My First Alien

Marvin the Martian was my first, and I confess to being scared of him. Granted, I also believed mailboxes came alive after sundown and ate small children.

I grew up during the astronaut age, so the idea of aliens didn't seem very foreign to me. They seemed inevitable.

These days I make up my own. Coming up with something unique can be a tough task. I often use art to come up with ideas. Pinterest has been a huge help with that.

I invented Ims recently, which live in close to absolute zero temps. I did a really bad drawing of one. I think I'd run if I encountered this. lol

They control the ice, which allows the people on that planet to survive. I had that idea from watching ice creep along in this video:

That was really weird looking and alien. I like weird.

What attributes do you like in your alien?

By the way, Worlds on Edge, Book 5 in the Backworlds series is now out, and it has the ice aliens in it.

Here's an excerpt from Captain Talos's encounter with them:

Chapter 18

◙ Talos

As if an engine hit him in the head, Talos teetered. The pain drove in so instant, building to his unquestionable annihilation. Today he would die. Speckles danced in his eyes like sunspots. They flared and dimmed until they consumed him.

He forgot about cold and death, forgot about Quasser and Pardeep Station. The Ims had brought him into their world, the air ripe with energy. It popped in his blood vessels, tingling. He dared to take a breath.

The flares of light coalesced into colors, coordinating, bellowing in a low hymn. Together the brilliant confetti and song formed thoughts that hit like bolts against his temples.

Touch. Touch. Met.

Time went backwards. Talos and Lepsi ran to the spaceport on Elstwhere, laughing. The hideous ship was theirs. It resembled two beetles back to back with six worms squiggling out from the center. Talos had never seen anything more beautiful. Soon the Backworlds and all the things he dreamed about would be navigated on his whim.

Too far. Come forward.

Quasser loomed above Talos, roaring, raining fire on Ronu, on Pardeep Station, and worlds Talos had never seen. A gal very much like Rainly and Prezsha sat on top of the cloud-like vessel holding a finger to her lips.

Secrets.

What did she know? Who was she? Talos reached for her hand and tumbled into a lake of ice. The cold fell heavily into his lungs. He clawed at the depths, unable to gain hold. He sank farther.

The Ims stood beside beings resembling sticks. They stood beside proud folks with squid limbs and fish eyes and some with tentacles for hair. Farther in the icy depths an alien with three necks wailed to the heavens, clutching onto a being made from spheres and squares that bunched together and spread apart in a steady rhythm. Whispers surrounded them and fire. They disappeared into the Ims.

We join.

One Im merged into Talos, blazing his veins into a brilliant blue. Talos shivered.

Worlds on Edge

War is coming. A horde of merciless aliens poise just beyond the Edge. In a matter of weeks they will devour the worlds.

Racing ahead of the apocalypse, Craze returns to the Backworlds to warn them and plan a defense. Only he can’t go home. Banned from Pardeep Station, he must wage a more urgent battle. His moon is under siege, and his friends are dying.

Bad things come in threes, and the galaxy is no exception. An old enemy returns, attacking moons and defenseless globes, leaving a wake of destruction. Worse than that, they threaten to join forces with the alien horde.

Defeat seems inevitable. Craze may not be able to stop it. Yet home is worth the fight.

Available in ebook:

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