E.S. Raye

To be blunt, the “Delilah-verse” is the shared universe most of my stories take place in (not necessarily all, but if there is nothing in the story to contradict the larger rules, even if there is also nothing explicitly tying it to other stories, I consider it a part of the universe).

I know, I know. Thanks to Marvel Studios, shared universes are all the rage these days. And I’m not going to get all pretentious here and claim I had the idea first, because I didn’t.

But I was introduced to the idea way before Marvel. The Jetsons met the Flintstones when I was a kid. Star Trek had a shared universe with multiple shows–some taking place simultaneously–and movies. And the shared universe that was perhaps most influential for me: the collective works of Steven King.

If you’re not one of King’s Constant Readers, you might not realize that all his stories take place in a shared multi-verse, with each reality simply a different level of the Dark Tower at the center of all existence. Fittingly, it is his dark epic fantasy series The Dark Tower that draws them all together.

What’s in The Delilah-verse

So far, I have published four stories through publishers and magazines, and another two here on this blog. Only one of these is explicitly not in the Delilah-verse: “Today’s Undead Forecast” (a zombie apocalypse doesn’t fit in with the plans I have for the universe). Another, “Mortem Moratus,” could go either way until certain elements are refined.

On the other hand, two are explicitly in-verse: the short sci-fi/noir story “The Stuff Legends are Made Of,” found in Rare: A Dark Anthology of Unusual Secrets, and Gas Giant Gambit: A Tall Tale From Beyond the Cygnus Rift.

The thing that ties them so explicitly together?

A certain pink-beam firing ray-gun.

I mean, there’s other stuff too. “Spoons” as money. Certain turns of phrase (“Christ’s blood,” “robs” instead of robots). References to locations.

(Side fact: GGG was written first, but “The Stuff…” was published first. “The Stuff…” takes place decades later in the timeline, but after it was accepted for publishing, I went back into the GGG manuscript and added a reference to Cibus City, “The Stuff’s” setting. I hope to visit it this early in the timeline in another Tall Tale From Beyond the Cygnus Rift.)

But the gun Gas Giant Gambit’s protagonist wears on her hip and calls “Delilah” is the real glue. Delilah even appears in “The Stuff…” as the ancient gun that hangs over the bar at Ray-Gun Rick’s Café Terra Firma, and Rick later wears on his hip.

Delilah

I won’t go into too much detail on what Delilah is here, since I’ve done that already.

So, in a nutshell, Delilah is pink-laser firing ray-gun that, by the events of GGG, is already very old. So old, in fact, that in a world where everyone carries these weapons, it might be the prototype.

But the fun thing about Delilah for me is that it wasn’t designed as a weapon for Gus, the beamslinging main character of Gas Giant Gambit.

Rather, it was intended for The Cobalt Fist, my as yet unwritten World War II superhero character. It is he who names the weapon, and one of his team who paints the iconic P-40 Warhawk shark’s gin on its side.

What’s Next For the Delilah-verse?

I am currently working on two explicitly Delilah-verse stories, with another in the chamber.

First, if you’re a frequent visitor of this blog, you may already be familiar with the World War I novel I’m currently drafting, Shallow Trenches/Open Skies. While this story takes place before Delilah is created, it will act as sort of a backdoor origin story.

Where the technology came from, and why there is only one, will be explained in detail–but you’ll only know it’s a reference to Delilah if you’ve read GGG!

Secondly, this week I am participating in the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2026. For those unfamiliar, each round contestants are provided with a genre, a subject, and a character which need to be worked into a short story. Only the top 5 stories from each group move on, and each round provides a new assignment and a shorter word count.

My assignment for the first round has brought me back to Cibus City and the protagonist of “The Stuff Legends are Made Of,” Clayton Hart.

So, another sci-fi/noir-ish short story is in the works! There’s no telling when this will be published, but I’m excited about the concept I have and I think the outline is already something special.

Maybe Clay will see Rick fire that grapefruit beam this time.

The Cobalt Fist

And, of course, the story that’s still in the chamber is The Cobalt Fist’s.

I’m not sure exactly when I will finally begin the story that’s been rattling around in my head for fifteen years, but I feel like it will be soon. I have a 5-year plan for my writing career, and book 1 may just weasel its way into the line-up.

But whenever I tackle it, I plan on it being my very own Dark Tower series.

It will tie into stories readers may not have realized were in the same universe. It will answer questions readers may not have thought to ask themselves–or were maybe screaming into their books waiting for (for example, why are all the aliens in GGG and the Clayton Hart stories at or below human technology–why is no one far more advanced?) It will cross genres and timeframes, bridging the gap between fantasy, horror, and science fiction, unifying the ‘verse in a way none of the other stories have even tried.

It’s a big concept, which may be why I haven’t truly started it yet–it’s intimidating and I want to be the best writer I can be before I begin.

But it is also the reason I became a writer, so I will write it. You can count on that.

Bonus: Delilah-verse Story Guide

Just as a little bonus, here is a list of everything I have published, stories that are set to be published in the near future, and WIPs, arranged by if and where they fit into the Delilah-verse timeline.

Title	Published	Timeframe	In/Out
Shallow Trenches/ Open Skies	Work in Progress	1918	The earliest Delilah-verse story
The Cobalt Fist	Work in Progress	1941-45	In-universe.
“SSID”	Published	Contemporary	In-universe until ruled out.
“Mortem Moratus”	Published	Contemporary	In-universe until ruled out.
“The Offspring Garden”	Self-published	Contemporary	In-universe until ruled out.
“The Séance“	Publishing April 2026	Contemporary	In-universe.
“Thirsty”	Publishing April 2027	Contemporary	In-universe.
Gas Giant Gambit	Published	2260s-ish	In-universe.
“The Stuff Legends are Made Of”	Published	2330s-ish	In-universe.
Unnamed Clayton Hart Story	Work in Progress	2330s-ish	In-universe.
“Today’s Undead Forecast”	Self-published	Near-future	Out of universe.
“Visitors”	Publishing TBA	Near-future	Out of universe.