P. Gordon Judge
Solar Astrophysicist · Cancer Survivor · Author of Seven Books
You have found the home of a retired solar astrophysicist, amateur philosopher, accidental satirist, and the author of a pandemic novel written before the pandemic.
He does not consider himself a writer. He has written seven books.
"In 2004, my workplace had quite reasonably drafted my obituary.
But I had two children and a wife to take care of.
Everything I have written since reflects a determination to give meaning, hope, and understanding to young people frightened by the normalised but insane antics of all those seeking cheap and short-term profit."
"You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
...and at the day's end, to the Nursery we will return."
The Man Behind the Books
Philip spent forty years studying the Sun at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He was diagnosed with myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, at forty-three. He has two children, a wife named Terri who was, in his words, a literal life-saver, and a dog who does not know it is past her dinnertime.
His fiction is built from the conviction that the most complex ideas in the universe belong to everyone. His science is built from the conviction that institutions are better at rewarding safety than rewarding truth.
Both convictions have cost him something. Both have produced something worth reading.
He does not consider himself a writer. He has written seven books.
The Books Are Finding Their Audience
"This trilogy deserves a wider audience. It is intellectually ambitious, optimistic without being naive, and willing to explore questions many novels avoid."
"It reminded me why I fell in love with science fiction years ago. Filled with wonder, curiosity, and optimism while still acknowledging humanity's flaws."
"Rare in its respect for the reader's intelligence. The blend of optimism and realism was refreshing in a genre that often leans heavily toward dystopia."
Stories Built from Real Science, Real Values, and Real Urgency
Philip's fiction does not simplify. It does not talk down. It assumes the reader is intelligent, curious, and willing to follow a story wherever it needs to go. It is also, at its best, very funny. Because humour is the only honest response to a world this absurd.
Error in Translation
Written in 2018. Before the pandemic.
Before COVID-19 had a name, one novelist saw exactly how it might go.
A world brought to its knees by a spreading infection. Governments collapsing into absurdity. Ordinary people responding with fear, with unexpected courage, and with the kind of ridiculous ingenuity that turns out to be just another word for survival.
At the centre of this darkly funny, morally serious novel is Jane Harmon. Damaged, overlooked, and quietly extraordinary. She invented the technology that connected a lonely isolated world. And then she crashes into the Amazon rainforest and wakes up with no memory, in the care of a forest community who have never heard of her. They call her Gift. For the first time in her life she is simply, completely happy.
Then the outside world comes looking for what her people have.
The Ergo Sum Trilogy
Dubito · Credo · Cogito — I Doubt. I Believe. I Think.
In 2042 two astronomers accidentally discover laser signals from a real star twelve light years away. What they find changes everything.
Laser pulses. In patterns. Prime numbers. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17. Not random. Not natural. Intentional. Humanity is not alone.
What follows spans sixty years and the most important question any civilisation has ever faced. First contact. A collapsing climate. A generation ship carrying the first human beings toward another star. Children born between worlds who belong to neither.
Written by a solar astrophysicist who spent forty years studying the Sun. Every scientific detail is real. The star tau Ceti is real. The physics is real.
Forty Years at the Forefront of Solar Astrophysics
Before Philip wrote fiction, he wrote science. His scientific books range from the accessible and joyful to the highly specialised. All are driven by the same conviction that animates his fiction: that the most complex ideas belong to everyone willing to think carefully about them.
The Sun
The book that made a celebrated novelist reach out to a retired astrophysicist and tell him his writing mattered. Written for the reader who wants to understand not just what the Sun is, but why it still surprises us.
Find on AmazonPhysical Foundations of Spectroscopy
Published by Oxford University Press. The book Philip wishes he had had when he was considering graduate school. Written as a gift to the next generation of scientists.
Visit OUP WebsiteHeating the Sun's Corona
Co-authored with Jim Ionson. Cutting-edge philosophy, methodology, and physics research into one of the most enduring unsolved problems in astrophysics. The best Philip was able to do, in his own words. And no better.
Find on AmazonEverything You Need to Write About P. Gordon Judge
For interview requests, review copies, or media enquiries, contact pgordonjudge@gmail.com. Philip is available for interviews, podcast appearances, and media conversations.
The Pre-COVID Novel
Error in Translation was completed in 2018, before the pandemic. It depicts a world brought to its knees by antibiotic resistance where physical human contact has become dangerous. Reading it now feels like finding a dispatch from a timeline slightly ahead of our own.
The Scientist Who Writes
Philip Judge is one of the very few working research scientists to have produced a substantial body of literary fiction. His forty years of genuine expertise give his science fiction an authority that no amount of research can replicate.
The Cancer and the Books
Philip was diagnosed with myeloma at forty-three. He survived two stem cell transplants and a decade of recovery. The fiction he produced carries the urgency of a writer who understands that time is not guaranteed.
The Accidental Prophet
Error in Translation anticipated COVID-19. The Ergo Sum trilogy, completed in February 2016, contains a reference to a Trump-named airport written before anyone believed he could actually win. Philip is not a prophet. He simply pays close attention.
Philip is a warm, direct, and extraordinarily articulate conversationalist who speaks with equal authority about the Sun, about mortality, and about what it feels like to write a pandemic novel before the pandemic.
Contact for Press EnquiriesReal Science. Real Questions. Real Fiction That Trusts Your Students.
The Ergo Sum trilogy was written by a solar astrophysicist. Every scientific detail is accurate. This is science fiction that does not talk down to young readers.
Philip's Offer to Educators
P. Gordon Judge is available to join any adopting class by video for thirty minutes, free of charge.
A retired solar astrophysicist who spent forty years studying the Sun is available to speak directly to your students about the science in these books, about what it is actually like to be a working scientist, and about why he believes young people deserve real ideas in their fiction.
That offer is very difficult for a science teacher to decline. And Philip genuinely means it.
Arrange a Video SessionDownload Educator's Guide
Download Book Club Reader's Guide
Curriculum Connections
What Is Happening With Philip's Books and Writing
The Campaign Begins
After years of quietly writing books for the people who found them, P. Gordon Judge has launched a proper visibility campaign for his fiction. New Amazon descriptions, keyword optimisation, Goodreads profile, educator outreach, press pitching, and community distribution are all underway. The Ergo Sum trilogy has received its first reader reviews on Goodreads, with eight out of nine reviewers awarding four or five stars.
A New Novel Is Underway
Philip has resumed work on a new novel. Set in a world destroyed by what he is calling The Century of Lies, it grapples with the question he keeps returning to: how do you fight people who do not accept rationality? His answer, as always, is fiction. Updates to follow as the book develops.
Get in Touch
Whether you are a reader, a journalist, a podcast producer, an educator, or simply someone with a question, Philip is genuinely glad to hear from you. He believes that the most complex ideas in the universe belong to everyone — and that includes the conversation that happens after someone reads a book.
"I love reaching out to people and I believe that even a hard subject like astrophysics is accessible to all, given the right writer, teacher, friend, or mentor. If something I have written has meant something to you, or if you have a question I might be able to help with, please do write. I read everything."
— P. Gordon Judge