Across The Void drifts through the chilling legends, conspiracies, and whispers of alien lore. From glowing lights in midnight skies to the hidden files of MJ-12, this collection blends eerie sea-shanty rhythms with cosmic doom and mythic storytelling. Each track is a transmission from the unknown—half warning, half hymn—drawing you into encounters with greys, reptilians, shadow agents, and signals that shouldn’t exist.

Botany with Friends delivers their 23rd album as a voyage into the great dark between stars, where truth and disinformation blur, and every static whisper might be your last.

Buy me

Crossed Dimensions

Eyes of MJ-12

Men in Black

Reptilian Kings

Declassified

Signals in the Static

Crop Circle Waltz

Disinformation

Very occasionally a tragedy turns into a triumph. This wonderful, searing book is such a moment. Rush to read it & be thankful.

Blame Not the Wind: A tragedy at sea. A cover-up. One mother’s search for justice., By Shirley Cooklin, Read by Phyllida Nash

It's dark,
The rain is pouring down.
I pull into a little town,
Just looking for some food,
maybe board and a room.

I find the bar,
I grabbed a stool,
a beer,
and ordered food.

Looking a round I see,
a mix of the locality,
most just enjoying drinks
then my eyes afix.

One lone soul,
eating his food ignoring all,
transfixed in his own time,
He surely was a sailor!

But what did I know?
What was to transpire,
I was hardly ready for the words,
Then I heard him utter.

“That must be a pretty ride,
you just got off Sir.
I can see the military in your stride.
I know your navy, whats your stripe?

I turned my head and saw,
the most gnarled man of all my life,
covered in scar's and tattoos,
staring at me, I was in strife.

“You talking to me?'
“Yeah I'm talking to you.”
“Pull up as seat and buy me a drink.”
“I have a tale for you.”

This old timer was pretty banged up,
Looked out of a buck,
and down on his luck,
So I pulled up that chair and gave him a stare.

“Whats this about old man?”
“Do they still teach you naval history?” he asked?
“That they do,” I answered
“Though only in parts.”
“I had to a lot of reading,
To come to a feeling,
That I knew nothing”.

“Fill my glass and I will impart some wisdom to ya.”

Intrigued
I granted his request,
I ordered a round,
He soon held a full beer and toasted.

“Let me tell you of another time”.
“One that is not yours,
but sure is mine.
A time when men were men.”

“A time when lead filled the sky,
trying to kill planes like they were flies,
I was onboard her,
The North Carolina”.

“We were making good knots,
screening the Enterprise,
we were not in disguise
Then they came out of the sun”.

“It was cold and cloudy on that day,
No fighters were up for the fray,
We were caught off guard,
But our flak opened up hard”.

“Not just the Oerlikon's
but the quads,
and then the 5 inch's opened up,
Man that was a din.”

“We were just behind the Big E,
When the first wave came in.
Everything on the ship opened up,
Nothing gave in.”

“I saw Jap planes take hits and die,
The Big E took 3 hits
But she lived,
That's no lies.”

“Our flak wall was so thick,
we got a message,
asking if we were hit.
Are we on fire?'

“NO came the reply,
Thats just our Anti Aircraft fire”.


“We held off those stubborn sons of bitches for over an hour.
They kept coming in,
but we kept firing.
Damn brave men we were shooting down.
They all died,
so did some of our own.
In the end we were struggling to keep upwith the Big E for speed,
But we made damn sure we gave her every bit of gunfire support she could need.
She came out pretty unscathed, 
as did we.
Lucky I guess, 
but probably not for the Japanese.”


I looked up at the old man,
He was holding up his glass,
“To those at sea that day,
We gave them hell and made them pay.”

I drank to this old sailors toast,
put my mug down and rose,
Sorry old timer I have to go,
But give my love to the NC though,

I only wish I could have served,
With men as brave as yours,
However I salute you,
Our country will miss you."

And as I left I heard his muttered breath,
“Son you haven't seen anything yet
But I commend you.
Our Country will Miss you too”.

Brothers in Arms

I am just an older guy making music because it pleases me to do so.

Publishers of award-winning fiction and non-fiction audiobooks for adults and children. Listen to exclusive clips from our books and free audioook extracts here on Soundcloud.

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