Water’s Edge Press is excited to announce we have agreed to publish The Distance Between Stars, a novel by Jeff Elzinga.
The Distance Between
Stars takes place over ten days in an East African country on the verge of
civil war. The country of Umbika, like many of its neighbors, had once replaced
colonial repression with a dictator of its own choosing, but now, after fifteen
years of stagnant social and economic progress, peaceful protests are turning
violent. The Life President accuses the U.S. government of secretly supporting
his opposition, and tribal animosities, simmering for years, are rolling into
full boil.
Joe Kellerman is an American diplomat, among the
Department’s best problem solvers. He has spent his entire career in
sub-Saharan Africa, moving from one difficult assignment to another. Joe is
white, middle aged, and adrift in a solitary life, where his work is all that
matters to him. As Umbika begins to disintergrate, a controversial black
American journalist arrives in country on a fact-finding trip. Joe is assigned
to assist him, but for many reasons, the two men do not get along. When the
journalist disappears in the bush, Joe is sent to find him or find out what
happened to him. What follows is a story about duty, race, national identify,
and the vanishing point where these elusive perspectives meet.
