Faraway Star is a character-driven space opera focusing on the story of a young man in a war-torn galaxy. At the novel's beginning Raljebi is a callow college student with no real interests other than playing guitar and holding on to a draft exemption. By its end he's a hardy ex-prisoner of war, tempered by multiple tragedies and driven by a single-minded focus on being united with the infant son he's never seen no matter what more the galaxy throws at him. His physical and emotional journey takes him from a squalid dorm room on an icy backwater planet to an interstellar antiwar protest festival, a diplomatic compound under siege and eventually a prison camp where hope and humanity are hard to hang onto. Raljebi is not a soldier, military leader, messiah or hero, unless finding the courage to go on counts as heroism. In this story, it often does.
I intended Faraway Star to appeal to readers who enjoy science fiction adventure, but who prefer to see it through the eyes of three-dimensional characters whose personal stories they care about and want to become invested in. I intended it for readers who like science fiction that invites them to think deeply about real issues in the real world, but does not ask them to treat that aspect as the primary value of reading the book. I intended it for readers who appreciate a well-constructed imaginary world, but who are more interested in a character's love story or emotional progression than the technology or politics of that imaginary world. The book is subtly queer-coded and has antifascist undertones.
