By the time you read this, I will have released my newest novel, Captain Wu. It’s the first book in a quirky and adventurous space opera trilogy called Starship Nameless, written with my new coauthor Jack Lyster… a man who lives “down under” in Australia and whom I’ve never actually met! I’m also in the process of accepting short story submissions for the August 2021 edition of Beyond the Stars, to be titled Across the Universe. I have several other book projects simmering along between the brilliant idea phase and the halfway-done stage.

Prior books include Karma of the Silo, my dystopian sci-fi collection set in Hugh Howey’s world of WOOL, Fitzgerald’s Funny Sci-Fi Shorts (which is just what it sounds like), and Airborne, a thriller about a worldwide pandemic that’s spreading on a flight… or as it’s sometimes called, Plague on a Plane.

My first published book was Running, about two women vying for the presidency of the United States. When I originally came up with the idea, it seemed impossible. Maybe someday it won’t be. Don’t even get me started on the story of American politics these days… the plot is ridiculous!

In 2017, my husband and I took a trip around the world—and I’m so glad we did it then. These days we’re settled back in New England with our quarantine-era rescue pup as we stay at home and dream wistfully about future travels. 

[Pausing here to insert a cute photo of one-year-old Sookie, who came to live with us in October 2020, and who couldn’t quite be squeezed into the Payload weight specs—despite the fact that she’s a trim 38 pounds. So she won’t actually make it to the moon with us writers. But she doesn’t care. She’s a dog. And she’s a good doggy!]

Did I mention that as we assemble our stories for this project, we are going through a global pandemic? I trust that by the time this payload heads to the moon, in the fall of 2021, we will have gotten this virus at least somewhat under control. 

In 100 years, when this payload is opened, I want to believe that there will be many healthy humans living on an Earth that has survived despite our current challenges—worldwide disease, rising temperatures and seas, political turmoil, and continuous warring. I think we’d like to do better, and I hope we will.

Those of us who write science fiction and speculative stories always believe we are heading toward a more harmonious future. May it be so.