Science fiction has often told stories that are allegories for colonization. But in Stephen Leigh’s new sociological sci-fi novel Amid The Crowd Of Stars (hardcover, Kindle), he not only explores the conflicts that arise between a planet’s native population and the humans who’ve accidentally invaded it, but also the conflicts between the human survivors and the people who’ve come to rescue them, and between different groups of survivors. In the following email interview, Leigh discusses what inspired this story, and why it wasn’t influenced by other sci-fi colony stories.