Prize-winning Canadian satirist tackles the subject of alien refugees in his own inimitable style

Ira Nayman’s latest humorous science fiction novel sees a small blue alien resettled in a sleepy town, with local and transdimensional consequences.

DARTFORD, KENT – 22 March 2019 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of Good Intentions by prize-winning Canadian satirist and speculative fiction author Ira Nayman. The sixth book in his Transdimensional Authority series, Good Intentions also begins the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy as the First Pie in the Face (you’ll understand if you read on).

Ira says “I decided I wanted to write a story about refugees. Sure, it’s not an uncommon trope in speculative fiction, where aliens are sometimes metaphors for human beings, but I figured nobody had approached the subject quite like I would. I also came by the story honestly: my father came to Canada as a war orphan from Europe in the late 1940s, while my mother’s family fled persecution in Russia a generation earlier. I know what refugees contribute to the country, and have been incensed by the increasing xenophobia in both my country and the world at large. Anger is the satirist’s rocket fuel.

Cover artwork by Hugh Spencer

At the end of the second novel in the series, the chief scientist of the Transdimensional Authority set up an alarm to warn him if a universe is succumbing to the universe-killing machine that was at the heart of that story. One of Ira’s original inspirations for Good Intentions was: how would the Transdimensional Authority respond if that alarm went off?

The refugees from the ill-fated universe are short aliens with blue skin. The first one we meet, Rodney, wearing an impeccable suit, always carries a briefcase with him, out of which he seems able to pull any inanimate object that he needs. This includes pies, Rodney’s preferred means of introduction (now you might understand the subtitle of the book).

Peter Buck, Director of Word Wrangling at Elsewhen Press says “Ira has a unique and highly distinctive way of telling a story: at times surreal, rarely predictable, always funny and often poignant. Like the consummate satirist that he is, Ira entertains you with an unputdownable story that makes you laugh out loud and by the end you realise he has also made some extremely important points for you to think about. Perhaps the world’s so-called ‘leaders’ should be made to read Ira’s stories and then maybe they might start to exhibit a little more humanity. Or would that be too much to expect?

Good Intentions (The Multiverse Refugees Trilogy: First Pie in the Face) will be available to buy on all popular eBook platforms from 1st April 2019 (yes, April 1st!) and is already available to pre-order. The paperback edition will be available on 3rd June 2019.

Notes for Editors

About Ira Nayman

Ira Nayman

In another life, Ira Nayman was a skydiving WWI hero, a yak herder in the treacherous Rocky Valleys and the lead guitarist for the band The Strange Feebles. Since that other life happened in another universe, it may not be as impressive to you as it sounds.

In this universe, Ira is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his decision to devote his life to writing comedy, in all of its forms and in a variety of media. His Web site of political and social satire, Les Pages aux Folles, has now been updated weekly for over fifteen years. The ninth book in the Alternate Reality News Service series, E Deplorables Unum, was self-published in January, 2019; two more books in the series will be published before the end of the year. Good Intentions is his sixth Multiverse novel published by Elsewhen Press.

Ira is also surprised to find himself the editor of Amazing Stories magazine. Yes, that Amazing Stories magazine. I know, right?

He finds his life in this universe exciting enough. The way things go, he’s probably allergic to sky…

Visit bit.ly/GoodIntentions-IraNayman

About the book

Title: Good Intentions

Subtitle: The Multiverse Refugees Trilogy: First Pie in the Face

Series: Transdimensional Authority, 6

Fiction / Science Fiction / Humorous; Fiction / Science Fiction / Adventure; Humor / Topic / Politics

Print edition:

ISBN 978-1-911409-44-1, 336pp, Demy; RRP £9.99 / €11.99 / US$17.99 / CA$23.99 (3 Jun 2019)

Electronic edition:

ISBN 978-1-911409-54-0, EPUB / Kindle; RRP £2.99 / €3.49 / US$3.99 / CA$4.99 (1 Apr 2019)

About the cover

The artwork at the heart of the cover of Good Intentions was produced by Canadian artist Hugh Spencer, and presents a pretty accurate vision of the experience of travelling between alternate realities (says Ira).