The latest by Brian Tissot
From The Grand Canyon to the Enterprise
A Life of Family, Flight, and War
From the rugged cliffs of the Grand Canyon to the flight deck of the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Rear Admiral Ernest Eugene “Gene” Tissot, Jr. lived an extraordinary life during one of the most transformative eras in American aviation and naval history.
Enlisting in the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II, Gene earned his wings and embarked on a remarkable 36-year career. He flew dangerous combat missions during the Korean War, mastered the transition from propeller-driven aircraft to high-performance jets, and returned to combat during the Vietnam War. Along the way, he experienced the exhilaration of flight, the heartbreak of war, and the responsibilities of leadership as he rose from young naval aviator to squadron commander, carrier air wing commander, and ultimately captain of the legendary USS Enterprise.
Told in his own words, with warmth, humor, candor, and vivid firsthand recollections, From the Grand Canyon to the Enterprise is more than a naval memoir. It is the story of a boy who dreamed of flying, a family whose lives were shaped by war and service, and a man whose extraordinary journey spanned the pioneering age of aviation to the dawn of the nuclear-powered Navy.
Explore the Songs of the Universe Trilogy
Songs of the Universe is a sweeping science-fiction trilogy about humanity’s search for its place within a living, interconnected cosmos. Across alien oceans, distant worlds, and ancient civilizations, the series follows generations of explorers confronting the consequences of humanity’s past while discovering that consciousness and connection may extend far beyond our own species.
Blending adventure, ecology, science, spirituality, and the psychology of becoming whole, the trilogy explores a question that grows more urgent with every world encountered: Can intelligence evolve without destroying the living systems that sustain it?
From the mysteries of Thalassa to a galaxy shaped by civilizations that chose cooperation, domination, technology, or transcendence, Songs of the Universe ultimately returns its greatest questions to Earth. At its heart is a story about connection—to one another, to nature, and to the larger universe—and the choices that determine what kind of civilization humanity will become.
Explore worlds in the Songs of the Universe
The Songs of the Universe novellas are short, immersive science-fiction journeys that explore nature, consciousness, and what it means to be alive from radically different perspectives. Each uses an imagined world or form of intelligence to examine questions that reach back to our own relationship with life on Earth.
From the consciousness of an ancient tree in Spirit Tree, to the visionary traditions of Legends of the Morr-Seers, the collision of machine intelligence and the natural world in Kornak: Machine World, and a civilization divided by competing ways of understanding reality in Kiri: Fractured Planet, the novellas range across ecology, evolution, artificial intelligence, spirituality, conflict, animal consciousness, and the nature of perception.
Together, they share a common purpose: to use encounters with other minds and other worlds to help us see our own world—and our place within the larger community of life—from a different perspective.
About Brian Tissot
Dr. Brian Tissot is a marine ecologist, surfer, filmmaker, and science fiction writer living in the the Pacific NW. With one foot in the world of hard science and the other in the tides of imagination, he writes visionary stories that blend marine biology, spiritual awakening, and speculative futures.
A lifelong explorer of waves and oceans, Brian has led pioneering research on coral reefs, kelp forests, and the deep sea, publishing widely in scientific journals and appearing in films and popular media.
His blog, science fiction writings and films reflect a deep reverence for the ocean and a poetic sensibility shaped by years of diving, surfing, and listening to the rhythms of the natural world. Brian writes with the heart of a surfer, the eye of a filmmaker, and the soul of a poet.