Written by Nat Cassidy based on a dramatic podcast written by Mac Rogers
There are science fiction novels that have become great literary classics: Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, which inspired the movie “Bladerunner” (1982); William Gibson’s NEUROMANCER; Robert A. Heinlein’s STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND; not to mention works by Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, Orson Scott Card or George Orwell.
But too many science fiction books focus on world-building instead of character- or plot-building. Characters jet around galaxies predictably protecting worlds from take-overs by nefarious evil-doers, then reset and repeat. Often, the characters have backstories as shallow as the paper they are described on, and the conflicts are global or tribal rather than personal.
STEAL THE STARS is different. It offers a daring protagonist, Dakota “Dak” Prentiss, willing to risk life, career — even national security — to find a way to live with the man she has fallen instantly, hopelessly and deeply in love with, Matt Salem. It’s high stakes romance, thriller and mystery rolled into science fiction.
Dak is chief of security at Quill Marine, located on the coast of Northern California. Quill is a privatized military base containing a secret: on site are an alien and the spaceship it crash landed in.
The alien does not move or appear to breathe, but neither can it be said to be dead. The only sign of life is the moss-like strands that grow on its chest. Those strands are thinning and shrinking. Quill’s corporate owners are contemplating dissecting the alien against the wishes of scientists.
Dak, like her security colleagues, comes from a military background (she’s a former Ranger) and is the veteran of many dangerous, covert operations. They share certain traits: they follow orders; they handle danger well and creatively; they don’t have many — if any– connections to family or friends.
To work at Quill requires signing an ironclad contract promising that you will not fraternize with the locals nor with your colleagues. Breaking the contract means a sentence at a prison-like work center with a high probability of killing you physically or emotionally.
Dak is faced with finding a way to get enough money for her and Matt to live on for the rest of their lives in a foreign country that won’t extradite them back to the United States. The only thing she has to trade is the alien. Doing so betrays her country, her friends and her colleagues at Quill.
You won’t want to put this book down as Dak drives you through twists and turns to an unexpected conclusion.
About the Authors: Nat Cassidy and Mac Rogers
Nat Cassidy is a playwright, actor, director, musician and finalist for 15 New York Innovative Theatre Awards as well as the winner of two such awards. STEAL THE STARS is his first novel.
Mac Rogers is an award-winning audio dramatist and playwright. The Message and LifeAfter, have been downloaded more than eight million times. He has won a New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Production for his sci-fi The Honeycomb Trilogy.
