Today is Release Day for Mental Contact

Writers get inspiration from all kinds of places, and when I was trying to come up with an idea for a novel, I thought, I’ll write a book with aliens! The result of that inspiration is Mental Contact, which (not really a spoiler) is a story with absolutely no aliens.

I crafted a world in the far future where warp travel is possible, but not commonplace. I wanted to have a flawed protagonist, and Jake doesn’t disappoint. He struggles with mental illness, suffers from side effects from his medication, is horribly bitter, and somehow still thinks he’s better than the other people in his planetary system. When one takes psychiatric drugs, there’s a delicate balance between managing symptoms and side-effects, and I tried to honestly portray this challenge with Jake’s story.

Wanting to put my own spin on warp travel, I’ve included a nod to special relativity. I hope other science nerds appreciate details like this, but I’ve added a note about time dilation in the preface since it’s not a familiar concept to most people.

A cool coincidence happened while I was editing this book—scientists discovered that the Trappist-1 star has seven planets orbiting it, six of which are within habitable range. The fictional planetary system I had crafted also had seven planets. Without making any major changes, I was able to change the setting of Mental Contact to a real system.

I hope everyone enjoys Jake’s adventure through space as much as I enjoyed writing it! Mental Contact can be purchased in the following formats:

Thank you so much for your support in all of my writing endeavors! All of my fans and readers have helped make my dream of being an author come true.