Alien Child.

Alien Child by Mona Lee Open Hand Publishing Inc., March 1999 $12.95, ISBN 0-940-88062-8

Mona Lee's latest contribution to sci-fi strives toward the noble goal of addressing the social inequalities prevalent in today's world. Readers are introduced to Wella De Gordnia, a racially mixed alien placed on a remote island. Wella's spaceship drops her off in the political turbulence of the '60s against the backdrop of the Vietnam War peace protests. Her mission is to experience childbirth and to find loving parents to adopt her part-human child. The aliens want to study the effects of their peaceful, telepathic minds on human beings clinging tenaciously to self-annihilation.

The novel chronicles thirty years in the life of Wella's multiracial child, Dana. She is drawn to the plight of the oppressed and finds herself in the center of the anti-nuclear and human rights movements. Through Dana, humanity is given the blessing of benevolent aid from a higher power which compels the human race to explore the warring nature within.

The author skillfully navigates the peaks and valleys of the story's earthly landscape from the enchanting waterways of San Juan to the snowcapped mountains of Switzerland. A white author, Lee has created multicultural characters whose evolving attitudes weave continuity through the decades, while conjuring the mood of each period.

Can political action alone bring peaceful change to our planet? Lee's thoughtful and entertaining perspective presents us with a viable blueprint to heal the numerous ills facing mankind. Through her evocative prose she suggests that any real transformation on our planet will come about through the blending of both spiritual and political activism.

Marilyn Fleming is a science fiction writer born in Jamaica, raised in London, and residing in Brooklyn, NY.