So it was this very

like sort of wonderful, slightly kooky way to grow up.

There was kind of like a glass family quality to it.

And so it was a family that I grew up in that really valued words.

And, you know, I grew up like literally the kind of kid who would read the dictionary.

And that being said, I then kind of turned away from, not from writing, but I thought I wanted to do a really different kind of writing.

I was really interested in film.

And I was so fascinated.

You haven't been abducted by aliens, have you?

I have not unfortunately had my own close encounter or experience, but it was inspired by meeting some people who had.

I first came up with sort of the very earliest seeds of this book over 10 years ago, which feels wild now to think back on that.

I was at the time like a field producer for Vice Media, and I had gone down to Roswell to the UFO convention to do a story.

When we were there, I found myself very moved and fascinated by the stories of the people we met, by the culture of ufology, and by the kind of dichotomies between skeptics and believers.

We had gone to Roswell with a kind of famous skeptic, and I was really interested in kind of how the dogmatism of skepticism could seem just as strong as the dogmatism of belief.

And so when I came home, I started reading more about ufology and in particular about experiencers.

Are there any plot twists that were ripped from the headlines that you're particularly proud of?