Houses of Common: (Nothing Important Happened, volume 1)

Some don’t hold these truths to be self-evident.

In the 22nd century, pilgrims of space exploration leave Earth for nearby planets crafted for them by terraformers. Ranyk is a smart-mouthed alien, the best of the world-builders employed by the US government—and he always completes his assignments solo, pushing to the deep recesses of space for the good of colonists and to avoid his growing fame.

Until he’s handed an on-planet assignment in Ireland, of all places, as an undercover student of genetic engineering. His real plan? To pull scientists and their families out of a country careening toward civil war—and off Earth, to a colony world of their own—before a martial law lockdown ends their groundbreaking discoveries.

Sckiik is strong, female, and the head of security for a US embassy. While protecting the Ambassador from an assassination attempt, she finds clues to xenocide and rushes to warn her brother Ranyk.

Risking his life is no novelty for Ranyk. He’s been battered by asteroids, nearly incinerated in volcanoes, and has out-piloted pirates. But political espionage on Earth is more dangerous than anything he’s encountered before, and he’s completely ill-equipped for such delicate matters. Now he must figure out who to trust and who to eliminate, or it will mean his freedom, the safety of forty thousand colonists, and the lives of his friends.

In the vein of Orson Scott Card, Kathy Reichs, Hugh Howey, and Douglas Adams, Houses of Common draws fans from within and without the realm of science fiction. For a sneak peek of chapters one through four, scroll up and click the “Look inside” feature.

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“In the proud tradition of Douglas Adams, the novel gives us a totally alien sense of humor with one particularly colorful alien named Ranyk.”
-D. Roberts, Vine Voice reviewer

“Droll, at times laugh out loud funny, alien but with enough universal characteristics that I could still identify with them, I liked the book because I liked these characters. I could really tell the varied expertise of author Dalton (research, science, medicine) by the areas he focused on in his story. I'm glad it wasn't just hard science.”
-Cheryl Stout, Top 1000 and Vine Voice reviewer.

“If you want a layered interwoven plot with compelling characters and solid hard science, then you've found your next read. It's clear that the author has done his homework and created a very cool future of interplanetary espionage coupled with the struggles and challenges of the every man (and chimp).”
-C. Miller

“One sign to me of a good book is when the story is in my head during my non-reading time, and this is one such story.”
-R.P. Crockett

“With the technical accumen of Card and the storytelling ability of Brooks, Houses of Common comes at you with a fast-paced, high adventure tale that is full of political intrigue and ripe with "hard" information regarding space flight, physics, and the lives of alien and human races.”
-Nielsen

“I'm desperately waiting for the sequel(s) to be published!”
-Regina Dowling

“The novel's characters, especially the brother and sister pair from the planet Rildj, are priceless.”
-not a natural

“Anyone who loves sci-fi, but feels the genre has been chewed up and spit out too many times by writers repeating each other’s lines is right. Derick William Dalton is changing all of it.”
-Kjirsten Youngberg

“Mr. Dalton's background in medicine, his love of science, coupled with his imagination and gift of sarcasm, enabled him to weave an intriguing sci-fi. Waiting for more.”
-Melissa Hunt