Hello, everyone! My name is Doug. I am from Lubbock, Texas, but right now I live in Houston. I am a tech writer for JSC, which means I get into a lot of fights over whether or not to capitalize "space shuttle." (You don’t.)

I really want to share my story, Ice Dwarves, with you. I wrote it as a short story years ago, and the story has been with me ever since. I always thought there was such richness in this small, frozen ice dwarf full of ranchers, mammoths, criminal empires, and robotic animals. I would love to turn it into a novel, which is why I am here.

Ice Dwarves is about a fifteen-year old named Mateo. He lives on this hellish planet called Mala-Mundial. He is the son of a rancher who will do whatever it takes to survive. Cheat, steal, or lie, it makes no difference to him as long as he can keep his son alive. But his son wants to be honest and good, which really stands out since Mala-Mundial is a land of smugglers and drug traders as well as mammoth ranchers. After their bull mammoth is killed, the stability of the ranch is thrown into jeopardy, and soon Mateo and his father get sucked into the tumultuous world of drug farming.

I think that this story is really relevant in today’s world despite being set up on a distant planet. The story deals with drug trafficking from a different standpoint, that of the farmer raising a crop of illegal substances because that is the only way he can survive. It also deals with issues of encroachment and wildlife conservation because Mala-Mundial has really one rule, La Regla Primera, and it is to not harm the wildlife because Mala-Mundial was originally established as a wildlife sanctuary. This causes a lot of friction for the ranchers, who are trying to safeguard their herds while predators like saber-toothed tigers are preying on their livelihood.

My goal here is to make Desperado meets Firefly. Hud meets Saga. Ice Dwarves is an exciting book, and I hope you take a chance to read it and that you will pre-order it. Thanks!