Synopses & Reviews
Stanley Schmidt's first novel in sixteen years!Three decades in the future, in a public garden north of New York City, a man enjoying the seasonal blossoms, butterflies, and buzzing bees notices a strange flying insect unlike any he's ever seen before. When it stings him between the eyes, he is overwhelmed by a tidal wave of memories crashing through his mind in a flood of simultaneous sensations and emotions. As he collapses, he manages to catch and hold onto the bug.
At the hospital, medical technologist Pilar Ramirez watches as the creature is pried from Lester Ordway's hand. It releases a swarm of even smaller insects that sting her and several other people in the emergency room causing similar, if milder, cognitive effects. Frightened but fascinated, and frustrated by the hospital's attempt to dismiss what happened after the bugs disappear, Pilar befriends Lester and joins his quest for an explanation.
Pilar and Lester enlist the help of entomologist Maybelle Terwilliger, and the three soon begin to suspect that they have discovered a secret alien invasion of Earth. An incursion on a tiny scale but of global scope, it is pervasive reconnaissance that puts the legendary hundred eyes of Argus to shame. Somebody is literally bugging the planet. Can Pilar and her friends convince the government before it's too late?
Review
“A confrontation between a belatedly aroused government response team. . . and an alien force of unknown size and intentions - with surprises along the way worthy of one of the better
Star Trek episodes.”—
The New York Times“This is science fiction in the finest tradition of H. G. Wells. Stanley Schmidt knows how to capture the reader from page one, and then take her (or him) on a voyage to the stars.”
-Ben Bova
Synopsis
Thirty years from now, a man enjoying a garden's blossoms, butterflies, and buzzing bees is stung between the eyes by a strange flying insect and overwhelmed by an intense flood of memories. Somebody is literally bugging the planet. Can medical technologist Pilar Ramirez and her friends convince the government before it's too late?
About the Author
Stanley Schmidt is a physicist and has been the editor of
Analog magazine since 1978. He is a perennial nominee for the Best Editor Hugo Award and the author of four previous novels. He lives in upstate New York.