Argonaut
Tor:
New York: 2002
First edition, Hardcover, Fine in Near Fine dust jacket,
333 pp.
Cover artwork by: Alan Pollack,
The beautiful Allan Pollack cover art looks sort of like Jim Burns, and that reminds me of Robert Charles Wilson, and the makes me think that this book might be good. Plus, I’ve always liked Schmidt’s short stories. This is Schmidt’s first novel in sixteen years!!! Three decades in the future a man is stung by strange flying insect. He manages to grab and hold the creature before he passes out. He wakes to a flood of memories and sensations and emotions he believes were caused by the insect. When the emergency room technicians pry the bug from his hand, it releases a swarm of smaller bugs who sting them with similar effect. Our man believes the earth is under attack and enlists the aid of an entomologist to determine what’s going on. “An incursion at a tiny scale but of global scope, it is pervasive reconnaissance that puts the legendary hundred eyes of Argus to shame. Somebody is literally bugging the planet.” #16792
Price: $7.00