My editor comments on COLLABORATORS

My alter ego, Deborah Wheeler, has just published a science-fiction novel, Collaborators, from Dragon Moon Press. In the weeks to come, I'll be blogging about world-building in this book. First, a word from our sponsor...er, editor. I've always thought it unfair that editors aren't supposed to review the books they've worked on (and I intend to defy that precept myself!)

In her blog, Gabrielle Harbowy writes: 

COLLABORATORS does something I’ve never seen in a first contact story. We’ve got plenty of first contact stories where humans (Terrans) do the outreach and the aliens have the dominant point of view. But I’d never seen a premise that thought so deeply about the alien culture and what sociopolitical chain reactions First Contact would set in motion.

....In COLLABORATORS, the Terrans choose an arbitrary landing spot, and have no idea that it sparks off an uneasy tension between two rival nations. The unchosen are immediately suspicious, asking questions like: Why did the aliens make first contact with them and not with us? Are they giving them advanced technology to use against us? Are our enemies going to bias the aliens against us?

.... Deborah gives us a lush world, compassionately populates it with real and complex beings, and shows her skill as a master craftswoman and storyteller.

Earlier, I wrote about "unsellable" stories. This was a book that was too good to give up on. It just had to wait for the right editor, the right opening, the right time.

Oh, and should Gabrielle's review pique your interest, you can find the book at Amazon and Goodreads and will be propagating to other online booksellers in the next few weeks.