Research into contemporary human space flight, which also included interviews with astronauts, has resulted in a new novel, already receiving national media attention, for a Lancaster University lecturer.

Published this week, CALYPSO, by Creative Writing Lecturer Dr Oliver K. Langmead, presents a whole new ‘take’ on space travel and is described as a ‘ground-breaking, mind-bending and wildly imaginative epic verse revolution in science fiction’.

Main character Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role as engineer on the colony ark, Calypso.

But she finds the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew’s descendants, who revere her like a saint.

She travels the ship with the Calypso’s creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can communicate with the plants, uncovering a new history of humanity forged while she slept.

She discovers a legacy of war between botanists and engineers - a war fought for the right to build a new Earth – a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom - untouched by mankind’s past.

“Calypso is a space opera written in the form of a page-turner poem. said Dr Langmead. “I spent six years researching it and writing it, and I’m so pleased at the finished copy – Titan Books have made something really beautiful with it.

“Back in 2018, I was the writer in residence at the European Space Agency’s Astronaut Centre, and my time there helped to shape what the book is: a lyrical exploration of space travel at the dawn of commercial space flight, and what it means for the future.”

Author and poet Dr Langmead, who hails from Glasgow, has been at Lancaster University since September 2022 where he put the finishing touches to the book published by Titan Books.

Dr Langmead’s other novels include British Fantasy Award-nominated Glitterati, Birds of Paradise, and his first verse-novel, Dark Star, which featured in the Barnes and Noble and the Guardian’s Best Books of 2015.

Reviews, so far, include Esquire magazine, the Financial Times, The Guardian and a forthcoming two-page feature in SFX magazine.