Watch for the sequel, Terra Insegura,
in early 2009!
Marseguro, a water
world far distant from Earth, is home to a small colony of
unmodified humans known as landlings and to the Selkies, a
water-dwelling race created by geneticist Victor Hansen from
modified human DNA. For seventy years the Selkies and the
unmodified landlings have dwelled together in peace, safe from
pursuit by the current theocratic rulers of Earth--a group
intent on maintaining human genetic and religious purity.
Then landling Chris Keating, a misfit on any world, seeks
personal revenge on Emily Wood and her fellow Selkies by
activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the
original colony ship. When the Earth forces capture the signal
and pinpoint its origin, a strikeforce, with Victor Hansen's own
grandson Richard aboard, is sent to eradicate this abomination.
Yet Marseguro will not
prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates. And
what Richard Hansen discovers here may alter not only his own
destiny but that of Marseguro and Earth as well...
Reviews
"The settings are well drawn and
creative...The characters possess substance, emotions and
realistic motivations...Most important, the action and surprises
keep coming...with nonstop action and plot development...the
flaws are minor, and this book is almost impossible to put down.
"Even people who are afraid of the water
will love this book. Highly recommended." -
Lois H. Gresh,
SCI FI
Weekly
"Portraying people at their worst and their best,
this book challenges readers to revisit their first
impressions...Characters face issues of nature vs. nurture, the
effects of bullying and the deep seated threads of prejudice...
"I liked this book more than I thought I would when I first picked
it up. The author was constantly surprising me, which doesn’t happen
often, twisting the usual sci-fi conventions into more than just a
shoot ‘em up space opera. Edward Willett has created people,
personalities with belief systems and misguided judgments who make
mistakes in trying to do what they believe is right...I look forward
to the release of the sequel to Marseguro, Terra Insegura, later on
next year." -
Fantasybookspot
"The title of Edward Willett's
new novel, Marseguro, refers to a water
world far distant from Earth in space, but scant weeks away in
travel time. Willett has assumed several technological advances in
order for this novel to work: genesculpting, cloning,
faster-than-light travel via brane space, and a Heinleinian "If this
Goes On" of a religious dictatorship in the United States. But the
pieces all come together nicely to tell a good story of the man who
created a new race of amphibious humans, and the results of his
efforts to protect them from the growing threat of religious
zealots.
"The book gets off to a slow start, but it picks up speed, and
eventually finds itself steamrolling to an inevitable, but
satisfying and enjoyable conclusion." -
"Never content with
simplistic depictions of good guys verses bad, Willett examines the
ethical dilemmas inherent in total war from the viewpoint of four
different characters, two of whom are forced to reevaluate their
initial assumptions about who is the real enemy...
"As the stakes continually rise, the
protagonists have to constantly up their game to overcome yet greater
obstacles and confront yet more profound ethical issues...As in Lost
in Translation the characters have to confront their prejudices,
overcome their justifiable hatreds, examine their loyalties and --
even more clearly in this book – Willett seems to suggest that triumph
ultimately belongs to the characters who able to experience the most
growth. The winners are those who are able to place others over self,
whereas the losers are undone by their core selfishness. In Willett's
universe, karma counts...
"In the end, Willett delivers the
edge-of-your-seat, action-packed adventure novel I had been
anticipating. - Dr. Robert Runte, Neo-Opsis
"...a creative tale...Mr. Willett
blends science fiction with heavy religious beliefs into a
well-written storyline that’s filled with dramatic scenery and
character detail. Sci-fi and fantasy fans should find this story
full and entertaining."
-
Kimberly Swan,
Darque Reviews
"The book is well-plotted, the action and reveals flow nicely along,
keeping the reader interested...The ethical dilemmas presented echo
those of Lost In Translation - racism,
prejudice, tolerance, violence as a means to an end, fanaticism -
but are put in play in such a way that the reader feels it necessary
to wrestle with the issues alongside the character. If the reader
comes to a different conclusion than the protagonist in some of the
situations, it is not because Willett has written his characters
into a corner from which there is only one way out, rather it is the
availability of choices which makes the ones the protagonists follow
ultimately so meaningful.
"Well worth the read, I highly recommend
Marseguro and am anticipating the sequel
Terra Insegura (meaning unsafe land?) due out next year." -
Marturia.net
"Excellent world-building and well
developed characters. Very enjoyable. If you are interested in the
religious implications of genetic manipulation, the political
problems with a theocracy, or the question of what you would do when
faced with extinction, read this book." -
William Howe
"...good characters and an interesting story that looks at very
difficult issues that are important to the world we live in
today..." - Eclectic Writer
"This book has it all: great
aliens, brilliant world-building, a breakneck plot, and a message that
resonates with our times. Edward Willett has arrived, and SF is the richer
for it." -
Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning
author of Hominids
"To call a Science Fiction
tale 'Old Fashioned' is neither an insult nor an oxymoron. Willett has
created an interstellar adventure story worthy of Golden Age masters
like Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. The pace is fast, the
invention rich, and the plot twirls and twists like an Aldebaranian
Woggle Dancer. Willett even pulls off that trickiest of SF finesses, the
alien species that does not think like humankind and yet makes enough
sense to capture our interest and sympathy. If you hanker after a
journey to distant worlds and a visit to the Galactic Commonwealth, then
reach for Lost in Translation." -
Dave Duncan, author
of the Seventh Sword series, the
King's Blades
series and the just-released
Children of Chaos
"In Ed Willett’s
universe, greed and intrigue aren’t unique to humankind, and humans and S’sinn aliens are the stuff of each others’ nightmares. One human and one
S’sinn, called to translate a treaty that no one seems to want, are
compelled to try and find a way out of the rapidly closing trap of
treachery and hatred. Lost in Translation is a believable, absorbing,
thought-provoking and highly enjoyable read." - Kathy Tyers, Author of
the
Firebird trilogy,
Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura,
and Star Wars: Balance Point
"...for most readers (Edward
Willett) will appear as a new author. And a very fine discovery he
is!...Willett surprised me by writing a ‘first novel’ that was able to
both tap into my nostalgia for the hard SF of my youth, and to provide a
completely contemporary adult novel. The fast paced action kept me
turning pages long after I should have been abed, and the anti-racist,
anti-war message seemed particularly timely for the Bush
administration’s War on Terror...Willett has long deserved the mass
market distribution he is finally receiving, and Lost in Translation is
far better space opera than the right-wing militaristic offerings of
established writers like David Weber and Steve White. Suddenly, it's
worth looking in the ‘W’s again!" - Dr. Robert Runte, Neo-Opsis
Science Fiction Magazine
No. 11 (coming February 2007)
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
Kathryn was a human empath
whose world and life had been destroyed when, as a very young child,
she'd watched helplessly as the alien S'sinn slaughtered her parents
before her very eyes. Only the Translators, an elite guild of empaths,
had been able to free her from the trauma and give her a new life.
Jarrikk was a young S'sinn, an unproven warrior who'd seen his flight
mates slaughtered by the humans who'd sought to colonize his world.
Crippled so that he could never fly again, he would have chosen death,
but he wasn't allowed the choice. Instead he, too, was trained to be a
Translator. And as humans and S'sinn found themselves poised on the
brink of a war that could not only destroy their own species but could
disrupt the delicate balance of the multiracial Commonwealth, these two
Translators--who had every reason to hate one another--had to work
together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether
their Translators' oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued
against them was very much in doubt...
MORE REVIEWS
"This in-depth look at an alien culture makes for fascinating reading. The
bond between the two cross translators enables them to understand the other
side’s perspective. The military science fiction audience will believe that
Edward Willett is a Translator with first hand experience working with the
sentient S’sinn and want future Translations." -- Harriet Klausner (Read
the full review)
"LOST IN
TRANSLATION by Edward Willett is definitely a book science fiction purists
will savor. Intrigue, the threat of interstellar war, and action all combine
to make this tale a suspenseful and pleasant experience to those who enjoy
intelligent writing and crafty storytelling...Each character in LOST IN
TRANSLATION has his own ulterior motives, and it's hard to keep track of
who's good and who's bad, which adds to the intrigue. Having never read this
author before, I look forward to reading a few of Edward Willett's previous
titles, hoping that they will be of the same caliber as LOST IN
TRANSLATION."
-- Courtney Michelle,Romance Reviews Today
(Read the full review)
"Much more pleasing is Edward Willett's
Lost in Translation, not to be confused
with the film of the same name starring Bill Murray. In this book humans
and a race of gorgeous little flying creatures called S'sinn despise each
other with a passion equal to the heat of a thousand suns. A
misunderstanding escalated into a war, then into a Hatfields-McCoys
mindset that clouds both species minds with hatred and prevents any kind
of reconciliation. The governing council, seeing that this state of
affairs will never do, decides to intervene and get to the bottom of the
grudge match once and for all, and for that, they need translators: the
two who are chosen must work against their own prejudices to come up with
a solution for the future of both species, but it's not going to be easy,
as their backstories indicate. There are shades of Bradbury here in the
style, which I personally find pleasing, and I'm also keen on the S'sin
because it's hard to create an alien race that isn't 'been there done
that.' Recommended for adult summer reading, as this is the kind of book
you want to take out to the hammock and savor, while the sun still
shines." -
Faster_than_light LiveJournal
"It's a
wellwritten book that surprised me in a number of ways. Willett does a
wonderful job of bringing his characters alive for the reader, getting you
interested in them, and having them do amazing things for all the right
reasons. When I first bought the book, I did it for the cover. I was a
little worried by it's seemingly small size (compared to most books on the
shelves these days) and that I would not get good value for my money. Boy
was I wrong. It felt just the right size. I rather strongly recommend it."
-
Jethric's Mess
"The plot twists and turns through
personal intrigues, political intrigues, spatiopolitical intrigues...All
in all, a good entertaining read with substance to it....You've really got
to hand it to an author who can make you rather like a creature with
tentacles around his beaked face who engages in Realpolitik."
-The
Walrus Said.
After a lifetime
of sleeping in alleys and flop houses, Kit's musical talent is discovered,
and he is remade into Andy Nebula.
Well-fed, content with a warm bed
and contract, Andy begins to wonder why every previous "Sensation
Single" star was a flash-in-the-pan. Little does he know that the answer
lies with the off-world Hydras and their taste for music and flash, a
drug forbidden to humans. And that he is their next fix.
Cover art by
Mico
Praise
from Quill & Quire...
"The action in
Andy Nebula moves along at a cracking pace and the characters are
well-drawn...Andy Nebula is fast and furious enough to keep even
reluctant readers turning the pages, and young teen fans of fantasy and science
fiction will not be disappointed." -
John Wilson, Quill & Quire, July, 1999, p. 49
...SF
Site...
"... gritty and
clever...Willett tells a fast-moving tale that has plenty of colour. He wastes
few words and presents some good characterizations...All in all, a worthy
addition to a young reader's shelf of SF books."
- A. L. Sirois, SF Site, April, 2000.
Read the complete review.
...NCF
Guide to Canadian Science Fiction and Fandom...
"It's the combination of the
familiar with the speculative that lifts Andy Nebula above the crowd...From page
one we know we are in another time and place thanks to Willett's deft and
never-faltering use of a convincing invented slang.... There's a whole lot of
story packed into the 166 pages of this trade paperback...Get one copy for
yourself, and another for a young person." -
Donna Farley, NCF Guide to
Canadian Science Fiction and Fandom, June, 2000.
Read
the complete review.
...the
Regina Sun...
"Willett writes
in a humourous and flamboyant style not unlike an old-style detective
novel...The novel is fast and exciting with lots of action. It also involves
broader themes like differentiating between the authentic and the contrived,
values and measuring success, drug addiction and tolerance between species...The
writing is trim and humourous but far from vacuous. This book is fun to read.
Kids will like it, too." -
Jocolyn Caton, The Regina Sun, November 21, 1999, p. 15
...Jelena, a young reader in Manitoba...
"Andy Nebula: Interstellar
Rock Star is a very good science fiction book."
...and Jonathan, another young Manitoba reader!
"The book is like Star Wars
plus drug dealers plus rock stars all joined into one book. If you like
to read about that stuff then you will love this book...This is a cool
book so check it out!"
Here is the opening
chapter of the sequel to Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star,
tentatively titled Andy Nebula: Double Trouble.
Andy Nebula doesn't exist any more--at least, that's
what Kit thinks. But when Meta and Rain show up unexpectedly in
Paris, where Kit is trying to make a go of it playing his own music,
he finds out things aren't quite that simple...
For years she has waited in vain for her powers to manifest themselves.
Now a twist of fate has cast her into a doomed parallel world: Earth. It's
up to her to save humankind from an ancient evil perfectly suited to aid
humans in their self-destruction. Will she find her talents in time to
defeat the Soulworm?
Praise
from the 1997 Saskatchewan Book Award judges...
"A wonderfully entertaining,
imaginative, and well-crafted book for young adults...This book is
well-paced and controlled and never becomes moralistic... A great
read!... Highly recommended."
...the Regina Sun...
"This is a complicated bit of writing. The
characters are involved in a variety of strong relationships which help
create the drama...in this story, Weyburn is not a quiet, little city.
The writing is fast-paced and readers will be amazed at just how wild
Weyburn gets."-
Jocolyn Caton, The Regina Sun, March 8, 1998.
Read the complete review
Young Nels left his fishing village for a life
of adventure as a musician, travelling with a theatrical troupe across the
fabled Heartland. But life on the road isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,
and Nels gets more adventure than he bargained for when he becomes the
unwilling posessor of the Dark Unicorn, a tiny black carving. Unbeknownst
to Nels, the Dark Unicorn holds immense power. It is key to the survival
of the Heartland, threatened by the deterioration of the great Wall of
magic that shields it from the Blood Empire. With the Unicorn in his
posession, Nels becomes the the focus for terrifying, bewildering events.
On the run from agents of both the Heartland and its enemies, he falls in
with streetwise Dart, the only person he feels he can trust. Together they
must decide what to do with the Unicorn. The fate of their world rests in
their hands.
Praise
from the 1999 Saskatchewan Book Award judges...
"...captivates the interest of the reader from the beginning...the
action moves quickly, holding your interest until the end...A good
addition to this genre for the intermediate reader."
Amarynth is a spirit
singer, gifted--or cursed, as she sometimes thinks--with the ability
to lead the spirits of the dead from the Lower World through the
Between World to the Gate of the Upper World and the Light that lies
beyond it.
While she is still an
apprentice her grandfather and tutor dies, slain by a mysterious
creature in the Between World that is blocking access to the Upper
World's Gate. Without a spirit singer her village cannot survive, so
Amarynth embarks on a hazardous quest to find out what the creature
is, how it can be defeated, and how she can become a full-fledged
spirit singer -- a quest that takes her not only from her tiny
seacoast home to the soaring mountains of the south, but across the
even more rugged terrain of her own soul.
"...deserved the Saskatchewan Book Award it won. Aimed for the early to
mid-teen group, Spirit Singer is a strong, well-written book with great
adventure and sympathetic characters. Willett's book has fast-paced adventure,
sword-play, ghostly help, kidnappings, automatons who serve pure evil, royalty
and brave commoners...Spirit Singer holds more than just solid characters
and an exciting plot. It is about deception, both external and internal, in the
eternal search for love and acceptance. It is about the need to accept oneself
to be able to move forward and achieve great things and the need to be wise and
discerning about others." -
Lynn (J.R.) Wytenbroek
"This is a fast-paced, spiritual quest book, full of narrow escapes,
evil masquerading as good, good appearing in nasty people (just like in
real life!), adventure, dreams and bits of wisdom. The writing is spare
and the words well-chosen, so that complex characters and interesting
places emerge full-blown in the reader's mind, and the plot moves apace. I
felt always in the story, and not a mere spectator/reader. Written for
teenagers, but this 50-something guy had a great time." - David
Waltner-Toews
"Clearly defined characters, setting & plot carry a reader eagerly
from page to page through adventure-filled chapters that deftly conclude
with cliff-hangers...The plot is fast-paced and clever, the writing never
disappoints and the author clearly keeps his target audience in mind. A
great read from start to finish." -
Shirlee Matheson
"...a fun novel with engaging characters and having all the basic
elements of a good fantasy...young readers would likely get much more out
of this book in terms of good succinct plotting and writing than they'd
ever be likely to from the droves of role-playing game tie-ins and fat
fantasy trilogies." - Georges T. Dodds
"This book takes the reader on a magical journey to a mystical land, and
all within a hundred pages...It is a quick, but very satisfying read; I spent
any free time I had reading over the two days it took me to read the story. I
recommend this book for anyone that is in the mood for an adventure...Spirit
Singer definitely does not disappoint." - Amy Mehta
"Spirit Singer is a magical, mystical journey...very
satisfying. The talented Mr. Willett has given us a well-written fantasy that
you won’t want to put down. I highly recommend Spirit Singer to young and old
alike." - Carol Durfee, Senior Editor
"...a story that the teen-agers certainly will like. But not only them.
The tale possess a rich symbology that doesn't slows down the pace, but instead
add greater depth to it and will enthrall the more mature readers...In short, a
story enjoyable by readers from 13 to 100 years...It will resonate with deep
impact in your soul." -- Gianfranco Cazzaro
Lost in Translation first appeared in the premiere
issue of the new Canadian SF magazine TransVersions
in the fall of 1994. Two empaths, one a human, one a bat-like S'sinn, must overcome their
bitter pasts and learn to work together to prevent the second interstellar war between
their species.
"...builds a more credible space opera universe in 18 pages than some
300-page novels have achieved." - The Newsletter of the Council for the
Literature of the Fantastic/University of Rhode Island
"This quiet story
was laced with melancholy and full of dignity."
— Greg Beatty,
Tangent Online
"...the
most overtly spiritual of the issue's septet of stories and also the
most lyrically written...a commendable tale, quite effective in
showing both the subjectivity of progress and the sad, ultimate
ethereality of tradition."
— Daniel E. Blackston,
Firebrand Fiction Reviews,
SFreader.com
Here's what Tangent
Online reviewer Steven H. Silver had to say about it (read the
complete review here):
"Moon Baby," by Edward
Willett is the story of Scott Morgan, the first child born on the moon,
who has been assigned the task of escorting an earth tourist around the
moon. Scott suffers from typical teenage anxiety and rebelliousness,
exasperated by his disdain for Earthers. Willett's story bounces back and
forth over a period of a few days, which is disconcerting at first, but
the reader rapidly gets used to the time disjuncture. A well-written
story, although Scott's change at the end seems a little too contrived.
Strange Harvest
first appeared in Western People, and was reprinted in the Summer '98 issue of OnSpec.
Here's what one reviewer had to say about it:
"Autumn brings us a "Strange
Harvest" courtesy of Edward Willett. You know how vegetables sometimes grow into
bizarre shapes, pictures of which appear periodically in the tabloid papers? Well, this
story supposes those vegetables got just a little bit weirder. I loved the attentive
descriptions of tomato grenades, napalm radishes, glowing electric potatoes, and oh yes,
tear-gas onions. That last one made me laugh out loud. The plot features a reporter
working for a small local newspaper, and our hero winds up on a quest to figure out what
the heck is causing these permutations of produce. Once again, the explanation is logical,
unexpected, and entertaining. Share a copy of this story with your friends who practice
organic gardening." - Elizabeth Barrette, Tangent Online
Saved is a one-act play set in a future in which North
America has fallen sway to a religious dictatorship...but if you think that tells you all
you need to know about this play, you're wrong. The ending will surprise you, shock
you--and make you think.
Threads is a
15-minute fantasy play written for Globe Theatre's annual On the Line "freefall
through new work," and given a professional staged reading in February of 2001.
Arthur and Jennifer Trenholm think the local legend of the Weaver in the
Mediterranean country they're visiting is just a myth...until a mysterious Guide
show them how to find her.
