DUSK

A man’s life decisions haunt him in Shyu’s debut SF novel.

2034, 28-year-old Theo Stewart is in a dead-end job as a project manager, but his hobby—he’s an extraterrestrial-intelligence enthusiast—is about to change his life. Desiring an algorithm developed by Theo, a woman named Anna tracks him down and tells him about the Golden Record, a recording sent into space in 1977 to introduce humanity to alien species. Anna recruits Theo to join a task force investigating correlations between signals he has discovered and water molecules that have recently been found to be acting irregularly. They discover that aliens, who have found the Golden Record, have arrived on Earth, infiltrating its water supply. Theo has to make a difficult decision: escape the aliens by going to Mars or stay on Earth to protect his family. His choice is evident from the beginning, as chapters about young Theo alternate with those about the dying, demented Theo in 2086. These are narrated by Sagell, his robotic caretaker, who is torn between her sense of duty and her love for Kendra, a human tour guide on the moon. Sagell attempts to stage a reconciliation between Theo and his estranged son, Seth, which she hopes will extend Theo’s life (“if nothing else, I think it would benefit his mental health”). Theo is a flawed character who becomes less likable over the course of the book; as a young man, he makes the right moves, but as he grows older, he fixates on his late astronaut father and disappeared mother to the detriment of his own family. Shyu utilizes the microscopic alien invaders effectively, employing them to drive the action early in the story before having them fade into the background. The author is less effective at clearing up loose ends (what happened to Theo’s mother remains a mystery). The narrative takes a dark, unsatisfactory turn at the novel’s conclusion—it’s a letdown following what had been to that point an engaging exploration of family dynamics.

An uneven work of speculative fiction.