cover image In a Suspect Universe

In a Suspect Universe

Albert Wendland. Dog Star, $15.95 trade paper (220p) ISBN 978-1-947879-05-8

Inner and outer space collide in this emotionally driven prequel to 2014’s The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes. Mykol Ranglen, unhappy with the artificial world Annulus, built with alien knowledge that he uncovered, runs away right into another discovery of the alien Airafane: a teleportation network between the stars. Falling onto a hidden human colony, Alchera, he is startled to find that its landscape, a crater called the Blight, reacts to his imagination, pulling out monsters from his id that threaten the people he has come to love. He must quest across universes to retrieve more Airafane technology to end the threats. But are the Alcherans real or only another of Mykol’s projections? Working with the psychological implications of identity, transformation, and perception, Wendland tangles up the characters and worlds in loops of time and space that make it unclear whether Mykol is a hero sacrificing himself or a villain out to destroy what he cannot control. The resolution of his emotional and intellectual dilemmas of dealing with Alchera and the Airafane gives a solid sense of closure that new and returning readers appreciate. [em](Aug.) [/em]