Future Treasures: The Orion Plan by Mark Alpert
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Sometimes, you just want a good tale of alien invasion.
Mark Alpert’s The Orion Plan, a novel of first contact with a sinister alien intelligence, might just be what I’m looking for. Alpert is the author of Extinction and The Furies, which Booklist called a “carefully constructed alternate history of witchcraft — and sorcery too… very clever.” The Orion Plan goes on sale next week from Thomas Dunne.
Scientists thought that Earth was safe from invasion. The distance between stars is so great that it seemed impossible for even the most advanced civilizations to send a large spaceship from one star system to another.
But now an alien species ― from a planet hundreds of light-years from Earth ― has found a way.
A small spherical probe lands in an empty corner of New York City. It soon drills into the ground underneath, drawing electricity from the power lines to jump-start its automated expansion and prepare for alien colonization. When the government proves slow to react, NASA scientist Dr. Sarah Pooley realizes she must lead the effort to stop the probe before it becomes too powerful. Meanwhile, the first people who encounter the alien device are discovering just how insidious this interstellar intruder can be.
The Orion Plan will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on February 16, 2016. It is 322 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Ervin Serrano.
One thing that is catching my notice is how many thrillers are really science fiction books. Have you ever wondered if the genre is getting a black eye? Jeremy Robinson also comes to mind. I find it odd that horror is in a new golden age and it was as popular as science fiction back in the fifties. Why isn’t there a golden age of fantasy and sci fi?
I like the idea of the book. It sounds like a gritty Rendezvous With Rama or at least one for our age.
Ape,
What makes you think there ISN’T a new Golden Age of fantasy & SF? The field is booming… there are more magazines than I can ever remember, more books than I can possibly keep track of every month, and it seems half of the new TV shows are SF or superhero series.
But I get your point that a lot of thrillers are pretty overtly SF these days. I think that’s because the genre is a lot more respectable than it used to be. People don’t mind a little SF mixed in with their thrillers… whereas that used to be a no-no.
You caught me. Yeah, sf is taking off and there are a lot of emags coming out. The biggest book explosion is in the independents. Stuff that was nearly extinct is now coming back. I think it has mainly come back with the independents.
I think a lot is owed to Kindle and other electronic readers who have opened that door and made it financially possible.