Touched by an Alien-Gini Koch

Touched by an Alien
Gini Koch
Daw, Apr 2010, $7.99
ISBN 9780756406004

In Arizona, marketing manager Katherine “Kitty” Katt completes jury duty. Crossing the street after leaving the courtroom, she sees a minor fender bender, but the male driver gets into a rage shouting at the woman in the other vehicle. The man sprouts wings and starts slicing up the woman with his sharp feathers. Kitty takes out her expensive Mont Blanc pen and stabs the out of control male in his jelly like back. He dies and Alpha Centauri based secret agent Jeff Martini asks her how she knew what to do; Kitty says it just felt right. As the cops arrive at the scene, Jeff takes Kitty with him.

Kitty learns superbeings exist but unlike comic book superheroes they are not. Instead ET parasites.have mutated ordinary people. Jeff and his peers from Alpha Centauri explain they came to earth tracking a nasty alien who has apparently has taken control of a nasty terrorist chief. As Jeff and Kitty are attracted to one another, she learns how to use weapons of evil alien destruction like hair spray.

This is an enjoyable science fiction tale that lampoons comic book and movie superhero thrillers. The story line feels like a amalgam of Earth Girls Are Easy merged with Evolution. Although at times the parody overwhelms the action, readers who enjoy a fun at times inane Space Invaders spoof will want to read Touched by an Alien.

Harriet Klausner