Coming from Tor Books in DECEMBER 2012
Psychologist Elizabeth Cole is about to discover three facts that will change her forever: She died en route to her new job. She’s been reincarnated as an alien. She’s bound to a man who believes she’s his enemy.
first page | contest kudos | teasers
{ FIRST PAGE }
The tarmac was deserted. Foggy and disoriented, I wondered how long I’d been standing there, listening to the evergreens groan in the wind and dreading my first encounter on this new world. Would it be human or alien?
I breathed in the crisp, impossibly clean air, trying to clear my head. My gaze traveled around the landing pad, hemmed in by towering conifers, and came to rest on the transport terminal, oblong and silent under a slate-gray sky.
What now?
I had the unsettling feeling I was the only person on the planet -- Ardagh 1, more commonly referred to as “the ghost planet” by people on Earth. Inexplicable things happened here. The planet itself was inexplicable.
Finally the terminal doors slid open and a figure stepped out onto the tarmac. A half dozen others spilled out behind him, and a transport whined into view, landing about thirty meters away.
The presence of the other passengers eased my sense of isolation. But that first man out of the building -- he was headed right for me. My heart beat out a warning, and my mind snapped back to the original question:
Human or alien?
{ CONTEST KUDOS }
I just wanted to drop you an email and tell you how much I loved your entry. I've been judging a lot of contests and yours was heads and tails above the other entries I've read. Seriously good work. Reminded me of The Sixth Sense, I didn't see that twist coming. And would have killed to have been able to keep reading.
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This was my top rated entry. You write beautifully, are engaged in fascinating questions and staking out new territory. I think you’re on to something really special here.
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The twist to this was absolutely staggering...I would have kept reading for sure. And if this had been an excerpt I would have hopped online to order the book immediately after reading it.
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Unique plot, with a strong author’s voice. I was compelled to keep reading, and completely forgot that I was judging this for a contest.
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Wow. I loved, loved, loved this entry. Excellent job! I was intrigued and definitely wanted to read more. Very well done, very unique concept.
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Outstanding writing. Good story. Your dialogue and action are seamless. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your submission.
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Outstanding!!! One of the best Paranormals I’ve read in a while . . . Delightfully complex plot. YES!!! I loved it. This is such a fresh idea.
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I’ve judged a number of contests over the years, and I don’t often get entries that I get excited about. This is one of them.
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I've never given a perfect score before. This is something I would go out and buy to read the ending.
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This is a wonderful blend of futuristic elements, and a story on what exactly is the human condition.
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I loved Ghost Planet for the sheer inventiveness of the premise ... I couldn't stop thinking about that world.
{ TEASERS }
New Arrivals
“They told me she wasn’t my wife. Isn’t that strange? I mean, I know my wife. When security shot her, I -- well, I don’t see how what I did is any different than what they did.”
Subject RIr24
Senior Microbiologist, Ecosystem Recovery Project
New Dublin settlement
Reservations
“We’ve had reservations about this project from the very beginning, but with regard to the aliens, it seems to me the international community is overreacting. No question these -- hauntings, for lack of a better word -- are disturbing. But here we’ve rushed to colonize a planet that defies physical and natural laws, a planet that may very well be geologically unstable, and we’re ready to turn tail on this huge investment because the natives are a little spooky?"
Montgomery Mendez
Majority Leader, United States Senate
A Little Spooky
The senator’s categorization of the Ardagh 1 aliens as ‘a little spooky’ shows an appalling lack of compassion for the very real psychological suffering of the men and women who’ve returned from the planet.”
Emily Chastain, Esq.
Attorney for the Plaintiff
Dr. Martina Kovko vs. John Ardagh -- Class Action
Symbiotic Planet
"New tissues, organs, and new species evolve primarily through the long-lasting intimacy of strangers."
- Prof. Lynn Margulis, Biologist
Am I Human?
To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.
- Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine, Last Chance to See
Theseus' Paradox
"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."
- Plutarch
Beneath the Skin
I will wait like nothing...I have ever waited for
I will catch your tears from falling...until from my hands they fall
You can leave me abandoned...I'll be here if you want back in
Like the rest I have been branded...far beneath the skin
So far beneath the skin
You shall be...you shall be...you shall be Forgiven
- Ben Harper, Forgiven
