NAÏDA DIGS INTO SOME BIG QUESTIONS

I’m pretty excited about my newest novel release Naïda. It’s now available for pre-order in e-book format from many retailers, with a launch/sale date of June 1, 2021. Print editions should be available to order soon through bookstores, though a technical problem at Amazon has been holding up the print process there for 2 weeks now (seriously—I am not impressed!)

I’ll be doing a virtual launch on June 1st (thanks to Covid) so keep checking this space for the details on that.

You can read a sample chapter here on my website, and I think you’ll really like it.

Naïda is the story of Michael Hart, a scuba diver who discovers an ancient alien artifact at the bottom of a lake, and Sakiko Matthews, an ocean researcher fighting against the acidification of Earth’s seas. But it’s also the story of the alien organism Michael encounters, which makes the novel part adventure, part First Contact story, and even part coming-of-age story. As with all of my writing, I wanted to tell a great story, but also explore some big issues.

For example, if you discovered an undeniably alien artifact and then found that it was still active, what would you do? Who would you tell about it—who would you trust to tell about it? Police? An environmental agency? Who would you go to? I’m not a conspiracy theory fan but, honestly, aren’t we all pretty sure that if we told a military organization about such a find they would wrap it in absolute secrecy (possibly ensuring our own silence in some fashion I’d rather not think about) and try to weaponize it? So, say you tried to share the news on the internet instead to make sure it couldn’t be kept hidden. Or went to some big media outlet. Who would believe you? The number of wackos online is endless—you’d be lumped in with them (except, probably by the military or other covert agencies who would be the first to track you down and proceed as above. That’s not paranoia, that’s just reality.)

Big Question #2: Although Naïda isn’t quite a superhero origin story, there are similarities. Now, superheroes keep their true identities secret so they and their loved ones won’t be attacked by supervillains. But consider a more “real life” scenario of someone suddenly acquiring extraordinary abilities beyond the human norm. Supervillains wouldn’t be my worry—it would be the certainty that, once my condition was revealed, I’d be facing a life as a human lab rat. Whatever powerful organization could get to me first would devote their efforts to learning how I got those abilities, how they work (and how to defend against them) and, most of all, how to make more of me to satisfy any number of possible uses (with spying and fighting likely being at the top of the list).

Tell me I’m wrong.

And I haven’t even touched on how either of the above scenarios would affect a person’s relationships for the rest of their life.

But Naïda the novel does. And lots more. So give the sample chapter a read, and order your own copy. Oh, yeah, and then try to decide whether you envy Michael Hart. Or pity him.