There’s been a lot of discussion around the web about self-publishing. Some people swear by it and believe that it does a better job of getting quality works to readers. Others believe that it’s all vanity and that if the books were any good, then a traditional publisher would grab them. Since I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other, I decided that maybe I should look at some of the self-published science fiction and see what is out there. I ended up choosing In Her Name: First Contact by Michael Hicks. The book is the first book in a trilogy, but the trilogy is the second trilogy in the series (if that makes sense). Hicks had a trilogy about a war between humans and an alien species. This book (and trilogy) is about the beginning of the contact between the two races and how the war started. So this is kinda like starting at Phantom Menace rather than A New Hope, but I’d rather not make any Star Wars comparisons. So, let’s check out the story.