Thoughts, memories and questions from my lifelong engagement with fiction. If anything resonates for you, I hope you'll keep me company with your comments. Along the way, some of my characters may have things to say, too.

by Lynda Williams (cover art by Michelle Amy Milburn) The Okal Rel Universe is a future where the cultural and biological evolution of the human race has divided it into two societies: "Gelacks" and "Reetions." Gelacks are dominated by the neo-feudal descendants of an ancient bioengineering project that modified humans to tolerate reality skimming, a physically and mentally strenuous method of faster than light space travel which underpins the economy and culture of the Okal Rel Universe. The Reetions are the descendants of unmodified humans whose social system depends upon transparency moderated by a form of artificial intelligence known as arbiters. Each race has advantages and handicaps, physical or cultural. In this official guide by author Lynda Williams, you will discover an ever-increasing treasure trove of information and insight into the Okal Rel Universe.

The planet Lathon is destroyed in the Killing War, at the culmination of the catastrophe of first contact between humans of the Alpha Colonies and the bioengineered Sevolites of the empire centered on Gelion. These events play out about 200 years prior to the beginning of the Okal Rel Saga, and explain why the first book in that series is titled "Second Contact". Stories in this arena take place on, or are connected to, the events leading up to the destruction of Lathon in the war. An event that echoes down the centuries. How do two groups of people who view such a thing as the worst of all travesties someone make it happen? Who escapes. Who dies. How do protagonists of the stories in this arena impact future events in the ORU?

Joanne lost her best friend to a draft by space fleet. Isolationist politics on Lathon are heating up. Joanne's daughter is into pilots, in the midst of it all. "Tweaked" (bioengineered) people are getting stigmatized -- or celebrated. And while they have more than enough to do with chaotic poliltics between themselves and the Alpha Reach Regime many want to break with ... they are about to discover Sevolites are real. And really good pilots, as well. Meanwhile, disillusioned nobleborn of the Sevolite empire finds his way into the middle of it, discovers "commoners" aren't always nice, and very much needs some Lathonite friends.

Collaborate with ORU author Lynda Williams -- or, one day, maybe a fellow Amel fan -- to work up stories for possible future anthologies or novellas set in Amel's Envoy Period. The Envoy Period falls between the end of the first 3 books of the ORU Saga and the start of the 4th book. It starts with Amel around 16 years old and ends in his 30s. In this "story" on Wattpad, you'll find information about reading, or writing, in the Envoy Period.

Lonie's Career is a story set in Amel's Envoy Period. Lonie is a teenager living with her mom on a Reetion space station when there's terrifying trouble with Sevolites which brings Amel into her life in the midst of her personal struggle with figuring out what she wants to do with her life, and how the Reetion pilot, Brek, is going to fit into it. Cover Artist: Elisha Betts Installment illustrations by Richard Bartrop

Originally web published in April 2009, Going Back Out introduces ORU characters Ann and Amel at a time soon after the end of Part 1 of the Okal Rel Saga. The focal character is Gadar, a hot-shot young Reetion pilot who balks after her first encounter under skim with a Sevolite.

The 10-novel Okal Rel Saga was originally published between 2003 and 2014 by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, a Calgary-based publisher. During my days as a traditionally published author, the "Okal Rel phenomenon" referred to how the Okal Rel Universe drew people in as participants. The whole experience was an alternative reality that evolved with me, from childhood through my published author phase. I've very seriously considered giving up on it all in my old age, only to discover it might just be my coping mechanism for processing the world, or maybe just for brightening my days. I just never "grew out" of the make-believing phase. In this story, on Wattpad, I will share chapters from that history which is a story in itself.

A story from Amel's past.

Amel's visit to her mother, Kath, ignites the ambition of Kath's eldest daughter, Chandelle, to learn more about the world beyond Eversol. Family conflict, danger and opportunities ensue.