The Women Who Changed History (And the World Never Knew Their Names)
In 1947, while the world’s attention was fixed on Roswell, two women were quietly doing the most important work in human history.
Nobody knew. That was the point.
This is the story of Dr. Mary Goss and Charlie Baker — two characters at the heart of the Earth’s Secret Alliance franchise, and the reason Lydia Payge and I keep coming back to this universe. Because in a genre that has historically sidelined women, we wanted to put them exactly where they belonged: at the centre of everything.
Dr. Mary Goss — The Brains
Mary is a genius. Specifically, she is the kind of genius that 1947 America had no idea what to do with.
She has been passed over, turned down, and turned away — not because of her work, but because of who she is. Academia doesn’t want her. The military doesn’t want her. The institutions that should be fighting over someone with her mind have collectively decided she doesn’t fit.
So she builds the impossible anyway.
In Defying Gravity, Mary invents the physics-defying technology that makes the Woundless War possible. Without her, General Jones has no war to fight. Without her, Earth loses. But, Mary knows that she’s the reason they succeed.
That tension, competence flourishing despite obstruction. It’s what makes Mary one of my favorite characters in the franchise. She doesn’t wait for permission. She never did.
Defying Gravity is available now!
The feature screenplay is also available.
Charlie Baker — The Voice
Charlie is twelve years old, uses a wheelchair, and is the best reporter in the room. She always has been.
When General Jones needs someone to record history — the real history, the one the world will never officially know about — he doesn’t go to a journalist with credentials or connections or clearances. He goes to Charlie, because Charlie sees things clearly and tells them honestly. She is the person you trust when the truth actually matters.
Seventy-five years later, when the saga is finally being told, it is Charlie’s voice doing the telling.
That detail was deliberate. In a universe full of generals and ambassadors and scientists and soldiers, a 12-year-old wheelchair-using girl is the one who holds the complete picture. She always had it. The world just wasn’t ready to listen.
Charlie’s Big Chance is available now!
The feature screenplay and TV series is also available.
Behind the Franchise — Lydia Payge
Neither of these characters would exist the way they do without my co-author and creative partner, Lydia Payge.
Lydia wrote key scenes for several of the female characters across the ESA series and edited throughout the manuscript to ensure an authentic female perspective. That contribution isn’t a footnote — it shaped the emotional credibility of the entire ensemble. The way Mary moves through a world that underestimates her, the way Charlie observes without being seen: that’s Lydia’s fingerprints on the work.
Defying Gravity and Charlie’s Big Chance are both credited to us jointly, and that’s exactly right.
Why These Characters Matter
Hopepunk, the philosophy behind the ESA franchise, is built on a simple premise: optimism is not naïve. It is an act of defiance. Choosing to believe that people can do better — that humanity is worth saving, that cooperation is stronger than conflict — is the hardest and bravest choice available to us.
Mary and Charlie embody that. Not because they are untouched by the world’s failures, but because they keep going anyway. Mary builds. Charlie writes. The world is better for it, even if the world never finds out.
That feels worth celebrating — not just one day a year, but every time someone picks up the books.
The Earth’s Secret Alliance series is available now. Visit tonybrichard.com to read, or find the books on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
Free Books & Great Reads
Here are some collections I’m part of this month — filled with fantastic authors and free reads. Take a look and find your next favourite book!
📚 E Pluribus Unum — Anthologies, Box Sets & Collections
A speculative fiction collection for readers who love getting more story in one volume.
February 28 – April 2 👉 Browse the collection
🏡 Cozy Family Reads
Wholesome chapter books, middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction — clean, cozy, and free.
Through March 31 👉 Find a cozy read
🚀 Inside the Pages!
A curated collection of fiction from talented authors across genres. Browse, discover, and grab a free read.
March 1 – 15 👉 Browse the collection
🐾 We Love Pets
Fiction that celebrates our animal companions — touching, funny, and heartfelt tales. (You can see why I’m in this one.)
Through March 15 👉 Find your next pet story
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