# Rik O'Hare > Ordinary people. Impossible choices. Extraordinary worlds. ## Posts - [Indie as a consolation prize? No way!](https://rikohare.com/why-i-chose-indie-publishing/): Judgement has been out a few weeks now, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how it’s doing. Nothing earth-shattering — it won’t make any bestseller lists, and I never expected it to. But last week I was out shopping with my wife when she bumped into someone she knew. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, the woman looked at me and said: “So, is this the author?” That was quite a moment. Someone I’d never met before knew about my book — from Facebook, no less. And it made me really glad I’d chosen to go the Indie publishing route. So […] - [Meet Martal Strand: The man who makes it rain](https://rikohare.com/meet-martal-strand-judgement/): There is a moment, every Thursday morning aboard ELLE4, that Martal Strand considers his. Not officially – nothing in his job title lays claim to it. But in the hours before the Eastsun ignition lights the habitat’s false dawn, before the Agricultural strip stirs into another working day, Martal initiates the cloud cycle. He watches the moisture gather above the crops. He watches it build. And then, for two hours, it rains. He made that rain. In a habitat orbiting a dead Earth, where every molecule of atmosphere is accounted for and every weather event is an engineering decision, Martal Strand […] - [Fixing the foundations](https://rikohare.com/fixing-the-foundations/): I like to think of myself as a process-driven plotter. On paper, I am. I sit down at the beginning of a project and map the larger architecture: the opening movement, the midpoint shift, the ending. I sketch character arcs, turning points, structural beats. I build what looks like a solid framework from start to finish. And then, inevitably, I reach the midpoint and everything starts to wobble. Somewhere approaching the middle of a draft, I begin to feel it: the foundations aren’t as stable as I thought. A character motivation isn’t carrying enough weight. A thematic thread isn’t embedded deeply […] - [If You Loved These Books, Judgement Is Your Next Read](https://rikohare.com/sci-fi-books-like-judgement/): Every reader knows the feeling. You close a book, sit with it for a moment, and think: I need more of this. Not just more pages – more of that specific ache. The enclosed world, the moral weight, the sense that something vast is pressing in from all sides. If any of the books below have done that to you, I’d like to make a case that Judgement – my debut novel, releasing April 15th – was written for you. If you loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers… You already know what it feels like […] - [Your Mind, Their Network: The Real Science Catching Up to Science Fiction](https://rikohare.com/real-science-brain-computer-interfaces/): If you’ve read much science fiction, you’ll have bumped into the idea of people plugging their minds directly into computers. It’s a staple of the genre — from the gritty cyberspace of Neuromancer to the neural jacks of The Matrix. It tends to feel like a metaphor, a cool idea that lives comfortably in the realm of “someday, maybe.” A Brain-Computer Interface, or BCI, is a device that creates a direct link between your brain and a computer. Some sit on the scalp and read electrical signals from outside. Others are surgical implants that go inside the skull and talk directly […] - [The Story We Tell Ourselves](https://rikohare.com/the-story-we-tell-ourselves/): During my years in the UK Fire Service, I saw some of the very best, and the very worst, of people’s behaviour. From two men literally having a brawl on the bonnet of a car we were trying to rescue a casualty from, to the quiet kindness of people towards neighbours who had just lost their homes – and sometimes much more than that – to fire. Sometimes their behaviour made sense and sometimes it didn’t. But it was always fascinating. What struck me most, though, wasn’t the dramatic moments. It was the everyday, mundane ones. One of the more interesting […] - [A Germ of an Idea, Followed by a 'What If?'](https://rikohare.com/how-a-three-word-sentence-became-judgement/): AKA: How a Three-Word Sentence Became Judgement Every writer has an origin story. Some are dramatic – a dream at 3 a.m., a conversation overheard on a commuter train, a headline that stops them cold. Mine is quieter than any of those. Judgement began with an unfinished sentence and a small piece of psychology. I was doing a writing course and looking for a way to push past the blank page. The technique the course gave me was disarmingly simple. You’re handed three words – the beginning of a sentence – and without pausing to think, you write whatever your brain […] - [Living among the stars: O'Neill cylinders](https://rikohare.com/oneill-cylinders-space-habitats/): What is an O’Neill Cylinder? Imagine looking up and seeing a river winding across the sky, green fields curving overhead, and sunlight streaming across streets that stretch for kilometres. Welcome to life inside an O’Neill cylinder – one of the most compelling visions for humanity’s future in space and the setting for my novel Judgement. In 1976, physicist Gerard K. O’Neill published The High Frontier, a book that asked a deceptively simple question: why colonise planets at all? Planets come with problems – crushing gravity, toxic atmospheres, inconvenient distances from the Sun. O’Neill proposed something different: purpose-built habitats, free-floating in space, […] ## Pages - [Newsletter](https://rikohare.com/contact/free/): Enter the world of Judgement today. Judgement is a dystopian sci-fi thriller by Rik O’Hare that released 15 April 2026. Newsletter subscribers get exclusive content and a free, exclusive short story set in ELLE4: - [Blog](https://rikohare.com/blog/) - [Media FAQ](https://rikohare.com/media-faq/): About Rik O’Hare Who is Rik O’Hare? Rik O’Hare is a UK-based science fiction author and member of the British Science Fiction Association. He writes speculative fiction exploring themes of survival, conspiracy, and dystopian futures. His debut novel, Judgement, will be published on April 15th, 2026. Is Rik O’Hare available for interviews or speaking events? For media inquiries, interviews, podcast appearances, or speaking engagements, please use the contact page. About Judgement What is Judgement about? Judgement is a dystopian science fiction adventure about Martal Strand, who uncovers a deadly conspiracy in humanity’s last orbital refuge. Released on the 15th of April, […] - [Contact](https://rikohare.com/contact/): Rik O’Hare is a UK-based science fiction author and member of the British Science Fiction Association. His debut novel Judgement, a dystopian thriller set in an orbital refuge, was published on April 15th, 2026. Join the newsletter Subscribers get: Rik O’Hare is available for: – Media interviews about science fiction, dystopian fiction, and Judgement – Podcast appearances discussing writing, worldbuilding, and speculative fiction – Speaking engagements at literary events, conventions, and writing groups – Book reviews and advance reader copies (available 2026) – Professional collaboration with publishers, agents, and fellow authors For enquiries, please email rik@rikohare.com Response Time: Inquiries are typically […] - [Judgement](https://rikohare.com/novels/): What readers are saying: “The book weaves impressive worldbuilding alongside compelling characters, cinematic action and a gripping plot.” – Bethan, Amazon “A superb debut novel. Gripping from the start…” – Richard, Goodreads Where to buy: Judgement Earth lies in ruin. Humanity survives aboard ELLE4, a vast orbital habitat carrying two hundred thousand souls and half a billion frozen embryos – the last hope of a species on the brink. Chief Engineer Martal Strand has spent his life wrestling with fragile systems, buried guilt, and the impossible expectations of his father, ELLE4’s Chief Administrator. But when he agrees to help a trusted […] - [About](https://rikohare.com/bio/): About Rik O’Hare Rik O’Hare was born in Bristol, UK, in the sixties and has taken a winding path to authorship. Over the years he has stacked shelves, crafted lenses in an optical factory, and — most memorably — served many years as a firefighter. Each role, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, has given him a keen eye for human resilience and the fragile line between order and chaos. Today, Rik lives in Bristol with his family and writes speculative fiction which combines hard science fiction elements with character-driven storytelling and immersive worlds. His stories explore survival, mystery, and cosmic […] - [Home](https://rikohare.com/): The worlds of Rik O’Hare Rik O’Hare is a science fiction author based in the United Kingdom. He is the author of Judgement (published, April, 2026), a dystopian adventure set in humanity’s last orbital refuge. About Judgement When guilt-haunted Martal Strand uncovers a deadly conspiracy in humanity’s last orbital refuge, he must race against time to protect the fragile future of everything – and everyone – he knows. Judgement is a story of survival, loyalty, and the high cost of truth. Read more about Judgement Rik is a member of the British Science Fiction Association. His work explores themes of survival […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/rikohare.com/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)