Nobody Here But Us Mongrels

(Picture from Io9′s sitehere.)

I’ve been interested in Neanderthals for years.

The idea that there was a previous form of human being– not quite like us but close enough to talk to– that used to live essentially next door was irresistible.

My first accepted story involved a Neanderthal/Homo sapiens contact. And it came, as much of my fiction does, in retaliation.

I had just moved to Boston, fresh from the homogeneous midwest, and the amazing diversity stunned me. You could walk down a street in B...