In Emily Jane’s rollicking debut, when spaceships arrive and then depart suddenly without a word, the certainty that we are not alone in the universe turns to intense uncertainty as to our place within it.

Since long before the spaceships’ fleeting presence, Blaine has been content to go along with the whims of his supermom wife and half-feral, television-addicted children. But when the kids blithely ponder skinning people to see if they’re aliens, and his wife drags them all on a surprise road trip to Disney World, even steady Blaine begins to crack.

Half a continent away, Heather floats in a Malibu pool and watches the massive ships hover overhead. Maybe her life is finally going to start. For her, the arrival heralds a quest to understand herself, her accomplished (and oh-so-annoying) stepfamily, and why she feels so alone in a universe teeming with life.

Suddenly conscious and alert after twenty catatonic years, Oliver struggles to piece together his fragmented, disco-infused memories and make sense of his desire to follow a strange cat on a westward journey.

Embracing the strangeness that is life in the twenty-first century, On Earth as It Is on Television is a rollicking, heartfelt tale of first contact that practically leaps off the planet.

It is a normal day on earth, until it isn’t. Huge miles-wide spaceships arrive above a dozen or so cities across the globe. Aliens are here but they do not contact anyone and then just as suddenly as they arrived, they are gone. The results of that brief appearance are pretty much as one would expect - government silence, preppers gone mad hoarding and arming themselves and an increase in militant nationalism.  Against that backdrop we follow two families and one man as they cope with the changes.  Blaine begins to wonder about his super-mom wife, especially as she suddenly packs the family up for a meandering road trip to Disney World. Heather, who resents her ultra-nice stepfather suspects he is an alien in disguise and Oliver wakes after a twenty-year in a catatonic state. Add in cats that can communicate with select humans, secret government negotiations and angry and frightened people and we have a tale of what happens when earth finds out aliens have been among us for decades.

The first chapter was a bit hard to get into but it sets the stage for much of what follows.  The aliens’ love of TV is followed in the layout of the book - there are episodes instead of chapters. The epilogue is perfect but to say why is to wander in to spoiler territory.  This was a quick, fun read. I liked all the characters and especially the cats, I wish I could communicate with mine the same way.  I’d like to see a “Series 2" to follow up on the characters. Recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon