When a novel explores planetary collisions, prehistoric ancestors, evolution, particle physics, mythology and the possibility of mass extinction, romance might not be the first thing readers expect to find at its center.
Yet in L. Richard Feldenberg’s forthcoming novel THEIA, love becomes one of the forces holding its enormous ideas together.
The story follows Theia Soul, a singer, songwriter and actress whose life has always been touched by the extraordinary. Since childhood, she has been able to communicate mentally with beings from humanity’s evolutionary past. Eventually, she discovers that she is a Prajna, a gifted individual capable of connecting with evolutionary ancestors across time.
That ability gives Theia an unusual perspective on existence. She sees life not as isolated generations but as one enormous chain stretching through deep time.
But understanding that chain does not necessarily make ordinary human relationships any easier.
Theia carries emotional wounds, struggles with self-worth and has experienced relationships that left her questioning whether she deserves the kind of love she truly wants. For someone capable of connecting with creatures separated from her by millions of years, one of her greatest challenges is surprisingly familiar: finding someone in the present who genuinely sees and understands her.
Enter Dr. Atticus Hall.
An astrobiologist fascinated by the origin of life, Atticus approaches the universe through scientific evidence and careful investigation. Theia, meanwhile, experiences things that science cannot easily explain. Her prehistoric companions, her mysterious connection to the planet Theia and her growing understanding of her own identity challenge conventional explanations.
Their relationship therefore develops around more than attraction.
It raises questions about trust.
Can you love someone whose understanding of reality differs dramatically from your own? Can skepticism coexist with emotional openness? And how much does genuine love require believing another person versus simply respecting and trying to understand their experience?
Those questions give the romance in THEIA an emotional dimension that fits naturally beside the novel’s scientific themes.
There is another kind of love running through the story as well.
Theia’s bond with Pretty Flower, a prehistoric woman connected to her through evolutionary ancestry, resembles a sisterhood despite the enormous distance between their worlds. Her relationships with family, especially her niece Cleo and sister Olivia, further explore different forms of attachment, protection and belonging.
Even the novel’s larger mission can be viewed through the language of love.
Theia begins to understand that protecting Earth is not simply about preserving statistics, ecosystems or species counts. It is about caring for the chain of life that survived billions of years to reach the present and for generations that have not yet been born.
The novel’s mythology reinforces that idea. Early in THEIA, the Titan goddess Theia considers human love something so extraordinary that even immortal beings might envy it.
That concept quietly echoes through Theia Soul’s journey.
For readers who enjoy romance woven into ambitious speculative fiction rather than separated from it, THEIA offers a story where falling in love, understanding oneself and protecting the future all become connected.
Because sometimes the biggest story in the universe still comes down to something deeply human: who we love, how we love and what that love inspires us to protect.
THEIA by L. Richard Feldenberg is currently in the publishing phase and will be available soon for readers.
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