Mary Παπαδοπούλου asked Nicholas C. Rossis:

What was the inspiration for your short story ''I come in peace'' from the Power of Six anthology? (If it is something too personal, I will understand it if you don't want to answer...)

Nicholas C. Rossis Not at all; thanks for asking. I noticed in your review how fond you were of this story, so it's a pleasure discussing it with you :)

There are two main elements in 'I come in Peace.'

The first is, obviously, the alien, in the form of a floating orb. This is based on a bit of my family lore. My grandfather passed away in his fifties, and my grandmother had a hard time coping with the loss. One day she was preparing dinner, when an iridescent orb floated through the open window and into the room. It hovered next to her for a long time before disappearing, and she felt it was a message from her husband.

This story has fascinated me since first hearing it as a young boy, so it's found its way into both 'I come in Peace' and my epic fantasy series, Pearseus.

The real protagonist of the story, however, is loneliness. I grew up an only child in a remote part of Athens, with no neighbors for miles. As a result, I was a pretty lonely boy. Growing up, my favorite place was the school library. Every weekend, I'd check out a dozen books, to be devoured by Monday. So, loneliness is an old frenemy of mine.

When I started writing the story, I asked myself, "how far would one go to never feel lonely again?" I had once heard that most stories stem from "what if" kind of questions, so one question led to another: "would they break the law? Would they risk another man's life? Would they risk their own life?"

The story flowed naturally from there :)

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