Before I really start promoting Christmas in Pandemonium, I figure I should talk about my other Work in Progress: Hailey Phillips Escapes the Terran Birdcage. It’s a 54,000-word novel set in 2199 when 16-year-old Hailey Phillips starts her first day at San Francisco Astronautics Academy. Hailey’s wanted to explore space since she was four, but her first day at school throws her for a loop when she discovers an alien named Ricou on the surface of Titan. Hailey learns that her elders have always known that intelligent life exists outside their solar system. However, Earth’s Global Governing Council has agreed not to travel outside their solar system to avoid offending the great Paiva Empire which is forbidden from conquering “primitive” species by intergalactic treaties. Hailey begins to see Earth through a different set of eyes: a world that has agreed to limit its own technological, social, and moral development in order to placate a powerful Empire that surrounds it.

Hailey makes a rash decision, as sixteen-year-olds are wont to do, and hitches a ride with Ricou out of the solar system, hoping to make it to the Flipto Confederation, a “free” polity outside the boundaries of the Paiva Empire, leaving Earth behind to live a free life on a foreign world. While her parents mourn her inevitable(?) death, Hailey dodges Killer Furball assassins and siphons anti-matter from alien motherships to get herself across the border and start a new life in the Flipto Confederation. Will Hailey survive? Or will she be captured and tortured to death by the Paiva, a race of gigantic bugs with a hankering for conquest and fresh meat?

Right now, the novel is in the Alpha Reading stage, with my Dad acting as the Alpha Reader. It’s about 54,000 words–a little short for a science fiction, but I’m aiming for a young adult market. Tell me what you think of the concept. I’ll start promoting Pandemonium in earnest on the July 4th weekend.