There’s a particular kind of nervousness that comes with saying “I wrote a book” out loud for the first time. I never set out to be an author. I’m not someone who grew up buried in novels, and if you’d asked me a few years ago whether I’d ever publish a work of fiction, I probably would have laughed. And yet here we are: I Think My Neighbors Are Aliens is real, it’s finished, and it’s finally out in the world.
How It Started
The idea began the way a lot of good ideas do — as an offhand conversation. My wife and I were talking about human behavior, the strange little quirks people have, the things we all do without quite realizing it. Somewhere in that conversation, a question surfaced: what if the people next door weren’t just eccentric, but something else entirely? What if the strangeness you noticed in your neighbors had a much bigger explanation than you ever considered?
That single “what if” turned into a 277-page suburban mystery, part sci-fi, part slow-burn intrigue, following a retired FBI behavioral profiler who can’t quite leave his old instincts behind as he settles into a new neighborhood. I won’t say more than that — half the fun of this book is watching the suspense build page by page, and I’d rather you experience the twists than have me spoil them here. What I can promise is that it’s meant to be an entertaining, fast-moving read, the kind of story you can get lost in over a weekend.
Becoming a Debut Author — and a Publisher
Writing the manuscript was one thing. Publishing it turned out to be its own education entirely. Since this book wasn’t picked up by a traditional publishing house, I decided to publish it myself, which meant I also needed a publishing imprint of my own. That’s how Uinta Range Press came to be — freshly minted, named after the Uinta Mountains, the range I grew up beneath in Utah.
The Uintas have a distinction that a lot of people don’t realize: they’re the only major mountain range in the continental United States that runs east to west instead of north to south. Growing up in that landscape shaped a lot of how I see the world, and it felt fitting to build the imprint’s name around it.
There’s another detail about that childhood landscape that’s relevant to this particular book. I grew up about seven miles from Skinwalker Ranch — yes, that Skinwalker Ranch, the one that’s been the subject of documentaries, books, and no shortage of late-night speculation. Growing up in that area, stories about strange lights, unexplained sightings, and things that didn’t quite add up weren’t distant legends; they were part of the local fabric, and some of them came from people I know personally. That backdrop, more than anything, is what gave this book its atmosphere. You don’t have to have grown up near a place like that to enjoy a good mystery, but I’ll admit it gave me a head start on writing one.
Writing With Some Help
I’ll be upfront about something: I had help along the way, and I’m not shy about it. I used Anthropic’s Claude throughout the process, as a writing and editing partner. It didn’t write the story for me and it didn’t invent the ideas, but it was there for the unglamorous parts of publishing a book solo, keeping details consistent across chttps://stevemillerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Front-Book-Cover-Final-201×300.jpghapters, thinking through formatting decisions, and helping me figure out the countless logistical steps that come after you type “The End.” For a first-time, self-published author doing this without a team behind him, that kind of support made a real difference.
What to Expect
If you enjoy stories with mystery, a little sci-fi, and a healthy dose of intrigue, this one’s built for you. It’s suspenseful without being heavy, and it’s meant first and foremost to be fun and entertaining — the kind of book you pick up expecting a light read and finish thinking about it days later. I’ve tried to write something that respects your time and rewards your attention, without ever needing to take itself too seriously.
I Think My Neighbors Are Aliens is available now in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle on Amazon, and as an ebook on Google Play Books. Signed copies are available directly through my website, ithinkmyneighborsarealiens.com.
Thank you for being part of this first chapter — pun very much intended. There’s more to come.
