This book started as an experiment.
I wanted to write something about family, about upending the notion that you "can't choose your family." This story is about a group of very different "people" who come together to form a family, and yet, with one exception, are not related. They don't have to stay together, but they choose to. The story is about why they choose to stick together.
It's also a love letter to science fiction. I wanted to do a space opera, a kind of acknowledgement to what Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica have meant to me.
Lastly, I wanted to show a diverse universe. I was seeking to mix together different races, classes, ethnicities, and sexual orientations:
-- Andra and Grunge don't fit in any racial profiles, they are a myriad of races blended together.
-- Tez is "ethnic Martian," which is a heavy burden for him, and he's mono sexual. He is essentially genderless and won't refer to himself in the first person until he chooses from one of three Martian genders.
-- Rys is heir to the throne of Egyptia, and wears privilege on his sleeve.
-- Captain Nayar comes from Mumbai. He was once a party-boy pilot who was injured on the job, and is now confined to a broken hover-chair.
Lastly, I wanted to write something I'd never come across before. I wanted Star Pressed to be exciting but poignant, fantastical but also grounded. Quite simply, I'm hoping it'll be someone's favourite book.
Maybe that someone is you.
I'd love to hear what you think And if this book spoke to you, please share the love and help spread the word.
Love,
Jeff
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Stellar Objects
Science FictionWhen orphaned siblings Andra and Grunge are abducted from the landfill site they call home, they are pressed into service on the HMS Ghandi with three teenage aliens where they form a surrogate family in an unfair universe. PARTY OF FIVE meets GUAR...
