Junction

"The author’s creativity gambols across the planet along with his characters, and the journey is as much about the weird creatures as it is about the human drama. Readers will enjoy taking a trip to Junction and experiencing some of its bizarre wonders." - Publishers Weekly





When Japanese nature show host Daisuke Matsumori finds himself on an alien world, he hopes to rekindle his passion for his work. Traveling through a newly-discovered wormhole in the Papuan highlands, he joins biologist Anne Houlihan on Junction, a patchwork planet of competing alien ecosystems.

When their exploratory party crashes in the alien wilderness, Daisuke and Anne try to lead bickering soldiers and civilians back to civilization alive. As they trek across one unearthly biome after another and members of the party continue to die, however, Daisuke wonders whether human politics might be more deadly than alien biology. One of his companions might be a murderer.





FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Daniel M. Bensen writes alternate history, science fiction, and fantasy – usually with kissing, always with a bibliography. His work includes Junction, the Sidewise Award-winning short story Treasure Fleet, and his novella Petrolea. He is represented by Jennie Goloboy of Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Dan was born in Chicago and has since lived in Maine, California, Montana, Japan, and Boston. He currently lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he teaches English and resides with his daughters, wife, and in-laws in the Balkan Tower of Matriarchy.

AWARDS:





Treasure Fleet, Sidewise Awards for Alternate History, Best Short-Form Alternate History, 2016