Halloween is a night when aliens can roam free in the United States, mingling with the costumes worn by humans. In my new holiday first contact story, this has cosmic consequences.

On Halloween Joao Santos, NASA Chief Astronaut, receives a subpoena from the First Court of Trans Lunar Crime. The charge, killing an alien, seems like a joke. But the bounty hunter who comes for him is definitely not joking. It delivers Joao to the far side of the Moon to stand. trial. 

Joao refuses to plead guilty and asks for legal assistance. The alien version of Legal Aid doesn’t inspire confidence. Joao needs to negotiate a galactic bureaucracy that moves at the speed of flowing molasses and the corruption of its legal system if he wants to regain his freedom. The unexpected value of the Martian land his son bought him for his birthday may provide him a loophole to wiggle through—if he can somehow get back to Earth.

Buy Night Court on Amazon now..