- thomasmackauthor
- Nov 28, 2025
- 2 min read
Why There’s a Burger Chain in My Sci-Fi Novel
You may well ask why, in a story filled with alien empires, AIs, politics, and starships, I took the time to invent Big Billy’s Burgers — a fast-food chain that wouldn’t look out of place on any high street back home.
The short answer? Because I grew up in Belfast in the 80s and early 90s.And that matters more than you’d think.
In the book, Talia Keene says, “Even Stalingrad has one. We were literally the last holdout.”
And that line goes right to the root of this storyline.
Most people in the United Kingdom wouldn’t realise that Moscow got McDonald’s in 1990. Belfast — and Northern Ireland as a whole — didn’t get one until 1992.
Why? Well, the Troubles must carry a significant amount of blame. Belfast simply wasn’t viewed as stable, investable, or predictable. So when a McDonald’s finally opened, it became a symbol — the first small green shoots of normality.
In the book, I wanted to mirror that feeling: the sense of a place beginning to recover, to grow, to attract outsiders again. So along came Billy’s Big Burgers, proudly advertising:
“93% guaranteed protein content. "The remaining 7% is officially listed as “proprietary filler technology,” but unofficially described as “not harmful. Probably.”
But then came the next question: Who would run Billy’s Big Burgers?
In the first book, New Beginnings, Caelan says, “Never trust a vegetarian when they offer you a meat dish; they have no investment in the finished product!” And I thought: Right then. Let’s make the owner a vegetarian.
Enter Wilfred Ganesh. A gentle soul. A committed vegetarian and the least likely man in the galaxy to run a burger empire — which, of course, makes him perfect for the job.
Suddenly, Caelan’s earlier line becomes poetic justice: the biggest fast-food chain in human space is run by someone who doesn’t even eat the product. That contradiction gives the universe a bit of texture and personality.
Does he eat his own meat based burgers? Absolutely not.
Does that make him the perfect fit? Somehow… yes. So, without any further ado, meet Wilfred Ganesh-owner of Billy's Big Burgers, and as the man himself would say:
“Everybody chill. You’re wrecking my tantric balance.”