Aliya Whiteley

“I think the judges were responding to the platonic romance at the inn between a human, Jem, and a Qitan, Isley. It seems we invaded the Qitans’ planet when we discovered it, looking to exploit them, except they more or less willingly surrendered. The inn is in ‘the Protectorate,’ an anti-technological enclave in Devon, where Isley is the only permitted alien. It feels a little like the fundamentalist settlement in Wyndham’s The Chrysalids: a puritanical, pastoral utopia-dystopia, which wants to stop the clock. This enclave is threatened by the arrival of another Qitan and a plague. There’s no escape from pandemics!” Read more...

The Best Science Fiction of 2022: The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist

Andrew M. Butler, Film Critics & Scholar

“Aliya is one of those writers that writers recommend to each other. That’s the easiest way to put it. In this book, humans shed their skin, like snakes, and you shed other parts of yourself as well. What an amazing concept. Fantastically written as well.” Read more...

The Best Sci Fi Books of 2019: The Arthur C Clarke Award Shortlist

Tom Hunter, Journalist