Synopses & Reviews
The bastard-offspring of They Live and The Day the Earth Stood Still, as told by Jean Paul Sartre.Shape-changing aliens may have landed on the Whitehouse lawn and subsequently integrated into human society, but humanity is still full of self-centered and self-absorbed individuals. Lauras just scraping by on her art teachers salary. Donald, a bestselling author and UFOlogist who provided counseling to abductees, has tried to distance himself from the saucer landings and is looking to move on with his life.
But everything changes when Shelly, an alien enrolled in Lauras art class, mysteriously switches places with Laura. Life begins to unravel. Laura then realizes this isnt the first time Shelly has moved into another persons body, and fragments of other peoples memories have jumped with her, including those of Donalds wife. Laura begins to grasp that reality, or at least humanitys perception of it, may be more flexible than anyone wants to admit. And though she cant explain how or why, she suspects the aliens are behind it and will need Donalds help to stop them.
In an egocentric society that sleepwalks through the rituals of daily life, would people even notice if the world around them suddenly and inexplicably changes? Part Jonathan Lethem (Amnesia Moon) and part Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five), Douglas Lains latest novel uses science fictions alien invasion rubric to examine and undermine the world we take for granted. This deeply unsettling satire places him alongside contemporaries like Jeff VanderMeer and Charles Yu as one of his generations most exciting and challenging speculative fiction voices.
Review
"Douglas Lain has a great brain. I am hugely impressed with his prospects..."
Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author
"I don't know anyone else doing quite what Lain is doing; fascinating work, moving, strikingly honest, powerful."
Locus
Review
Lains writing is unsettling, ferociously smart, and extremely addictive.”
Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners
Brilliant. . .Lain manages in his subtle and involving tale of shifting realities to tie in Fluxus, the Carpenters. . .and the aliens with whom we are most familiar, the ones we see in our mirrors each day.”
Jack Womack, author of Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Lain takes us on a wild trip through the art and science of flying saucers and explores the fluid nature of identity in interesting and surprising ways. Youll be glad you read this.”
Ray Vukcevich, author of Meet Me in the Moon Room
Douglas Lain has a great brain. I am hugely impressed with his prospects...”
Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author
I don't know anyone else doing quite what Lain is doing; fascinating work, moving, strikingly honest, powerful.”
Locus
Synopsis
NOMINATED FOR THE 2016 PHILIP K. DICK AWARD
"When the alien gets around to unzipping her jumpsuit it'll be impossible to see what's underneath."
UFOlogist Harold Flint is heartbroken and depressed that the aliens that have landed on the White House lawn appear to be straight out of an old B movie. They wave to the television cameras in their sequined jumpsuits, form a nonprofit organization offering new age enlightenment, and hover their saucers over the streets of New York looking for converts.
Harold wants no part of this kitschy invasion until one of the aliens, a beautiful blonde named Asket, begs him to investigate the saucers again and write another UFO book. The aliens and their mission are not as they seem.
Asket isn't who she seems either. Tracking down her true personality leads Harold and his cowriter through a maze of identity and body-swapping madness, descending into paranoia as Harold realizes that reality, or at least humanity's perception of it, may be more flexible than anyone will admit.
After the Saucers Landed is a deeply unsettling experimental satire, placing author Douglas Lain alongside contemporaries like Jeff VanderMeer and Charles Yu as one of his generation's most exciting and challenging speculative fiction voices.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Synopsis
When the alien gets around to unzipping her jumpsuit itll be impossible to see whats underneath.”UFOlogist Harold Flint is heartbroken and depressed that the aliens that have landed on the White House lawn appear to be straight out of an old B movie. They wave to the television cameras in their sequined jumpsuits, form a nonprofit organization offering new age enlightenment, and hover their saucers over the streets of New York looking for converts.
Harold wants no part of this kitschy invasion until one of the aliens, a beautiful blonde named Asket, begs him to investigate the saucers again and write another UFO book. The aliens and their mission are not as they seem.
Asket isnt who she seems either. Tracking down her true personality leads Harold and his cowriter through a maze of identity and body-swapping madness, descending into paranoia as Harold realizes that reality, or at least humanitys perception of it, may be more flexible than anyone will admit.
After the Saucers Landed is a deeply unsettling experimental satire, placing author Douglas Lain alongside contemporaries like Jeff VanderMeer and Charles Yu as one of his generations most exciting and challenging speculative fiction voices.
About the Author
Douglas Lain's short fiction has appeared in many magazines and journals here and abroad. Since 2009, he has produced the weekly podcast Diet Soap, interviewing a wide range of fascinating, engaging people with insights for the new millennium: philosophers, mystics, economists, and a diverse group of fiction writers. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and children.