Making Contact
The Origins of the Alien People Chronicles
Many of my best ideas as an author sprouted from seeds planted in my childhood. The Alien People Chronicles are a tangible result of that idea incubation.
I shared in my author’s note preceding Alien People how I wrote the original rough draft when I was 18 years old. I spent the summer following my high school graduation, before I began my freshman year of college, composing a 400-page manuscript from a rough outline.
The idea for Alien People came about a few years earlier.
I struggled with my health as a child. I suffered from severe asthma and severe allergies (and still do unfortunately). My family struggled with poverty, so we could not afford effective medicines to treat either condition. For me, that meant tons of missed school days and limits on what physical activities I could do.
As you can imagine, I ended up daydreaming often and turning to my imagination to create adventures for myself. One such adventure involved joining a team of alien astronauts who discovered Earth and came here to make first contact. I produced all sorts of details for this story until it felt almost as real to me as the “real world” does.
This knack for creating stories soon transformed into a passion as I grew older. I decided to put Alien People into words when I felt an itch to write an actual novel. I had created other imaginary childhood adventures, but this fictional world and the characters populating that world were closest to my heart.
My goals and dreams were sky high when it came to Alien People. I envisioned submitting my manuscript to a major publisher one day and then, after it became a bestseller, making it into a movie. I envisioned myself as becoming the next great American author and this first novel would be the crown jewel among all my stories.
I eagerly sketched out outlines for sequel novels and jotted down notes on all sorts of information about my fictional world. Politics, geography, animals, technology. I also mapped out extensive biographies of numerous characters, both major and minor. The fictional planet of Lathos only grew more vivid and real to me as I compiled all these notes over time.
Of course, life found a way to get in my way.
Once in college, I devoted time to going to class, studying, and writing papers. When I wasn’t busy with my education, I hung out with my frat buddies, went to parties, went on dates, or visited my family. It did not leave much time to invest in my fiction.
School soon gave way to work after graduating from the University of Utah. I became a sports reporter in 2004 and have remained in that occupation since that time. You work a hectic schedule and odd hours as a journalist. This makes it difficult to motivate yourself to write for fun in your time off.
I never forgot about Alien People in those years. I continued tinkering with my story and adding more elements to the treasure trove of backstory I already created. Then, after publishing Under a Fallen Sun in 2019, I decided to finally finish the story nearest to my heart.
Sending Alien People out into the world marked a satisfying culmination of a two-decade journey. The next book in the series, Dark Metamorphosis, followed a year later. The trilogy will conclude when Among Hidden Stars is released in September. Bringing these characters and this world to life has brought me tremendous joy.
I hope you take the opportunity to spend a few hours living in this fictional world that has formed a part of my mind and soul for so much of my life.
