Back in June 1996, while I was far from home and cooped up in Owen Hall on Michigan State's campus, one of the 16 writers attending the "boot camp" known as Clarion, I wrote my first story about aliens that had crash-landed on Earth. Those aliens had already been locked up in internment camps, and I was writing about a priest and his relationship with those Wannoshay aliens.

Flash-forward 11 and a half years, and I finally get to share the rest of the story, including why those aliens were rounded up into camps, and what happened to them in the year following that act of fear and paranoia.

So today, we're celebrating Wannoshay Day, the day my novel The Wannoshay Cycle is available for people to read!



To help celebrate, I'm asking folks to add some sort of mention of the Wannoshay in their online journals or blogs. It could be something as simple as a one-liner: "The Wannoshay have arrived" or "Happy Wannoshay Day!" It'd be even cooler if you could add a link to my Wannoshay page or the Amazon page. If you like -- just something to get the word out, y'know?

I'll be checking out the various blogs that mention the book, and the top three entries (most creative, funniest, etc.) will get a signed copy of the hardcover of the book, plus any other prizes that I can stuff into the envelope with it.

What do you say? Want to party like an alien? Let's make the most of Wannoshay day! It only comes 'round once every eleven and a half years! Later...


(Illo by Martin Gruelle for Strange Horizons)