Orphaned on a backward planet, Lydia observes with inoculated indifference as the nearby Gaean Empire plans to crown its new Empress. But on coronation day, someone tries to stop the ceremony. His investigation shows that Lydia is far more than just an ambassador's daughter. Her life goes haywire. Pursued across the galaxy, Lydia tries to discover why her fellow humans have taken a sudden dislike to her, and why her adopters are going to such lengths to protect her. Going into hiding takes her deep into the seedy underground of New Athens - the Imperial capitol - where the secrets of her past lie, her parents' deaths no accident.
Scott Michael Decker, MSW, is an author by avocation and a social worker by trade. He is the author of twenty-plus novels in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, dabbling among the sub-genres of space opera, biopunk, spy-fi, and sword and sorcery. His biggest fantasy is wishing he were published. His fifteen years of experience working with high-risk populations is relieved only by his incisive humor. Formerly interested in engineering, he's now tilting at the windmills he once aspired to build. Asked about the MSW after his name, the author is adamant it stands for Masters in Social Work, and not "Municipal Solid Waste," which he spreads pretty thick as well. His favorite quote goes, "Scott is a social work novelist, who never had time for a life" (apologies to Billy Joel). He lives and dreams happily with his wife near Sacramento, California.