Hi, Human! Welcome to Armchair Alien.

What is an Armchair Alien, you ask? Great question — when we figure it out we’ll let you know. Just kidding, sort of.

We’re an authors collective … if you can call two a collective. The brainchild of Jeannette Bedard and Rene Astle, a duo of escapist explorers, Armchair Alien serves as a portal into captivating realms of science fiction and urban fantasy. Within its cozy confines, you'll discover intergalactic adventures and magical tales.

Join us for fiction that focuses on finding your place in the universe and the family you choose. Stick around for a heaping tablespoon of adventure, a dram of laughs, a dash of butt-kicking, and a smidgen or two of wonder.

Take a peek behind the curtain into the authors' minds — it's messy and weird ... but occasionally that messy weirdness coalesces into a story we hope others enjoy as much as we do.

Hold onto your armrests, keep your limbs (however many you have) inside the armchair, and enjoy the ride!

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I write space adventure stories, while my super secret Urban Fantasy pen name, C. Rene Astle, authors the Bloodborne Pathogens dark fantasy series and associated stories.

I gained a love of fiction, fantasy in particular, and a voracious appetite for story literally at my mother’s knee, being read The Hobbit and Chronicles of Narnia – because those are the types of stories my mom wanted to read.

From my father, I got an enduring curiosity about the universe, earned shivering in the dark beside a telescope on cold, Canadian winter nights waiting to witness some celestial event.

Now I fit in writing between my day job, talking to worms (aka gardening) and getting out to enjoy supernatural British Columbia.

Back when I was about 10, a neighbour introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons—but all he had was a photocopy of one of the books (so, we weren’t following the ‘rules’ in any sort of strict way). Ultimately the neighbour lost interest in playing and took his photocopied documents with him. But I was hooked on making up worlds. I started designing my own ‘dungeons’ but soon moved on to writing stories.

Since those days I’ve dabbled in both nonfiction (which I enjoy) and academic writing (which is painful), but I still love writing in made up worlds. These days I focus mostly on science fiction.

I’ve discovered I’m happiest when learning new things, taking notes, drawing, making things, growing things, and writing. I wrote four full novels (and plenty of outlines) before taking the plunge and making a novel available to the world.

I currently live on a non-tropical island in the Pacific with my husband and daughter. I love a good math joke, especially if there is pi involved–so if you have a good one I’d love to hear it.