In the novel The Callers , the story focuses on the tightly managed, highly classified relationship the US government has had with an Alien Intelligence since the Nixon administration.

In this slightly alternate world, the Obama administration is followed by the government of a newly elected Republican President, Steve Rasmussen, a Silicon Valley billionaire, and his assertive Russian emigre Secretary of State, Rose Levchin. They are intent on shaking up the relationship between the US and this Alien entity.

Our protagonist, intelligence analyst Ben Stern, and his mentor, who has managed the Alien relationship all along, Dr. Jim Casey, professor emeritus of anthropology, must work and deal with these new circumstances. The newly elected President, his gimlet-eyed chief diplomat, and the enigmatic Callers together present a volatile situation.

A new relationship in Ben’s life also complicates things. The implications are personal, global, even interstellar.