Richard Collins brings you a science fiction adventure rooted in a near-future world that looks familiar at first glance. At the center of it all is Greg Cordell, a young nuclear electronics scientist who is about to discover that the people running the world are not from it.
Richard Collins is an Oklahoma-based author, Marine Corps veteran, and lifelong science fiction enthusiast. His career in insurance, project management, and technical writing gave him a front-row view of how people operate at their best and worst. His imagination did the rest. Years of wondering about the stars, the planets, and what might be watching from the other side eventually became Otherworld Bound, his debut novel. He wrote it for everyone who has ever looked up and refused to stop asking questions.
Otherworld Bound is where good people want to go. Greg Cordell is a young nuclear scientist with a promising career and a talent for solving problems others cannot. When he meets a supply clerk who speaks about scientific matters with an expertise that has no business being there, he strikes a friendship that changes everything. Together they uncover what United National, the world’s single governing body, actually is and who is actually running it. Greg and a group of loyal friends travel beyond the solar system, develop abilities they never anticipated, and fight an enemy that operates through silence and control. Getting captured is a real possibility. Getting back out is a daily test. But peace is out there somewhere, and they are not willing to stop until they find it.
Richard Collins writes about science fiction, the stories behind Otherworld Bound, and the ideas that keep him up at night staring at the sky.
I have been asked why I chose science fiction instead of writing something closer to the world I have actually lived in…
Every story needs a door. The moment a character walks through it, everything changes…
United National is the governing structure at the center of Otherworld Bound, and I did not invent it out of thin air…
Richard Collins welcomes messages from readers, fellow science fiction enthusiasts, and anyone curious about Otherworld Bound. Whether you have a question about the book, want to share your thoughts after reading, or are interested in booking Richard for an event or interview, this is the right place to start.
Otherworld Bound has received from its readers. From longtime science fiction fans to newcomers to the genre, the story connects with people in different ways.
I picked this up not knowing what to expect and found myself genuinely absorbed. The opening chapters set the world up quickly and the story builds at a pace that kept me reading longer than I planned. Greg Cordell is a character worth following.
What I appreciated most was that the book never loses sight of its characters. The science fiction elements are well handled, but the story is really about a group of people who choose to do something difficult when they could have looked the other way. That part stayed with me.
The concept of an alien presence operating through an existing government structure felt fresh and genuinely unsettling. Collins builds that tension well, and the payoff over the course of the story is satisfying. Well worth the read.
I read a lot of science fiction and was pleasantly surprised by this one. The characters are distinct and believable, the world feels thought through rather than assembled from familiar parts, and the story has something real to say. Good find.
There is a moral seriousness to this story that you do not always find in science fiction adventure. Collins is clearly thinking about more than plot mechanics. The questions the book raises about power and what people are willing to fight for are ones worth sitting with.
