SPACE DOGS

Their planet about to be destroyed by a mysterious Disturbance Of Gravity, the bug-sized residents of Gersbach dispatch a desperate mission to Earth in this funny, frenetic Aussie farce. Arriving in a spacecraft disguised as a small terrier—but every inch the fighting vehicle, from its laser-shooting nostrils to the Aft Navigator’s Observation Section under the tail—Commanders Belka Sparkleman and Strelka Funkmaster find their mission to destroy the D.O.G. much complicated not only by nefarious rival Colonel Barr, who has arrived ahead of them in their vehicle’s stolen wiener-dog-like prototype, but by the Buckleys, an Earth family whose various members are going through adolescence or other hard times. Into a mare’s nest of subplots that eventually coalesce into a grand cross-country chase with a suspenseful, (literally) explosive climax, the authors stir hilarious encounters with Earth creatures of several species, lots of gross mucking about and at the end, just deserts for all. Readers will run toward, not away from this alien invasion; recommend it to fans of Kathy Mackel’s offbeat sci-fi. (Science fiction. 11-13)