Scott Evans - Veteran - Author - The Worlds of Scott Evans and Seth Calder Edwards

The Worlds of Scott Evans and Seth Calder Edwards

 One Voice, Two Worlds
 

Behind the Books #4: 

Posted by Scott Evans – Veteran Author

The Real Beginning: The Worlds of Scott Evans and Seth Calder Edwards

When I wrote Running on Empty, it wasn’t just about running. It was about recovery. About putting one foot in front of the other when you’ve forgotten who you are. I didn’t set out to be an author, or have a five-year plan or a marketing team. I had lived through something, and I needed to find a way to make sense of it.

Leaving the military wasn’t a graceful exit. Like many veterans, I carried more than just a kit bag. I left with structure stripped away, routine gone, identity scattered. The silence after service is louder than most people think. And I wasn’t doing well in it.

The gym helped. The weights helped. But it wasn’t until I laced up my trainers and ran into the hills—alone, with no plan and no headphones—that I felt something shift. That’s where Running on Empty came from. Real ground, sweat and real fog clearing, one reluctant mile at a time.

I put my real name on that book—Scott Evans—because it was me on the page. Raw. Honest. No character to hide behind.

But then, something strange happened.

 

The Other Voice

Around the same time, I found myself writing something else. Something I wasn’t sure what to call. It started with a question:

What happens when survival means selling off your own memories?

It wasn’t a memoir, or advice. It wasn’t me, directly. But it came from the same place: loss. Identity. Systems that chew people up.

That story became Memory Wars.

And for it, I used a different name—Seth Calder Edwards.

Not to pretend. Not to separate truth from fiction.

But to mark the shift.

 

Why Two Names?

There are a lot of Scott Evanses out there. Authors, actors, public figures. So when it came time to publish, I knew I needed something that could stand out.

That’s where Scott Evans Veteran Books came from. It’s direct. It’s personal. It says exactly who I am and what I write from.

But why use a pseudonym for Memory Wars?

Because it’s a different tone. A different kind of story. Not less personal—just told through another lens.

Scott Evans is the man who lived the story.

Seth Calder Edwards is the man who imagined where it could all go if we’re not careful.

Both names are mine. Both voices come from the same place. But separating them lets each book breathe in its own space.

 

The Thread That Connects Them

At first glance, they couldn’t be more different:

One’s a raw, grounded memoir about trail running and mental health.

The other’s a dystopian sci-fi thriller about memory as currency and AI overreach.

But both books ask the same thing:

What does it take to rebuild yourself?

In Running on Empty, it’s about lacing up your shoes when everything inside you says stop.

In Memory Wars, it’s about facing a world that wants you to forget who you were—and choosing not to.

Both are about the fight. Not the loud, cinematic kind.

The quiet, daily one. The one waged in silence.

The one where survival isn’t guaranteed, and healing doesn’t come with a medal.

 

What You Can Expect From Me

The Worlds of Scott Evans and Seth Calder Edwards

I’m not stopping at two books.

Running on Empty and Memory Wars were the start—two different doors into the same house: stories about survival, identity, and what it means to endure.

But there’s more coming.

I’m currently working on a new book—one I’m genuinely excited about. It blends action, grit, and something stranger lurking beneath the surface. It’s about what happens when the world changes and you’re forced to see it for what it really is. Not clean. Not clear. But real.

Across everything I write—whether memoir, sci-fi, or supernatural fiction—there are themes that run deep:

 

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I write because not everyone talks about what it feels like to be lost after the mission ends.

I write because stories let us say things we couldn’t otherwise.

And I write because someone, somewhere, might need to read them.

You can expect honesty.

You can expect grit.

And you can expect characters who bleed, break, rebuild—and keep going.

So if you’ve connected with either of my books… stay close.

The next chapter’s already underway.

— Scott / Seth

Check out my blog series Behind the books

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