The Odyssey gets a sci-fi reset in The Ulysses Universe

A new science fiction series launched June 12, 2026, reimagines Homer’s Odyssey as a 23rd-century deep-space survival story. The first book, The Blinding, is out now with a companion non-fiction title, as the project arrives alongside renewed attention on the ancient epic. Why it matters: - The Ulysses Universe taps a familiar story and gives it a new audience in the middle of a fresh wave of interest in Homer’s Odyssey. - The series aims at readers of literary science fiction and space opera, while also targeting people asking questions about minds, machines and reality. - The first book, The Blinding, is available now, so the project is moving from concept to publication immediately. What happened: - The Ulysses Universe launched June 12, 2026, in London. - The series retells the Odyssey as a deep-space journey set in the 23rd century. - Book one, The Blinding, is out now. - The companion non-fiction book, The Substrate, is also available now. - The series is planned as a trilogy. - The next two books will be The Void Between and The Return. The details: - Admiral Ulysses Theron flees a burning homeworld with his teenage son and 108 crew members in suspension pods. - The journey home spans 20 years and half a galaxy. - The series reworks major Odyssey figures and episodes into science fiction form. - The Cyclops becomes an artificial intelligence tied to an angry god. - Circe becomes an engineer of bodies on an uncharted world. - The Sirens transmit a frequency that offers answers at a price. - Calypso’s island becomes a decade that passes like a held breath. - Ithaca becomes a home under pressure, with a wife besieged, a son changed and a house full of men who believe the master is dead. - The series explores survival, memory and fatherhood. - The first book stands alone while setting up the larger voyage. - The Blinding is available on Amazon, and series background lives at The Ulysses Universe . - Character profiles, a full timeline and worldbuilding details are available on the official series site. Between the lines: - Spyrou positions the project as more than a genre remix, with the fiction built around an argument that reality is information being processed. - The Substrate is meant to make that case in plain English, drawing on physics, biology and consciousness research while also challenging its own thesis. - The setup suggests the series is trying to bridge entertainment and philosophy, using a mythic frame to explore modern questions about computation, mind and selfhood. - The author said the project reflects a long-standing habit of distrusting the official story and looking for the underlying mechanism. What’s next: - The Ulysses Universe will continue with The Void Between and The Return. - The story will move through the long middle of the voyage before reaching Ithaca. - The official site will continue to serve as the hub for supporting material and background on the series. The bottom line: - The Ulysses Universe is trying to turn one of literature’s oldest journeys into a modern sci-fi franchise built around myth, survival and big ideas about what reality is.