SALT LAKE CITY UT May 12, 2016
Twenty years ago, Joe Boudreault wrote a short story based on the single idea of dolphins being a transplanted species looking to escape a polluted Earth. Boudreault, who has been writing short stories since his teens, developed this one into a full-length novel.
His literary agent, the late Barbara Bova from Florida, sent it to Tor Books. After Tor had it for a year, the author grew impatient, took it back and re-worked it with a professional editor.
Since then, he has queried agents and publishers for the past two years, until the manuscript came to WiDo Publishing’s submissions editor, Allie Maldonado.
Maldonado loved the book. “It’s based on a fascinating concept, taking us into the possibility of water mammals being at least as sentient as humans, if not more so. And the only link between them and humans is an autistic child. This raises the further question, are water mammals really from this earth or have we had aliens living among us for thousands of years?”
Boudreault appreciates readers who can allow a book to take them to places they can’t usually go. However, he’s not a fan of science fantasy, except where it tells a great moral tale in a clear manner (C. S. Lewis and Ray Bradbury are examples). Boudreault believes that science fiction should use known science as much as it can to demonstrate the possibilities and potential of how technology etc can impact our lives, both here and in far-flung imaginary places.
“The classic writers in sci-fi, such as Heinlein, Clarke, O S Card, Frederik Pohl, and Andy Weir are some of my heroes,” he states. “Writing requires a great deal of effort and persistence and so I appreciate both the authors and the dedicated readers.”
He is especially attracted to speculative fiction because of the power of story telling there. Any spare time the author has is used to develop writing ideas. He self-published a previous novel. This is the first one accepted by a traditional publisher.
“WiDo Publishing™ came to my attention with the online program called QueryTracker,” says B0udreault. “Using the category of science fiction, I narrowed the publisher list down to 35, and out of those queries, I noticed the mission statement of WiDo, especially that last line with ‘a darn good story.’ Allie Maldonado contacted me several times and took an interest in the novel.”
“Joe has written a thought-provoking and insightful science fiction,” states Maldonado. “I’m glad it finally landed on my desk. It’s just the kind of original, well-composed book that we like to publish. It truly is ‘a darn good story’!”
Joe Boudreault was born and raised in eastern Canada. He spent four years in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radar technician, traveled all over Canada and the USA, and wound up as an operating engineer in various provinces. He is an avid reader and road traveler. He currently resides in southeast Alberta.