The novel’s exploration of communication and environmentalism reflects Ray Nayler’s international relations background and his work on marine sanctuaries. Nayler spent 20 years abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer and a US Foreign Service officer in Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kosovo. In interviews, he has discussed the impact of living as a foreigner for almost half his life and the challenges of communicating across different cultures. He characterizes his experiences as feeling like an outsider, though he qualifies that he felt most out of place when he lived in Fremont, California as a youth. Nayler describes his sense of alienation in trying to read and express himself in different languages and different societies but also how his experiences gave him insight on his own cultural background and how others perceive him: “Being abstracted from my own culture […] allows me to see it more clearly. I can bring an outside perspective to my own upbringing and culture that I could not have before I lived away from it for so long” (“Q&A with Ray Nayler.” From Earth to the Stars: The Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Author and Editor Blog, 28 Feb.