There are times when I write silly.
The short story this week is indicative of that. It isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. It’s more of a snicker.
Then again, this story takes place in kind of a silly place, at the First Contact Café. You see, there are rules for first contact with aliens. And this is the place to meet aliens where the rules are enforced. Simple things like avoiding smelly bodily emissions, even if your race considers them a compliment, and complicated things like not asking another race if they are edible.
First Contact Café is a shared world, originally created by Irene Radford.
I had great fun writing this story. It’s light hearted, not dealing with suicide and the horror of touch, unlike some of the other stories I’ve posted here so far.
I think that if you like this story, you’ll also like the novel The Changeling Troll. It’s also light hearted, and slightly silly, though it has a serious heart. (Although one of the characters does find it a serious character flaw that trolls can’t swivel their ears like dogs and cats.)
I’ve already written the second novel in the Troll Trilogy–The Princess Troll. It will come out sometime in spring 2016. And I have lots of notes for the final book–The Fairy Bridge Troll–which I expect will come out probably in spring 2017.
In the meanwhile, have a fun story. Come and join the characters at the First Contact Café.
Saul will go to any length to close a deal, including adding three extra lumbar vertebrae so he could bend just so when greeting a particular alien ambassador.
But the latest clients won’t even negotiate.
Saul has to find out what makes them tick. What they really want.
Everyone will strike a deal eventually, right?
Originally published in the anthology, “First Contact Cafe,” part of a shared world created by Irene Radford.
Available for $0.99 from Amazon, Kobo Books, and iBookstore.
Let’s Make a Deal!
Here and gone!
Linda Jordan-Eichner