Welcome to the official media kit for independent author B.T. O'Brien. For interview requests, review copies, or speaking engagements, please contact me.
Contact and connection details
Previous media and appearances
Short Bio
Bernadette is intrigued by local history. Real life people and events from Victoria's history inspire her fictional novels. Bernadette works in IT. She is a scout leader and gardener as well as a novelist.
Long Bio
Possible topics
- Self publishing
- Life on Mars
- Future etymology - creating language to describe things that don't exist yet
- Looking back to see forwards: how studying history helps imagine the future
- The 1878 wreck of the Lochard, why it is interesting and why constructive criticism of my first book led me to set Lochard in the future
Downloadable images:
Download a copy of the Lochard's front cover
Headshots provided by ozzfilm.com
Latest Release
| Title | Lochard |
| Author | B. T. O'Brien |
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Release Date | 23rd October, 2026 |
| ISBN | 9781764764506 |
| Retail price | AUD $21.90 (hardcopy, POD) AUD $7.00 (e-book) |
Short logline
Lochard is the most technically advanced space ship to ever sail between Earth and Mars. It's first voyage is populated by wealthy and famous passengers. On approaching Mars, disaster strikes. Crew member 18-year-old Ave Pearce goes to incredible lengths to save herself and any other survivors.
Full synopsis
Life on Mars is good. Martians live in prosperous, hermetically sealed mega cities on Mars' equator. The cities are green and tropical. But life on Mars is isolated. There is no real-time communication with Earth. And, traveling to Earth requires months in Deep Travel Mode (DTM) - an induced coma that comes with big risks and packs a hell of a hangover.
The luxurious Lochard promises to bring Earth and Mars closer. The Lochard is the most technologically advanced passenger ship to travel between Earth and Mars and can make the trip in record time. More importantly, it enables conscious, interplanetary travel.
The Lochard's first voyage is bound to be a wild ride. The conscious passengers are an elite group of rich and famous A-listers: a brilliant engineer on the cusp of achieving real time communication between Earth and Mars; an interplanetary star attempting to resurrect his waning popularity and a homesick teenager who definitely does not want to go to Mars.
The crew have their own stories to tell: a celebrity chef moonlighting as the Lochard's chief steward; the youngest captain of an interplanetary passenger ship with a dangerous secret; and Ave Pearce, a girl with a harrowing history.
Ave has spent most of her life trying to run away from her past. When tragedy on the Lochard strikes, Ave will need to overcome impossible odds to survive. If she makes it, will she be able to lay to rest the ghosts that have haunted her throughout her life?
Contact and connection details:
Direct media queries: bchandrasegaram@gmail.com
Offical website: https://books-by-bernadette.myshopify.com/
Social media: facebook, goodreads
Previous media and appearances:
20th February, 2015 Overnights (ABC)
March 19, 2019 Keynote speaker at the Literary Lunch for the Shepparton Arts Festival
Reviews
The Kong Meng Legacy is a terrific book Trevor Chappell
Lochard is an exciting story that weaves science fiction with a nod to history (the Lock And shipwreck from 1878). Through the trials they face, Ave and Mot's journey speak to the universal themes of resilience, family, hope, and what it means to be human. A truly enjoyable read that will stay with me long after finishing it. Dianne McGrath