Overlooking the Sea - Forthcoming for 2026

"In his writings, Antiquas would often refer in passing to the beasts from the depths of the cosmos, but, sadly, there was no kind of bestiary contained within the volume {Life Amongst the Stars}. When Ashlin read the book, he felt somehow in his subconscious that he had an affinity with these creatures; that somehow he knew of them and their ways…

Suddenly, a plan presented itself. Ashlin sat bolt upright, almost dropping the old book, such was the force of the revelation. There was one course of action ahead that consumed all of his attention: he must undertake to write the 'Bestiary of the Stars' to somehow accompany Antiquas’ work.

During the next few months, this is precisely what Ashlin did...."

from 'Overlooking the Sea'

This image shows the cover of the forthcoming paperback 'Ashlin Ottersfoots Bestiary of the Stars' by Stuart Johns. It is a grey cover with the image of one of the Scrylings of Mars upon it.

I am currently in the process of writing Ashlin Ottersfoot's Bestiary of the Stars; a book that will run alongside Overlooking the Sea.

This new book for 2026 will essentially be an A-Z guide to the inhabitants of the Cosmos. There is also a musical project running alongside the book.

Ashlin (the protagonist we met in Overlooking the Sea) has drawn on what he has learnt from reading his treasured tome Life Amongst the Stars (by nineteenth century scholar Antiquas) to compile this bestiary of some of those, yet unknown to us, who dwell beyond the stars...

This picture depicts one of the Genomos from the planet Mars. They are not unlike goblins from our own mythology in appearance; this one has a thick purple hood covering the rough green skin of his face with pointed ears poking through and has red mutton-chop sideburns streaked with grey. The genomos has deep, dark eyes and carries a wise look.

"The Genomos people dwell beneath the ice-capped mountains on the planet Mars. There they mine the rich iron deposits and are known throughout the galaxy for their great ability to work that metal.

They are also renowned for their fierce protection of home; not just the physical structures that they have built beneath the surface, but of the earth and rock itself. Indeed, in my own short time observing them, I saw many wonders performed - not least the inherit ability to pass through stone as if they were themselves spirits (yet they posses a physical form not unlike our own).

There is widespread thinking amongst scholars of the stars that it was the Genomos that visited our own planet hundreds of years ago and taught the early Druids some of their Nature spellcraft."

Antiquas writing about the Genomos peoples in 'Life Amongst the Stars'.

"There were dirt alcoves in the stonework where once shelves must have sat all around the room; these now contained different offerings from visitors who would come here to say a prayer for a loved one. In one particularly dark alcove sat the old tome that Ashlin now reached for. Blowing off the dust that had somehow gathered in the few days since he stowed the book, Ashlin smiled as he thumbed the ornately embossed title on the leather spine – Life Amongst the Stars and below it the author name simply stated ‘Antiquas’.

Ashlin need not have read from the book at all; he knew it almost by heart, but he delved into the pages:

The depths are unexplored.. the depths contain hidden wisdom! Hidden dangers that will never be realised!

Suddenly, the depths will begin to give up their bounty and none will be there to receive the dividends that are revealed.

Humanity will never fully appreciate the scale of the width of the depths; the scale of their heights; the scale of the exponential curves of the chasms. These can never hope to contain the quiet truths that leak out and float to the surface of that great ocean..

.. that expanse which can never be measured.. can never be replaced.. never be synthesised or manufactured…

.. the deep prepares to reveal the expanse of the dark form which writhes and ever flows, containing all the knowledge of those hidden.

The eternal deep!

Ashlin leant back against the cool stonework of the wall and felt the dirt floor upon which he sat as he read the book. He happily closed his eyes for a moment and let his imagination awaken as it always did reading these lines. Turning the musty page, which creaked with age, he continued to read:

What trickery does the darkness of the deepest night hide?

There are not any such tricks or deceptions in space.

Regarding the great cosmos in this way, we see that it can give a kind of clarity to be found in no other place (with the exception perhaps of the deepest parts of our oceans that might never be visited by humankind).

Space was before. Space is throughout. Space will be yet so long after.

We cannot live within space and yet we cannot live without it.

Space sees us but judges none. Who in good conscience will themselves pass judgement upon it?

Space witnesses everything and still does not feel the weight of time.

Space cannot listen but hears everything. In space, sounds move as the waves of the oceans on Earth move. And so their gentle movement through the eternity crashes upon the distant shores of Orion. The rings of Saturn will not stop their eternal vigil as they forever hold strong in their purpose.

Silently, the distant stars absorb the passage of time without a chance of deviation from their destiny.

In space, the darkness is held like a reflection of the deepest fathoms of our oceans; just as in these depths, there are creatures untold in that darkness which no man has beheld.

Ashlin closed the book and thought upon all that it contained for a moment. He marvelled at the words and their way of speaking to him; despite the fact that they had been committed to paper way back in 1897, their message seemed as fresh to him as if it had been earlier that day."

from 'Overlooking the Sea'

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