Al Past

It's a great premise: humans taken from the earth thousands of years ago send out a small spaceship to investigate the most likely of possible home worlds. The sole astronaut, after observing earth from the moon for many years, is informed by her computerized navigator/adviser that earth's orbit will overlap within 4 years with debris from two meteors and will suffer terrible damage. Against orders, the astronaut uses her escape pod to travel to earth to contact an American astronomer and warn humanity. The astronomer doesn't believe her, the army captures her, and chaos ensues (along with romance).

The writing is somewhat YA, and, in fact, I recommended the book to my 18-year old niece. It's a quick read, though, probably great beach material, but there are large sections I skimmed. The middle is a sleepy domestic interlude (which could have been much shorter) and as a result the book doesn't maintain the grip of the adventure it promises to be in the beginning and returns to at the end. There are at least two sequels, so perhaps in the story's entirety the slower sections would fit more easily into a rhythm.… (lisätietoja)

This sequel to Distant Cousin is, like its predecessor, more mainstream literature than science fiction. Although it is a story of First Contact, the science fiction elements keep to the background in a plotline that is more about society, character, and honor than about the arrival of extra-terrestrials on Earth. A year or more has passed since Ana Darcy, the first human on Earth from another planet, warned the planet about an impending calamity and then announced the imminent arrival of her relatives from the planet Thomo. She now lives in quiet obscurity with her husband Matt Mendez and their twin infants. Yet, her concern over the arrival upcoming historic meeting causes her to rethink her self-imposed isolation. The Thomo delegation includes her brother-in-law Herecyn, whom she had previously rejected as her own suitor, and she does not trust that his diplomacy skills will outweigh his simple greed when it comes to trade negotiations with Earth. Since her marriage to Matt has stripped her of all status among the Thomans, Darcy’s only means of participation is to offer herself as a celebrity representative of Earth, to aid in the upcoming momentous meeting as a “good will ambassador.” Unfortunately, this may be the wrong time to step into the limelight, because unscrupulous agencies currently looking for leverage in the upcoming negotiations for technology data with the Thomans. And Darcy looks to be an attractive sort of leverage …… (lisätietoja)

Author Al Past revs up the action in this third installment of the Distant Cousin series. After seven years of quiet family bliss on the secluded Mendez homestead, hidden in the heart of New Mexico, Darcy once again sacrifices her retirement from public life in order guard against disaster. As the very first representative from another planet on Earth, Darcy takes it personally to think that technology from her homeworld might be used against mankind, but her brother-in-law Herecy, the delegate from Thomo, has managed to sell sensitive information to a group of terrorists. While dodging assassination attempts from hired mercenaries, Darcy plies a little detective work to identify the source of the threat: A Russian oligarch has developed the Thoman technology into a weapon which was promptly tested on remote villages in the tiny territory of Sedlakia, with horrifying results. The US government is loath to interfere, but that doesn’t stop one little firebrand of a woman from planning a 2-man mission to save Sedlakia—and possibly the world.

Reincarnation reprises a multitude of characters from the first two books, including government agents, high-powered lawyers, an investigative reporter, and a certain Sicilian “businessman” who once saved Darcy’s life. It also introduces a few new characters, such as the Navy SEAL recruited by Darcy for the Sedlaki mission and her own precocious twins, Clio and Julio. Readers get a glimpse inside the personal relationships of the Thoman delegation, which include Darcy’s sister and uncle, as well as a thrilling and dangerous adventure in the frozen wilds of Russia. Interspersed with the fast-paced action, we find Darcy’s husband Matt holding down the fort at home, supervising the education of his amazing, half-Thoman children, and working out wily plans to preserve their anonymity in the face of Darcy’s increasingly public image. And if this is not enough, readers can ponder the significance of the close relation between the Thoman and Sedlaki languages, as well as a certain Sedlaki legend of an ancient queen named Anina Khralovna, who left her people long ago with the promise to return when she was needed … Highly recommended, but you need to start with Book One!… (lisätietoja)

What if our First Contact from another planet was a human? What if the first real alien to visit Earth from another solar system was a human woman on a mission to find the distantly related cousins of her own people? What if she brought with her a warning of an impending disaster of apocalyptic proportions? And what if nobody believed her?

Al Past’s novel Distant Cousin is a most unusual science fiction story with a most unusual heroine. Ana Darcy has jeopardized her mission and cut herself off from her own people to bring a desperate warning to Earth authorities. Astronomers at a Texas observatory don’t believe her, but the US military is willing to interrogate her – under custody of course. Her astonishing escape from Army detainment is our first hint that she may be more than she first appears and capable of more than we imagine. (Memorable quote from the Army Air Defense: “Barbie’s baby sister from outer space is in our custody and you let her get away! If the mother ship beamed her up, you better pray they get you next!”)

Befriended by ordinary people as varied as the family owners of a Texas dude ranch, a mild-mannered reporter, and an Olympic contender from Barbados, Darcy conceives a daring plan to evade government capture while hiding in plain sight and deliver her warning in a manner which cannot possibly be ignored. And afterward, she might just fall in love … if she can trust her own feelings … and trust her boyfriend with the truth about her origins. By the end of this most original novel, I knew two things for certain. The first was not to underestimate this diminutive and seemingly harmless protagonist. And the second was that the sequel, DC Repatriation, was going on my “buy-it-soon” list so that I could learn more about Ana Darcy and her mysterious people.… (lisätietoja)