Local artist explores power and accountability through speculative fiction

Author Diana Colleen will publish her debut novel, They Could Be Saviors, a near-future speculative work arriving Jan. 13. The book explores timely concerns: Climate change, extreme wealth and moral accountability.

Many local readers may already recognize her; she contributed photography to My Edmonds News, under Diana Scheel, and spent 17 years working at the former Chanterelle restaurant.

She was deeply involved in the Edmonds’ creative scene, running a photography club and regularly sharing her images to the Scene in Edmonds column. In 2019, an article in My Edmonds News highlighted her Mindfulness Through the Lens class, which invited participants to slow down and use photography as a practice to quiet the mind and cultivate presence. Colleen has also won several awards in the annual Edmonds Rotary Photomarathon, reflecting both her artistic skill and her ongoing contributions to the local arts community.

She brings that same attentiveness to They Could Be Saviors. Set in the near future, the book tells the story of a secretive sisterhood that abducts five of the world’s most powerful billionaires and exposes them to therapeutic techniques, including meditation, yoga and psychedelic therapy. The group’s radical goal is to persuade accountability in the face of an accelerating global crisis.

As her first novel prepares for release, My Neighborhood News spoke with Colleen about the experiences that shaped her book.

Colleen has long been drawn to bringing people together, and she sees her novel as another form of connection. “This book is about transformation,” she said. “It’s about humanity connecting, even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Sometimes the work finds you. The idea for They Could Be Saviors did not come from an ambition to write a novel. In fact, Colleen said she never imagined herself as a fiction writer. The story emerged gradually through meditation.

At the time, she was working a job she found deeply unfulfilling. Eventually, her partner (now husband) encouraged her to take a risk and write full time. Trusting that support marked a turning point.

Colleen immersed herself in the work, writing eight to 10 hours a day and learning the craft as she went. Meditation remained central to the writing process, especially when she felt stuck. “When I had writer’s block, I would meditate,” said Colleen. “The story revealed itself that way.”

While the novel tackles global crises, its roots are deeply personal. Colleen grew up in a low-income family and began working at age 11 to help support her family. She put herself through college and lacked access to opportunities others took for granted. “I know what inequality looks like firsthand,” Colleen said. 

Living in the Seattle area sharpened that awareness. “We have billionaires here, and we have people living in tents,” she said. That contrast between extreme wealth and visible suffering drives the book’s central commentary. “I believe billionaire-ism isn’t success, but a mental illness that can be treated,” she added. “It’s hoarding at an extreme that affects every person on the planet and the planet itself.”

Drafting her novel proved far more challenging than she expected, especially when it came to receiving feedback. Early critiques were painful, she said, but ultimately transformative.

“Feedback is a gift,” Colleen said. Sharing her first draft with her partner was terrifying. “The first draft was pretty terrible, but that’s normal,” she said. “He [now husband] could see that there was something there.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise was discovering her own unwavering persistence. At 51, Colleen said this is the first dream she has refused to abandon.

Even though They Could Be Saviors is being released as a standalone novel, Colleen said she has ideas for future books, both as a series within the same world and beyond it.

For now, her focus remains on the debut of her novel and the conversations she hopes it will spark.