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“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope."

(Your normal science article is at the bottom of this email. This week I’m looking at the next stage in human evolution. We could be about to change what it means to be human. The article is called - ​Designer Babies, Super Soldiers, and the Next Stage of Evolution)

Winner of the London Book Festival 2025

First Runner Up in the Los Angeles Book Awards 2025

Winner of The Pinnacle Book Awards Gold Medal

Winner of a Literary Titan Silver award

Winner of a Firebird Book Award

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“Absolutely stellar writing. Fantastic immersion.”
Jonathon Shuerger, Retired US Marine, Author, host of the Author Update podcast

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I’m writing with a big ask and an even bigger thank you.

On Thursday, Return to the Galaxy, my debut sci-fi novel, went live on Amazon.

I’ve spent two years writing, rewriting, and editing. I’ve worked with the best cover artist in sci-fi and an amazing professional team. After pouring every ounce of heart and imagination I could into this story, the book is finally out in the world. And today, I want to ask you to celebrate with me.

Buy Return To The Galaxy using the buttons below:​
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There’s more than one reason to celebrate. Just a few days before launch, Amazon’s bots accidentally deleted the book and cancelled almost 100 preorders. It took frustrating days of emails, new accounts, and climbing the support ladder at Amazon to fix it. But the good news is, the book is back. Instead of $2.99, I’ve relaunched it at just $0.99 (or 77p in the UK) so that no one who pre ordered loses out.

Now I’m starting fresh. No preorders. No early reviews. No momentum. But I do have one thing Amazon cannot delete. You.

If you’ve enjoyed the short stories I’ve shared or found something of value in these newsletters, I’d love for you to join me in giving this launch the send-off it deserves.

This isn’t just a request. It’s an invitation. Come and join me and Ewan and the crew of The Dagger, as we set off to explore the galaxy together!

Help me bring Return to the Galaxy to life by grabbing your copy and leaving a quick review. Just a sentence or two will make a world of difference. Right now, the Amazon algorithm is wide open. A handful of early reviews could change everything. Whether this book disappears or rises to find its audience.

To boost its chances, here’s the best way to order:​
Go to the Kindle Store on your Amazon account and search space opera​
My book probably won’t appear yet
Then search Return to the Galaxy BA Gillies and buy it from there
That teaches the algorithm to connect my book with space opera fans.
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Or if you prefer, you can go straight to the book page on Amazon:

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This launch was nearly derailed. But it won’t stay that way. With your help, we can put it back on track and maybe even make something amazing happen.

Thank you for being part of this. For reading. For supporting. For standing with me.

Warm wishes,
​BA Gillies​
Author of Return to the Galaxy​
Publisher: Kyaworks

P.S. If you noticed above, I’ve also founded a new publishing house, Kyaworks, to release my books going forward. Two weeks ago, I shared that my favourite character from the series is Kya, from Return of the Star Lords. When everything seemed lost for her and her sister, she stood her ground. She didn’t quit. She stood up and kept fighting, even when it looked hopeless.
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In this nightmare of bot errors, lost preorders, and vanishing reviews, I’ve taken her as my inspiration.
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Sometimes, if you hold your ground, help comes when you least expect it.

For me, for Return to the Galaxy, you can be the cavalry coming over the hill, just in time to save the day.

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​Designer Babies, Super Soldiers, and the Next Stage of Evolution

(4-minute read)

We like to think of evolution as something slow and sprawling. A force of nature that carves the arc of species over millions of years. It shaped the jawbones of fish into the necks of land animals, turned tree-dwelling primates into upright thinkers, and patiently tested every mutation through the quiet violence of survival. But what if that slow, ancient process is no longer the only driver of human change?

What if evolution has already entered a new phase, one shaped not by random mutations but by deliberate choice?

In many ways, it already has. We just haven’t stopped to think about it. Look around. We’ve been upgrading the human body for centuries. Glasses correct the shape of our vision. Hearing aids translate sound back into a silent world. Prosthetics, once crude wooden limbs, now respond to nerve signals and pressure sensors. Dental implants give back the smile age tried to take. Pacemakers keep the heart’s rhythm steady. Transplants offer a second chance at life, transforming loss into renewal. These aren’t enhancements in a comic-book sense. They are quiet miracles, wrapped in plastic, wire, and hope.

The real revolution, though, is just beginning.

CRISPR and gene editing are no longer science fiction. In 2024, scientists cured a patient with sickle cell disease using a modified form of gene therapy. That wasn’t a theoretical breakthrough. That was a young woman who had been in agony her whole life, waking up pain-free for the first time. If we can do that for one condition, what stops us from doing it for hundreds more? Huntington’s. Cystic fibrosis. Muscular dystrophy. Even some cancers may be vulnerable to precision-targeted gene repair. We are learning to edit the blueprint of life, not just to fix it, but to improve it.

Of course, this raises new questions. If we can remove suffering, do we have a duty to do so? If we can prevent disease before birth, should we? And what happens when we move from removing harm to adding benefits? A child born with enhanced immunity. Or stronger bones. Or a sharper memory. Is that medical progress? Or is that playing God?

We are no longer just fixing what is broken. We are beginning to reimagine what is possible.

The near future may bring us lab-grown organs, custom-matched to a patient’s DNA. No more donor lists. No more immune rejection. Just fresh, healthy hearts, lungs, kidneys, ready to be installed like parts in a high-performance machine. Neural implants are already helping paralyzed patients control robotic limbs with thought alone. Eventually, they may help us restore memory, treat depression, or link directly to artificial intelligence. Your brain, wired into the digital world, in real time. That was a fantasy just ten years ago. Today, clinical trials are underway.

But what lies beyond the near horizon?

We could see night vision integrated into our retinas. Skin that resists radiation or heat. Bones fused with carbon fiber, or muscles augmented with synthetic strands. These are not far-off dreams from the pages of pulp novels. DARPA and other military research agencies are actively exploring ways to enhance soldier endurance, reaction time, and injury recovery. The goal is not immortality. It is resilience. The ability to survive extremes and keep moving forward. That research, once declassified or commercialized, could spill over into civilian life within a generation.

At that point, evolution will no longer be measured in generations. It will be measured in product cycles.

We may face a future where some people opt in to enhancements while others choose to remain entirely natural. That divide will create tension. Who has access? Who makes the rules? Do we all rise together, or do only the wealthy get to reach the next level? These are not problems with easy answers, but they are coming. And they are not necessarily dystopian. Many technologies we now take for granted were once feared. Vaccines were once controversial. Heart transplants were seen as monstrous. In time, the extraordinary becomes routine. The unfamiliar becomes life-saving.

The real heart of this story is not fear. It is possibility.

Imagine a world where no child is born with a terminal illness. Where age no longer means fragility. Where amputees run marathons. Where a spinal injury no longer writes the final chapter of a life. Imagine a world where your memory can be preserved, where your muscles stay strong into your nineties, where your children are not just healthy, but thriving beyond what we ever imagined.

These aren’t dreams. They are destinations. And we are already on the road.

Yes, there are ethical risks. There always are, with power. But the deeper risk is to ignore these changes, to drift forward without intent. The challenge now is not to stop the future, but to shape it. To ask what kind of species we want to become. To draw lines where needed, but also to dream boldly.

In the end, this is not about abandoning what it means to be human. It is about protecting it, enhancing it, elevating it. Humanity has always striven to overcome limits. Fire. Language. Flight. Space. This is just the next step in that long, defiant journey.

We are still becoming. Still building. Still rising.

And for once, we are not waiting for nature to decide who we are.

We are deciding for ourselves.

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Thank you for everything.
​BA Gillies

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