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.
