AXIOM'S END

Ellis, a Hugo-nominated media critic and YouTube star, finds alien encounters in our not-too-distant past.

It’s 2007, but not the 2007 you remember. In this timeline, a meteor has struck Los Angeles—at least that’s what the government wants people to believe. Rogue conspiracy theorist Nils Ortega has convinced his followers that the so-called “Ampersand Event” was actually the arrival of an alien spacecraft. College dropout Cora Sabino isn’t convinced. She learned long ago not to trust anything her estranged father has to say. But then her mother and siblings disappear the same night she’s attacked by something that clearly isn’t human….“First contact” stories are almost as old as science fiction. These narratives are varied in their details—both H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and the 1970s sitcom Mork & Mindy qualify—but they all revolve around the initial encounter between humans and an alien intelligence. At its best, science fiction isn’t really about extraterrestrials and advanced technology, though; instead, it deploys these devices to talk about us in the here and now. Like countless authors before her, Ellis uses first contact to interrogate our tendencies toward xenophobia and prejudice and challenge our conceptions of what humanity means. She also explores trauma and its aftereffects. Nils’ crusade for government transparency and questions about privacy feel contemporary without adding much depth. The same goes for references to financial crisis. The heart of the novel is the relationship between Cora and the part-biological, part-synthetic entity she calls Ampersand. What begins with a physical attack and an abduction turns into a partnership and, ultimately, a deep friendship. As Cora helps Ampersand navigate life on Earth, she learns more about his world and his past. Ellis doesn’t break new ground here, and her prose is uneven. The injections of quirky humor feel particularly strained. But this hits all the necessary notes for a first contact narrative, and this trope might be fresh for at least a portion of Ellis’ fan base.

This is a solid, if not especially imaginative or polished, science fiction debut.