Tillsonburg man publishes his first novel

David Brandon displays his novel, Rings of Saturn: Enemy Within, which was published in March and will be going through an official release within the next week. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

David Brandon has been working on the concept for his book for more than a decade, but it took retirement for him to finish it.

Brandon’s book, Rings of Saturn: Enemy Within was released on March 27, but will be officially launched on June 8 to coincide with the premier of Stephen Spielberg’s new movie Disclosure Day.

The science fiction novel follows U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot Dan Russell, who enters a classified space program, and eventually fights a battle in the rings of Saturn. A combination science fiction and military story, with a love story thrown in the mix, the novel has not only aliens in an interstellar war, but also inner struggles and a good-versus-evil conflict.

“Ever since I was 13 years old, I was following the UFO situation,” Brandon said. “I woke up one morning and said, ‘I have to write this book’. I wrote the first chapter, and the rest took 10 years.”

Although he didn’t join the military, Brandon did become a pilot and was a flight instructor. He is the former owner of Tillsonburg Flying School.

Following the 10-year writing and research process for the book, it took Brandon another three years to edit the book. He also borrowed on advice from an editor on how to write his book.

Brandon has been a big science fiction lover, both in print and on television and the big screen.

“Science fiction has been my love since I watched the first Star Trek series when it came on TV,” he said.

Brandon said he prefers Star Trek, which was his favourite, to Star Wars. “The whole idea of Star Trek and how humans evolved over 300 years is what I really liked about it,” he said.

Timing of the book’s release is critical. Spielberg’s movie is being released as the United States government starts to disclose more information from classified UFO, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), files. Last month, the American government tens of millions records, spanning several decades, related to UAPs were released.

“The secret space program does exist,” Brandon teased of one of the elements of his book. “There is a lot more in space than we know about.”

Writing the book involved years of research for Brandon. It incorporates the latest technology, such as anti-gravity drive, which Brandon says also does exist.

It also talks about medical technology, which Brandon found is on the point of huge breakthroughs.

“If you live another 10 years, you’ll probably live to be 200,” he predicted.

Enough material was compiled through the research that Brandon believes he has enough to write two more books.

The 280-page Rings of Saturn: Enemy Within is available for $23 on Amazon.