The Stargazer's Embassy — Eleanor Lerman

Fiction. THE STARGAZER'S EMBASSY explores the frightening phenomenon of alien abduction from a different point of view. In this story, it is the aliens who seem fearful of Julia Glazer, the woman they are desperately trying to contact. Violent and despairing after the murder of the one person she loved, a psychiatrist who was studying abductees, Julia continues to rebuff the aliens until her relationships with others who have met "the things," as she calls them, including a tattoo artist, a strange man who can take photographs with the power of his mind, and an abductee locked up in a mental hospital, force Julia deeper into direct alien contact and a confrontation about what death means to humans and aliens alike.

"THE STARGAZER'S EMBASSY, by Eleanor Lerman, is a thrilling reversal of the alien abduction trope...An atypical take on a familiar concept, THE STARGAZER'S EMBASSY is executed flawlessly."--Foreword Reviews (starred review)

"Lerman's tense but thoughtful novel explores the mysteries of the psyche as much as those of outer space, and is fitting for any reader who enjoys deep and subtle stories."--Publishers Weekly starred review

"This novel has an inspiring premise and an even better plot. It's a hybrid between conventional novel and science fiction...Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing once said that science fiction had its second-tier reputation only because so few good writers had attempted the form. Eleanor Lerman, an award-winning poet, is such a first- tier writer."--New York Journal of Books