Joe didn't go looking for the meaning of the universe. He went looking for a paycheck.
The universe found him anyway.
“Some men drill for a living. Joe Wong drills to survive.”
If you enjoy the Between the Rocks universe, join the Rock Rats and ride along with the crew.
The Universe of Rocks — Series Overview
The Universe of Rocks spans fifteen books across three series, one driller at a time. Rob came first. Joe came next. What comes Beyond is up to all of us.
UNDER THE ROCKS
A Prequel Series · 6 Books · Coming Soon
Before Joe Wong ever picked up a drill. Before Flipper ever heard the Foundation Tone. Before humanity knew what was hiding in the rocks — someone had to go in first.
Rob was that someone.
Under the Rocks goes back to the beginning — to the raw, dangerous early days of space extraction, when Helios Extraction Corp was still a dream with ambition and money to burn, when the first rigs were welded together from hope and bad engineering, and when a driller named Rob pushed deeper into the solar system than anyone had gone before. No telepathic dogs. No alien contacts. No Foundation Tone whispering through the rock. Just a man, a machine, and the dark.
Rob's story is the foundation everything else is built on. He doesn't know what he's about to find. And neither did we.
Six books. All planned. The outline exists. The universe begins here.
BETWEEN THE ROCKS
The Main Series · 6 Books · Available Now
Joe Wong is a space driller from Tulsa, Oklahoma, working for a company that's one bad quarter from collapse, on rocks that are four hundred million miles from the people he loves. He drinks bourbon between the rocks. He misses his kids. He talks to his dog.
His dog talks back.
Between the Rocks follows Joe and his telepathic dog Flipper from the dying domes of Earth to the red dust of Mars, through the asteroid belt, beneath the ice of Europa, out to the edge of Pluto — and beyond. What starts as a blue-collar story about extraction work and family separation becomes something much larger: the discovery of Foldium, an ancient mineral woven through the solar system, vibrating at 7.83 hertz, connecting every rock in the cosmos to a consciousness network older than humanity itself.
Joe didn't go looking for the meaning of the universe. He went looking for a paycheck. The universe found him anyway.
BEYOND THE ROCKS
The Sequel Series · 3 Books · Available Now
The Foundation Tone has been heard. The secret is out. The solar system will never be the same.
But Joe Wong is still a driller. And Flipper is still a dog. And the rocks go on forever.
Beyond the Rocks continues the story of Joe and Flipper as the consequences of disclosure reshape human civilization — and as the signal from the Foundation Tone points outward, toward something even the Visitors haven't fully mapped. The work isn't done. The distance isn't finished. And the thing waiting at the edge of the network is older, stranger, and more important than anything Joe drilled into in the belt.
He's been between the rocks his whole life. Now it's time to find out what's on the other side.
Three books. All written. The journey that started under the dome ends here — and begins again.
“On the Red Planet, the company line is the only oxygen you can't buy.”
In the 23rd century, Earth lives under domes and Joe Wong works the rocks.
He drills asteroids for Helios Extraction Corp, sends money home to his son, and asks for nothing more than a bourbon between the rocks at the end of a long shift. Then he rescues a dog from a drill site, implants a neural interface so they can communicate, and discovers a mineral in the asteroids that hums at 7.83 hertz — the same frequency as Earth's own electromagnetic heartbeat. The same frequency as the alien device hanging around his neck. The same frequency connecting everything. Between the Rocks follows Joe and Flipper from Earth's domed cities to the asteroid belt, from Europa's frozen ocean to the edge of Pluto and beyond — a nine-book saga about one ordinary man caught between the biggest discovery in human history and the family he left behind to find it. For readers who love hard science fiction with heart, blue-collar heroes, and the kind of dog who will always remind you that you're Wong.
Your free PDF of Flipper's Complete Guide to Traveling With Your Dog in Space is ready.
I have logged more deep space hours than most humans alive. I have also never lost my harness, missed a meal, or failed to locate the warmest spot on any spacecraft within four minutes of boarding. This is not luck. This is expertise.
Joe will tell you the hardest part of space travel is the drilling. Joe is Wong. The hardest part is packing for someone who doesn't have thumbs and still needs to bring everything.
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