Land of the Lost

Alicia is struggling to fit in at the Space Academy for Technical Arts and Sciences. It's always been her dream to attend, but now that she's here, she has no idea how to make friends, and all her attempts end up making things worse.

----
Author's Note:

I've always had it in my head to write a young adult "space academy" type story. Not because it's that original an idea, but because as a teen, I couldn't get enough of those types of books. Since my day job is currently keeping me too busy to commit to a novel, I thought I would use my time to get to know the characters I'd starteI've always had it in my head to write a young adult "space academy" type story. Not because it's that original an idea, but because as a teen, I couldn't get enough of those types of books. Since my day job is currently keeping me too busy to commit to a novel, I thought I would use my time to get to know the characters I'd started thinking up. Alicia, named after a childhood friend of mine, was the first one that spoke to me. You could say she's part Hermione, part Wesley Crusher-but she's also very much part me and my awkward struggle to adapt to both the college environment and to having roommates I had trouble relating to.

After I introduced Iowa, I knew immediately that I wanted to know more about her-and in fact, you can learn how Iowa got her nickname (and also find out more about Mike) in "Lunar Camp," which is published in the Athena's Daughters anthology (and excerpted here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/10513396-athena's-daughters-lunar-camp-exerpt)

This short story was originally published in the "Contact Light" anthology. http://www.silenceinthelibrarypublishing.com/product/contact-light/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1941650546/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

The lovely art is by Dawn Murphy and is also from the Contact Light anthology.