Misago / Armour of God (Coming 2024)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind meets Inherit the Wind.
Science fiction/adventure/politics/LGBTQ+

New York Times journalist Daniel Duboce opens a black valise at the San Francisco Public Library, lifts out a stolen vial of space dust from the Japanese space module Misago, and uncovers a conspiracy to suppress a truth hidden from mankind since the dawn of time. 

Duboce, a former candidate for the priesthood, now reclaiming his identity as a gay man, seeks verification of the find before going public—and becomes a target of forces, religious and political, determined to prevent a revelation that could plunge the world into chaos. Allied with a wily Japanese space scientist sought as a traitor by his own government and the young chemist who brought Duboce the discovery, he faces formidable adversaries: America’s born-again president; a Roman Catholic cardinal who sits at the right hand of the Pope; and a cadre of conservative Christian leaders desperate to protect the sanctity of Jesus and the nation’s future. Murder for them, in these circumstances, is not always a sin.

The lead characters are driven, brilliant and about to change human history for better or worse. Are they heroes or villains? Is the discovery too dangerous a truth, or does Daniel Duboce follow his instincts as a journalist no matter the cost? If he goes public, what kind of world will he leave his son?

On December 5, 2020, the Hayabusa space probe returned to Earth, Japan’s second asteroid mining venture. Misago imagines the third such arrival.