Book Review: After the Blue

When people (or aliens) look back at us a hundred years from now, what will they conclude about humanity? As they attempt to reconstruct the way mankind lives, what conclusions would they make?

In his book, After the Blue, Russell Lake gives an interesting insight into human nature. The basic premise follows the good intentions, but severely misguided alien assumptions as they attempt to restore earth to its condition prior to their accidental near annihilation of humanity.

One hundred years after the Gruumsbaggians accidentally infected humans with a deadly virus, they have returned to help the few survivors. Unfortunately their actions often produce unintended results, like forcing men to do the hokey pokey every day after work "to unwind".

One review compared the book to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but aside from quirky humor about alien misconceptions and insane repercussions, Blue is nowhere close to its depth of irony. Still, the book was fun to read and compelling to discover how the resilient humans resolve the alien intrusion. Young readers may not understand the reference to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The book was free of vulgarity and profanity. There was a single occurrence of swearing and the humans do blow up a lot of buildings that kills some of the Gruumsbaggians, but they are careful to clear out any humans beforehand. This book might provide a non-science fiction reader an gentle introduction into the genre, but serious sci-fi geeks will probably find it to be a fun little romp.