Meals from Mars

A fateful encounter late at night at a gas station in the hood brings together a white man from the suburbs and a young black man from the neighborhood. Stuck with each other for the night, they deal with their core prejudices, the walls that keep them from each other, and the discovery of their God-given humanity in one another.

When talking about race, it helps to have something specific to talk about―a story we can all wrap our heads around. In Meals from Mars, Ben Sciacca provides that story: two men from different worlds forced by circumstance to see and hear and consider one another. It is a novel that demonstrates the social challenges and relational potential for racial reconciliation.

Table of Contents

1   The End
2   The Samaritan
3   The Errand
4   The Delivery
5   The Detective
6   The Drama
7   The Cold
8   The Investigation
9   The Cabin
10  The Visit
11  The Introductions
12  The Fear
13  The Education
14  The Confusion
15  The Dawn
16  The Discovery
17  The Lecture
18  The Meal
19  The Intruder
20  The Decision
21  The Call
22  The Surrender
23  The Beginning

Endorsements

Meals from Mars is truly a story America needs to hear. In an
entertaining and powerfully engaging way, Ben Sciacca leads
us to better understand the challenges of many of the racial
tensions facing our nation. Even better, he shows us a glimpse
of transformation that can happen in the context of unlikely
relationships. I can’t wait to give this book to all my friends.
---DANNY WUERFFEL,
1996 Heisman Trophy winner and executive director of Desire Street Ministries (Atlanta, Georgia)

Meals from Mars is a masterfully compelling narrative that
proves helpful in illustrating the difficult nuances of race in
America. Sciacca humanizes the struggles of the urban poor
and challenges the reader to charitably consider alternative
worldviews. Meals from Mars invites you to join an American
journey, involving the usual suspects, that promises to spark
unusually beneficial dialogue.
---JASON COOK
Associate pastor of preaching, Fellowship Memphis

Conversations about racial tension are often tough for a number
of reasons. It becomes easy to talk past one another when the
conversation is reduced to arguments about abstract principles
divorced from actual names and faces. Meals from Mars doesn’t
allow that to happen. An eagerness to speak is replaced with
silence as you find empathy and sympathy rising up out of
nowhere. I couldn’t put it down. Such an amazing read. A great
primer for getting anyone engaged in this conversation.
---JOHN ONWUCHEKWA
Lead pastor, Cornerstone Church, Atlanta