes! I would reccomend this book to anyone looking for a unique sci-fi novel that covers racial issues!

First and foremost this book was overflowing with errors. I can ignore most of the grammatical errors as the book was in first person from the point of view of someone with questionable education based on writing, however there were a large amount of spelling errors. I am aware that this book was published through CreateSpace and not a big publisher with dozens of professional editors at the ready, but a lot of the spelling errors should not have even made it into a rough draft let alone through any sort of editing.

With that aside Rough Beginnings had just that, a rough beginning, it felt as though only a couple minor things happened in the beginning and the last 50 or so pages held everything that actually progressed the plot while being interesting to the reader. I did have some interest in the plot once it started to pick up and I can see where the second book will most likely be set up much better. Things did go a little crazy in the last chapter as though the book should have been a bit longer to explain more, but again I have hope that the second book will iron out those wrinkles.

One thing the author did very well on was the characters, while they had seemingly similar voices I would chalk that up to the book being first person with minimal amounts of long dialogue. All of the characters had a fair amount of backstory given and enough description to picture them all well. I may not be fully invested in the story or plot but I am interested in seeing what happens to the characters because they seemed more important to me!

Overall I have to say I mostly just think this book needs another couple proofreads and it could be really good!

[Lizzie Winns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off like a normal story of child neglect, but then morphed into some kind of out of body experience. With alien like abductions. Just weird, hard to explain... I most likely will not be reading book 2.

[Martine · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5

Five things:
- Self-taught MC
- Parent with substance abuse issues
- Adoption
- Aliens?
- Mental travel