
A Grave Misfortune
by David Goodfellow

In 2070, in the fading city of Palermo, diplomats have gathered to negotiate with a secretive alien delegation over the future of Earth. Charlie Leland and Golnar Madani are junior diplomats mired in the egoism and politics surrounding the negotiations, and confronted with the aliens themselves, whose complex language and culture threaten to confound the negotiators. This is a cautionary tale about complexity, non-human life, the dangers of underestimating the plurality of other cultures.