A New World – Contact
by M.D. Neu
Publication date: February 4th, 2019
Genres: LGBTQ+, Science Fiction
A little blue world, the third planet from the sun. It’s home to 7 billion people with all manner of faiths, beliefs and customs, divided by bigotry and misunderstanding, who will soon be told they are not alone in the universe. Anyone watching from the outside would pass by this fractured and tumultuous world, unless they had no other choice. Todd Landon is one of these people, living and working in a section of the world called the United States of America. His life is similar to those around him: home, family, work, friends and a husband.
On the cusp of the greatest announcement humankind has ever witnessed, Todd’s personal world is thrown into turmoil when his estranged brother shows up on his front porch with news of ships heading for Earth’s orbit. The ships are holding the Nentraee, a humanoid race who have come to Earth in need of help after fleeing the destruction of their homeworld. How will one man bridge the gap for both the Humans and Nentraee, amongst mistrust, terrorist attacks and personal loss? Will this be the start of a new age of man or will bigotry and miscommunication bring this small world to its knees and final end?
~AUTHOR INTERVIEW with M.D. Neu~
1) What gave you
the inspiration for the storyline?
My stories all
typically start with ‘what if’. For this novel a couple of things happened. One,
I had the ‘what if’ moment. What if aliens showed up tomorrow? Two, I had the
main character Todd and the other main character Mirtoff start talking to me
and telling me their stories. But, the big thing was, my day job is working for
a non-profit that handles a lot of immigration and refugees and it amazes me
what some of these people go through. So, as the story started to come together
I wanted to tell a story about that, but as a Sci Fi story. I wanted to see how
it would affect our world as it is right now. What would we do? How would we
react? How would this affect global politics? How would it affect religion?
What affect would it have on social issues? All those questions we ask about
immigration and refugees, I wanted to address in a Sci Fi setting.
2) Are there any hidden themes in the book that you hope readers will discover?
LOL. I think I
answered that in your first question, but I will expand a bit. People are going
to see a big mirror reflected back on themselves and I think (or I hope) they
will ask themselves would that be me?
Would I be that character? Am I like that? One of the big themes other than Immigration
and refugees is religion. If you think about religion today, we are the only
game in the universe; most religions say we’re it. There are only humans and
nothing else, well when aliens show up, in the book, that whole belief has to
change. How will people react to that?
3) Are any of the characters based on real people you know?
In A New World-Contact there are two
characters that are a mix of people I know in real life. One is Dan and the
other is Kati. Both these characters are sharp tongued and crass, but they are
two of the most giving and wonderful people in the world, however, people get
hung up on what they say and how they talk. In fact, my Editor and my Publisher
made me soften them so they weren’t as offensive. Which, was a bummer, because
these characters were a mix of actual people I know and love. In the book what
you read is how they are, and I wanted to show that. It’s important for us to
stop getting so hung up on words and how we talk, it’s the character of the
person not what they say. I understand words have power, but the power they
have is the power we give them and I think we need to take back that power.
Anyway, so yes, Kati and Dan are based on actual people who I love and adore
very much.
4) Who has influenced you most as a writer?
I’m inspired by the
great Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas, Stephen King, Alice Walker, Alfred
Hitchcock, Harvey Fierstein, Anne Rice, and Kim Stanley Robinson. An odd
combination especially since several aren’t actual writers, but one that has nonetheless
still influenced my writing. These people all have a unique way of telling a
story and I adore them for it, and what they all do so well is create rich
worlds that we can’t help but get sucked into. I hope I’m able to do that as
well.
5) If you could have any three literary characters over to your place for game
night, who would you invite, what would you play, what would you serve, and
why?
Oh dear. Um… wow.
I’ve had to spend a few days on this question, because it is so difficult. I
think I would have to go with Louis (from Interview
with the Vampire by Anne Rice), James Quayle “Jim” Burden (from My Antonia by Willa Cather) and Nadezhda
“Nadia” Chernyshevski (from The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson) I know
that is a crazy mix, but I really like all these characters. They are all so
different and to me they are a bit of the same. Each, to me, is kind of in a
situation that they didn’t really have full control over, and end up having to
make some difficult choices, so they are fun to read. For the game I would keep
it simple with a dice game called 10,000 it’s easy to learn and would allow us
the opportunity to chat. With Louis being a vampire, I suppose a trip to the
blood bank would be in order, or maybe he could dine before he arrived. As for
Jim and Nadia I would make homemade chocolate chip cookies and have cheese and
crackers. Perhaps a nice bottle of wine and with dessert a port.
I would want to
keep the evening simple so we could chat and so I could get to know more about
them. That would be the whole purpose, I would want to pick their brains and
learn all I can, see what they think about the novels they’re in and see what
got left out.
6) Do you feel that you can ever have too many books?
I enjoy reading,
but I’m not a book collector, I don’t typically reread books. I tend to read
them once and move on, I have a pretty good memory so I can tell you about
every book I’ve read, what I’ve liked and what I haven’t, so with that, I don’t
get the same enjoyment out of rereading as others do. If that makes any sense.
Author Bio:
M.D. Neu is a LGBTQA Fiction Writer with a love for writing and travel. Living in the heart of Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) and growing up around technology, he's always been fascinated with what could be. Specifically drawn to Science Fiction and Paranormal television and novels, M.D. Neu was inspired by the great Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas, Stephen King, Alice Walker, Alfred Hitchcock, Harvey Fierstein, Anne Rice, and Kim Stanley Robinson. An odd combination, but one that has influenced his writing.
Growing up in an accepting family as a gay man he always wondered why there were never stories reflecting who he was. Constantly surrounded by characters that only reflected heterosexual society, M.D. Neu decided he wanted to change that. So, he took to writing, wanting to tell good stories that reflected our diverse world.
When M.D. Neu isn't writing, he works for a non-profit and travels with his biggest supporter and his harshest critic, Eric his husband of eighteen plus years.
