Alien Morning

Alien Morning #1

by Rick Wilber

“Rick Wilber has written the best "first contact" story I've seen in deeply human, eerily alien, and altogether an exciting, moving and thought-provoking novel.” --Ben BovaThe fate of two civilizations depends on one troubled family in Rick Wilber's science-fiction adventure Alien Morning.Peter Holman is a freelance sweeper. The year 2030 sees a new era in social media with sweepcasting, a multisensory interface that can convey every thought, touch, smell, sight, and sound, immersing the audience in another person's experience.By fate, chance, or some darker design, Peter is perfectly positioned to be the one human to document the arrival of the aliens, the S'hudonni.The S'hudonni offer advanced science in exchange for various trade goods from Earth. But nothing is as simple as it seems. Peter finds himself falling for, Heather Newsome a scientist chosen by the S'hudonni to act as their liaison. Engaged to his brilliant marine biologist brother, Tom, Heather is not what she seems. But Peter has bigger problems. While he and his brother fight over long-standing family troubles, another issue a secret war among the aliens, who are neither as benevolent nor as unified as they first seemed. Peter slowly learns secrets he was never meant to know, about the S'hudonni, and about his own family. Realizing that he has been used, he can only try to turn his situation around, to save what he can of his life and of the future of Earth.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Family, Science Fiction Fantasy, Aliens

301 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2016

About the author

Rick Wilber's novel ALIEN DAY (Tor Books 2021) is the sequel to ALIEN MORNING (Tor 2016), which was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Novel of the Year. ALIEN DAY offers a wry near-future look at life on Earth and the alien home planet of S'hudon. On Earth, the ambitious TV celebrity and action hero Chloe Cary finds herself involved with Earth's jovial but deadly alien overlord Twoclicks and his son, The Perfection. On S'hudon, Chloe's boyfriend, Peter Holman, tries to rescue his sister Kait from the clutches of Twoclicks' evil brother Whistle; but finds out that it isn't Kait who needs to be rescued. The novel, says best-selling author Julie Czerneda, offers an "original, engaging, wonderfully complex alien world populated by unforgettable characters."

Wilber also recently co-authored (with Alan Smale), the alternate-history collection, THE WANDERING WARRIORS (WordFire Press, 2020). The book features "The Wandering Warriors" novella that first appeared as the cover story in the May/June 2018 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and also has two additional stories, one from each author. Both authors have won the Sidewise Award for their alternate-history stories.

Also out in 2020 was the short-story collection, RAMBUNCTIOUS: NINE TALES OF DETERMINATION (Word Fire Press, 2020), which holds nine of Rick's favorite stories from more than fifty published over the past thirty years.

Rick recently edited the ebook anthology, MAKING HISTORY: CLASSIC ALTERNATE HISTORY STORIES (New Word City, 2019). The book reprints classic stories by writers Karen Joy Fowler, Gregory Benford, Kathleen Goonan, Harry Turtledove, Lisa Goldstein, Walter Jon Williams, Maureen McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Michael Bishop, Alan Smale, Rich Larson, Sheila Finch, Ben Loory, Nicholas DiChario, Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn, and editor Rick Wilber.

His collection, THE MOE BERG EPISODES (New Word City, 2018) reprints four alternate-history stories that first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.

The author of some sixty published short stories, his most recent short fiction includes the novella, "Billie the Kid," forthcoming in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, "Tin Man," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2021 Asimov's, the novelette "The Hind," co-authored with best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, in the November/December 2020 issue of Asimov's, the short story, "False Bay," in the forthcoming anthology, MOVIES, MONSTERS & MAYHEM (WordFire Press, 2020), the novelette, "Ithaca," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2020 Asimov's), the story, "Donny Boy," in the Alternate Peace anthology (ZNB, edited by Steven Silver and Joshua Palmatier) and the novella, "The Secret City," in the September/October 2018 Asimov's, among others.

Rick's short story, "Today is Today," from the July 2018 issue of Stonecoast Review, has been reprinted in The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019 (ed, Rich Horton) and in Lightspeed Magazine. His novella, "The Secret City," was runner-up for the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History -- Short Form of 2018 and his story, "Something Real," won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History--Short Form in 2013.

He is the editor of the baseball fantasy anthology, "Field of Fantasies" from Nightshade/Skyhorse (2014), which reprints about two dozen baseball/fantasy stories by outstanding mainstream and genre writers from Stephen King to Karen Joy Fowler and and many more. He also edited 2011's "Future Media" (Tachyon) 2011, brings together classic works of fiction and non-fiction about the future of the mass media.

Rick's 2009 novel, "Rum Point," is a baseball/murder mystery/thriller from McFarland Books and his 2007 memoir, “My Father’s Game: Life, Death, Baseball” from McFarland Books, was called by best-selling author Peter Straub “a stunning book,” and one that “abounds with faith, heartbreak, love,

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

First contact stories are a staple of science fiction. Most of them seem to fall into the mold of alien invasion narrative, but, thankfully, Rick Wilber has dreamed up something a little different with Alien Morning.

It is 2030. Peter Holman was a minor league basketball player until he tore his knee up. Now, he is a futuristic “Sweeper’ who uses advanced technology to allow his followers to not only see and hear him, but also experience everything he feels as well. Sounds great – except this is Peter we are talking about. A guy who has lots of issues: family issues, relationship issues, and life issues. All of them unresolved and dragging him down.

For some unknown reason, when the alien S’hudonni decide to make contact with earth, Holman becomes their spokesperson. His audience exactly the kind of humans the aliens wish to espouse their plans to. For his part, Peter cares less about the aliens themselves or their motives and more about growing his audience and increasing his income.

Naturally, things never stay simple when aliens show up. And, quickly, a difference in opinion about what should happen to earth arises between the two S’hudonni representatives: Twoclick and Whistle. One brother wishing to keep things peaceful, while the other does everything he can to upset every country on the planet. Holman stuck right in the middle of a sticky situation.

Other than the cool Sweeper technology, what I really enjoyed about Alien Morning was the main character himself. Sure, he has problems. No, he doesn’t exhibit my personal morals and beliefs. But, he is relatable and likable. His many flaws clearly shading him as an ordinary guy, one who is definitely not a super hero but someone who is out of his depths and trying to do the best he can in a situation he is not prepared to handle. And that made him interesting.

The only issue I had with this novel was the time shifts. There are many, many of these. The author jumping from the alien first contact story to the world of professional sports to family issues before diving into the future of interactive entertainment. All of them were interesting, but the shift from one aspect, one time period, to another was quite jarring at times.

Alien Morning was definitely a different type of first contact story. In most ways, it was better. The focus less on an alien invasion scenario (which we have all seen and read far too many times by this point) and more on the characters and their problems. Peter Holman a flawed, naive narrator, who is quite ordinary yet does a great job of exploring both the jarring impact of alien contact on our modern civilization, as well as taking a look at the future of our entertainment technology. Certainly, the book is more of a stage setter for the remaining installments of the series, since nothing gets firmly resolved this time out, but it does its job very well, providing lots of intriguing possibilities going forward.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

First contact between the Earth and the S'hudonni Mercantile Empire contrasts familial conflict with the early stages of colonialism.

Peter Holman is an ex-professional athlete turned freelance journalist and a pioneer of sweeping, an immersive sensory recording/playback system. He "happens" to observe the arrival of the alien S'hudonni and becomes involved in the Earth response to them almost immediately. As an early sweeper he's perfect for the aliens to use as a sort of combined propagandist/liaison and he becomes intimately involved with them, but in doing so comes into conflict with his brother. At the same time, the alien he is working with is also in conflict with his brother (they've divvied the Earth up between them).

I sort of see what the author is trying to do here. Unfortunately the Holman family issues are profoundly uninteresting (all revolving around various acts of infidelity) and the S'hudonni family issues far too opaque. On the surface they sound like feuding toddlers more than sophisticated alien invaders.

The recording technology and the AI helpmates are interesting and something could have happened there, but nothing is really done with them in this book. There's a creepy parallel between Peter's AI helpmate myBob and the alien Twoclicks's assistant. She does everything for Twoclicks that Peter's myBob does for him, and like myBob can read Peter's thoughts. Given Peter develops a relationship with "her" while still being with his girlfriend is something I find disturbing. It's not even clear to me that the alien assistant is actually sentient and not just set up as Peter's perfect sex object.

There's some interesting ideas here, but overall I'm left wondering what the point was to it all and it just doesn't feel very well executed.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rounded up. A very promising beginning but overall disappointing. I think this was partly because the novel is a work over of several short stories. But there are other issues too. Too bad.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately just okay. This felt pretty cyberpunky to me. It was mostly about the tech that the hero was using to document the arrival of the aliens. The aliens were just kind of there. You felt no real threat from them even though some unrest happened. I never really warmed to the main character and ultimately nothing really happened . It all seemed rather on the surface. I think this might be the start of a trilogy.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

This gets one star only because the author had me so convinced that he was setting up some major twists/shockers at the end that I was fooled into reading the whole thing. Gotta respect that. Bulletin: No, there is not one single surprise to be found either at the climax or thereafter. So what's left is a novelette with a moderately intriguing alien contact scenario featuring a not-too-bright guy who finds himself functioning as the media interface for an alien and its shapechanging hottie sex engine---padded out to novel length with tedious, NONRELEVANT flashbacks and interposed encounters exploring said guy's relationships since childhood with his thoroughly ordinary family and his experiences with women as a basketball player in Europe. I for one feel cheated, and as for the prospect of reading the sequels, that would be a big "Fool Me Once..."

[Carolyn F.]

This book is more about some convoluted excuse for betraying his brother/romance and being a part of the new social network than a sci-fi book. Halfway through the book, there are glimpses and maybe two encounters with aliens but there's also sex with a couple of people that may or may not mean anything more than sex. And that's what the majority of the book was. I gave this book until approximately halfway and still there were only 2-1/2 encounters with the aliens and one of those doesn't really count. You have to read it to understand what I'm trying not to say. If I rated this book now it would be 2 stars, but since I didn't finish it and let it perhaps redeem itself in my eyes, I'll not rate it.

[Phillip III · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 2030. Peter Holman was a minor league basketball player. He enjoyed modest success, and fame until a knee injury took him out of the game for good. Left with few options, he took the money he had and invested in an up and comping technology. Sweeping. Connected to the web, viewers tune in to watch live, and pre-recorded feeds as Holman interviews athletes, hits the clubs, and peeks into his personal life.

For unknown reasons, when aliens make contact on earth it Holman they want as their spokesman. His audience following is exactly what they admire. Likeable, they feel he can inform everyone of the plans the S'hudonni have for the planet, and put anxious minds at ease.

It comes down to family, basically. Holman's past is a constant pull on his thoughts. A stern father who never thought him good enough, a sister who spent her life making bad mistake after bad mistake, and a brother who was always father's favorite. Holman knows truths, though, that he has kept to himself since he was a teen. Revealing the information would destroy his brother. The sibling rivalry between Holman and his younger brother is at the center of the story.

The sibling rivalry doesn't stop there. Alien representatives Twoclick and Whistle are at odds as well. The agreement prior to arriving on earth was how to divide the planet. Twoclick, a jovial and happy being is nothing like his brother, Whistle. While Holman works hard at putting earthling minds at ease about the aliens, Whistle destroys the peace, the trust, with aggressive actions that leave countries protesting, and rioting in the streets, putting the world leaders on high-alert.

Exposed to secrets about the aliens, and thrust into compromising positions with his family, Holman is forced to pick through the jigsaw pieces and find out how best to make everything fit! With proven superiority the S'hudonni race can not just cripple, but destroy the world in a war. If Holman can't gain control of the situation, billions of lives are at risk.

Rick Wilber's ALIEN MORNING was not what I expected. It was better. It was more. His creation of Sweeping can't be far from happening. We're almost there with some of the shelf products, and apps available now. Wilber's narrative is engaging, and easy, descriptive, and tight. The characters are so precisely drawn, that all I wanted was more. More about Holman's past. More about his brother. More about his sister. I wanted more about the aliens. More. More. More. I cannot wait for the next installment in this series.

Phillip Tomasso
Author of The Severed Empire Series, and
The Vaccination Trilogy

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

My entire bookclub hated this book. Issues with the narrator's personality and recycled plot aside, my main problem with it was that it doesn't stand alone as a complete novel. I don't care that it's supposed to be a trilogy; trilogies are three linked but separate books, and this is not one.

[Cam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to wonder if any of the authors endorsing this first novel actually read it. From the jacket, I understand the author is a respected short story writer and seemingly well-connected. Seems to me he was evaluated on his other work, because this novel was slowly paced with mediocre character development and not much of a story. Too much on the underwhelming protagonist, a new media pioneer who seems clueless and not very self-aware for someone trying to broadcast his experiences and emotions while they are happening. The other characters don't have much going on and the aliens and their primary interface are vaguely depicted. This might work better if you've read the rest of the author's works, so I bumped it up a star.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I picked up Alien Morning by Rick Wilber I did something I almost never do: I read the reviews. I almost lost out on a good reading experience and there is a bit of irony involved here: I review every book I finish, and though I mostly do that for my own pleasure I also try to steer whoever reads my scribblings towards a good reading experience and (naturally) away from a bad one. Bottom line, Constant Reader: In the end take it all with a grain of salt and judge for yourself. Things are not always as they seem. Which brings us, in a roundabout way, back to Alien Morning. Our protagonist is a minor sports figure who happens to be on the crest of the next new thing in social media: sweeping allows the viewer to feel (yes physically feel) everything the broadcaster sees, hears, tastes etc. When Peter Holman sweeps actual alien spacecraft he finds he has a tiger by the tail, and everything changes for him and for Earth. With technology light years (pun intended) ahead of our own the S'hudonni are totally capable of controlling what is and isn't observed-but they need spin doctors to help project their chosen image and who is in the right place at the right time?

Another thing I found enjoyable about Alien Morning: I enjoyed how Wilber wove Holman's personal life and experiences into the larger frame of an alien first contact novel. Holman is an unlikely everyman to appoint for us (the reader) to see everything through. Yes he is an ex-jock with a blown out knee but he has a degree in English Lit-and he is still an occasional doofus, though he is not as infected with what I like to call the TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) virus that seems to plague a lot of characters in the books I read. He grows on you.

Alien Morning is the first part of a series. Judge for yourself if this is something you'd like to read.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first found out about the S'hudoni when I read a story about them in an anthology. When I became aware of this novel, I was really pleased to be able to buy a copy and start to read it.

The book is so strongly dominated by the characters of its human protagonists, particularly Peter. Although he's likeable, he is also very self-absorbed. But this works; someone who was less self-interested would tumble to what is happening faster than Peter does. Peter is who he needs to be for the sake of the novel's progression.

That's the thing that I think I like about the book the most; that you know that something is growing, and you know it can't be good (or maybe it could be?) and you know that Peter is several steps behind you. This is one of my favourite devices in novels. It's such an interesting contrast; the exasperation I feel when I don't know enough about what's happening, balanced against Peter's lukewarm interest in the world.

[Karl Schaeffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

First contact. Aliens come to earth, but they're not Vulcans. They claim to come in peace, but there's an undercurrent of, "get with the program or suffer the consequences". The story is told thru the persona of Eric Holman, a retired B-level basketball player, who is embracing new technology that allows him to provide an immersive experience to his online subscribers. Interesting premise. The start of a series. Enjoyable read. Won't look for the future books, but if they fall into my hands, I'll read them

[Alan Zendell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat offbeat but entertaining story of First Contact, told by Peter, an often naive, gullible narrator struggling with problems in his own life. The story of the alien contact is almost a story within the larger story of Peter's issues. It's an interesting approach that works very well, except for a few spots when it gets in its own way.

There's also the innovative technology of sweeping, that lets Peter the journalist communicate not only what he sees and hears, but everything he feels as well. His wired audience feels everything he feels when they plug in, and for much of the story Peter is more concerned with growing his audience (and income) than with the aliens themselves. In most ways Peter is just like the rest of us, surely no superhero, and as flawed as most of his readers. Maybe that's what makes him so likable.

As the first book of a trilogy, it's mostly stage-setting. Not much gets resolved, but it certainly provides fertile ground for the next two books.

[Andy Coleman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:

This is an awful book. It combines a bit of a predicable aliens-coming-to-earth story into a long-winded narrative of the protagonist's life in pro sports and "casting". Even after I was able to convince myself to continue reading the book, I found I was often skimming the flashbacks of his entirely unrelated pro basketball career. And the worst part? Every time the protagonist asked the aliens a question related to the plot, their answer was "We'll answer all of these questions later". Guess what? There was no later. The book just ends! And there is zero chance of me grabbing the sequel.

If you want to read a great first-contact story, pick up Anomaly, The Spaceship Next Door, or Dark Orbit. Hell, The Three-Body Problem is one of the best trilogies I've ever read. So there are plenty of good choices out there - skip this one.

[Wes · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know Alien Morning's a work of science fiction when visitors from outer space turn up in Florida and the world freaks out a little bit (as opposed to just saying "Oh, Florida!" and moving on with their day).

At its heart, though, this first book in Rick Wilber's series is a story about families - especially sibling rivalries (both foreign and domestic), with some obvious affection for locales around Ireland and Tampa Bay. It's not heavy on Tom Clancy-style how-it-all-works science fiction details, but is instead a first-person account of a futuristic YouTuber caught up in an alien first contact situation on Earth.

It's a great setup! Looking forward to more.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a decent ending, would have been 4 stars

[Zora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bailed at page 100. Far too slow.

[Michael Salmon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alright so I have no idea what the hell Ben Bova was talking about when he wrote that this is the "...best first contact story I've seen in decades." From my own reading I can only surmise that it's the first he's ever read. For starters the actual 'first contact' was ridiculous. Lights move in the sky in a way that suggests they are not naturally occuring, speculation abounds, the media throws out hundreds of theories, then suddenly a woman from an organisation dealing primarily with the protagonist's brother and sea turtles contacts the protagonist to say "Hey, man, we like the footage you got of the lights, come work with us."
And then ANOTHER organisation that builds rockets contacts the protagonist - though this time the chain is: Rocket place employee --> bordercollie --> heroine addict sister --> protagonist. and says, "Hey, man, cool footage, we've been chatting with the lights for weeks, turns out it's aliens, want to come see?"... So that's the actual first contact "Yeah, we've been chatting with them for weeks..."

Then there is a brief interlude where the protagonist sleeps with the girl his brother is seeing/in love with (sea turtle lady) who turns out to be an alien shape shifter (that old chestnut) and then one of the alien prince's pops out in amongst the grossly afformentioned sea turtles and starts lisping good will at everyone in the area.

The protagonist figures out that the aliens can basically control anything electronic, to the point of displaying things that aren't real and never happened in real time onto anything with a screen. Lispy McPrincling asks the protagonist if he wants to be a human video camera with all sorts of neural implants and brain hacking, an offer which our protagonist dedicates no thought to before accepting because he is a moron.

We then observe a brief intermission from the story as the protagonist remembers the time he saw his Dad screwing the secretary and makes some fumbling attempt at using that as moral justification for sleeping with his brothers alien shapeshifter sea turtle loving girlfriend. You loved dad --> dad had illicit affairs --> I slept with your girlfriend --> you should be happy? I'm not sold...

We move on to Ireland where a lot of whiskey is consumed, the Alien prince losses then regains his lisp, ANOTHER alien prince melts a bunch of military jets on a lark, a hotelier gives away a signed copy of William B Yeats' "The Tower" so that the protagonist will give him a good review on yelp, Sea turtle shape shifting brother fucker alien disintergrates then presses ctrl+v and is all better, alien prince one lisps a bunch of Irish people offers they can't refuse, the protagonist reminisces on all the women playing basketball has allowed him to sleep with and then he hurts his knee, heroine addict sister appears from under a rock in Ireland and then explodes (and no one seems to ask any of the pertinent questions surrounding the event), the aliens heal the protagonisits burnt arm and sore knee and he's all happy again despite the fact that the aliens won't allow him to make phonecalls or talk to his hetero life companion/cellphone AI.

... Back to the sister. The protagonist spends about three chapters pre-explosion and two post-explosions trying to convince the reader that he reeeaaallly cares about her. The message is somewhat cheapened by the fact that when her partner calls him to say she's gone missing, his response is something along the lines of "I'm in Ireland, can't really do much about that..." this is about three minutes before she springs out of a hole and goes bang.

Anywho, Peter (the protagonist whose name I just remembered), takes a few naps then wakes up in Bermuda where he mentions Gosling Rum (black seal) enough times that I'm convinced his life depended on it. After that he gets an angry call from his brother who is rather upset that Peter didn't call him to mention their sister was dead (a fact he had no way of knowing Peter knew). A few hours later he calls again and leaves some veiled threats, a few more hours later and he calls to withdraw the threats and stop Peter's plane landing on a booby trapped runway... WHY WOULD ANYONE SHARE THEIR BOMBING PLANS WITH THE VICTIM'S BROTHER?! And then it turns out he knew it was coming all along... Call me crazy but what the shit kind of character is this? Multiple PHDs, savior of the sea turtles, but also the most irrational turd to ever set foot on earth. The logic, or lack thereof seems to go something like "A family spat between some aliens is killing a bunch of people and causing general havoc with humanity but you slept with sea turtle lady and now I want you to die." What about the aliens? Missing the bigger picture, Tom, you giant dick. Oh and also he's a bomb now too.

I also wonder when Peter is going to stop taking "Tell you later." as an acceptable answer for literally any question he has... That's just lazy writing. I would rather Rick Wilber have his characters just yell "BECAUSE OF REASONS, PETER!" as they all have another glass of Gosling black seal rum. arseholes.

[Tripp Moultrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

TL;DR - Hard pass, brah.

Here's the thing. As an aspiring writer myself, I always try to give the author the benefit of the doubt. I think I'm pretty easy on the books I read (notta humble-brag, promise). Just saying, when we pick up a book, we (reader and author) form an unspoken yet mutually agreed upon contract - our time for in exchange for imagination infiltration. I think most writers try to fulfil their end of this agreement to the best of their ability and if they fall short, I usually chalk it up to personal taste or lack of interest.

Not this one, son.

Let's hit the summary and then we can get to the flensing.

Peter is a has-been basketball player who met with an unfortunate injury that changed the trajectory of his life. To support himself, he begins 'sweeping' a new craze that's all the rage with the kids. "Sweeping" allows users to 'experience' someone else's life. Think virtual reality but with w/smells, touches and tastes. Uh-huh. Imma let that marinate for a second. Inter-smello-net. It would be cool...until it wasn't. Then it wouldn't be cool at all. Moving on.

Peter inadvertently sweepcasts a bunch of lights in the night sky. Unbeknownst to him, his feed begins to blow up and all of a sudden he's famous. The lights turn out to be aliens (no spoilers, you did read the title right?) and from there all manner of hijinks ensue.

Pros

It started with an interesting premise.

Cons

This book feels heavily padded out for length. I found out the author is an award-winning short story writing and kudos to him! I think he needs to work on his long form tho. There are pages upon pages of details about whiskey, Ireland and locales that are not really essential to the movement of the story.
There's family drama that's hinted at in the beginning but never really lands for me. And there's an incident that involves the main character and his brother which causes a schism between the two. I guess we're supposed to understand and empathize with Peter (the MC) through this situation but honestly, I just thought he was generally unlikeable. The plot involving the aliens is undercooked and has ties to their earthly counterparts but I just the story really never brings them together in any meaningful way.

Overall guess, this was a frustrating read. Not because it was not good (which is the case) but because I wanted to like it and just couldn't. Alien Morning will leave you with an earthly hangover. Skip.

[Jeffrey Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

From an older Heinlein juvenile to more recent science fiction for adults I landed on Rick Wilber's Alien Morning. The first book in a trilogy of novels about the S'hudonn race and our first interactions with them here on Earth. One thing that constantly amazes me about Wilber's work is his voices. I read a short story of his recently titled "Rambunctious" and the voice of the ten-year old female narrator was mesmerizing and so I also found Peter, the narrator of Alien Morning. A 32-year old ex-basketball player trying to find a new gig around 2030. His encounters with the S'hudonn as they make themselves known to earthlings make for exciting reading. Wilber's tech rings true for the most part and for the bits where the tech might seem a bit far-fetched, well, we are dealing with a race of aliens and they will naturally be way ahead of us with science and technology. But the tech and the framework of the aliens' landing and interacting with us and their true mission that emerges slowly are merely a set of window dressing as Peter recounts and comes to terms with his relationships with his younger brother and sister and his father. The story perks right along and dragged at least this constant reader along with it. I can't wait for the sequels and I look forward to reading each one. Full disclosure I would assume is necessary here. I know Rick Wilber, I have had drinks and broken bread with Rick Wilber. He and another friend of mine, Nick DiChario(Valley of Day-Glo) are close friends. But aside from that, well honestly just because you are an author local to me, and I have met you and bought your book directly from you does not mean I will love it, or even like it. But I'm not going to write up books I forcibly hurled from my presence after only reading twenty or so pages. But this book, Alien Morning is dynamite. Wilber also has a series of short stories about an alternate history of WWII starring Moe Berg the well known baseball catcher-turned-spy. I will probably be reviewing one of those stories, one available as a stand-alone at Amazon for Kindle soon. But I would higly recommend this book to any fan of science fiction who reads my reviews. This is first-rate stuff.

[Clay Kallam · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Alien Morning” (Tor, $25.99, 300 pages) is the beginning of a series, and it promises to be a good one. Rick Wilber has been writing about S’hudonni for many years, but this time he has put the alien species in direct contact with modern humanity. The result is never quite what the protagonist – a journalist who’s using the cutting-edge of modern information technology – expects, and there are many questions yet to be answered after this first volume.

Wilber notes in his Acknowledgments that originally he submitted this as a single book, and it’s now been expanded into three, and thus some segments seem a little padded, and it takes a long time for what’s obvious to the reader to become clear to the characters. But Wilber’s main protagonist, Peter Holman, is believable and sympathetic, even as he does things that cause him problems and even as he ignores obvious warning signs.

Family drama, which will be played out in the future volumes, is significant, but so is the larger relationship between a more advanced technological species and humanity. Put it all together, and “Alien Morning” is one of the better books I’ve read in recent months, and I’m genuinely looking forward to volumes two and three.

[Villa Park Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2030, there’s a new social media, sweepcasting, where the sweeper shares sensory inputs – sight, smell, sound, touch, even thoughts. Peter Holman, a freelance sweeper, is sharing the end of a date with his followers when ten alien ships fly overhead, and he is chosen by the S'hudonni to tell their story to the world.

At first, these look like friendly aliens – just looking for trade and willing to give advanced science in exchange. But things are not as they seem: Earth has been annexed into the S'hudonni realm, which is neither benevolent nor united. Sibling rivalry between two alien princes mirror the tensions in Peter’s family, and he and his brother end up on opposite sides of the conflict – and his sister and the Earth are pawns in the hands of the alien overlords.

Check this book out from the Villa Park Public Library!

[Nicholas Smeaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A First Contact Novel set in 2030 succeeds in bringing a new angle on a sub-genre that tends to get overrun with cliches. Peter Holman, the central character and narrator is a former pro-basketball player turned multisensory blogger who finds himself in the middle of a first contact event where things are definitely not as they seem. The character are well developed and believable, the plot is avoids the many cliches that litter this sub-genre and the portrayal of the aliens advanced technology is done well, the only area I'd have issues with is that the aliens don't seem very alien in their world view although the book does seem to hint that their 'human-like' behaviour is simply an act so we could see this coming to the fore in latter books in this series. I found the start of the book a bit difficult, but once I got past the first few pages, I found it to be a compelling read and a difficult book to put down.

[Jeanne Boyarsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It's set in a future where "sweeps" (immersive experiences) are starting to enter the mainstream. Cloudblogging and the "edited media" are more prevalent but our main character (Peter) does sweeps.

Peter is introduced to the aliens through a shapeshifting alien. That alien and another travel with him on a PR trip while looking to see how they can profit from earth. Unfortunately, the alien's brother has more violent means of accomplishing the same thing.

This is juxtaposed with Peter's relationship with his siblings and two unnecessary plot lines - Peter's father and fake -> real girlfriend Chloe.

The end where the alien brothers were just sparing was nice and not canned. I also liked the bit about copying people. It was a plot device and could have been explored more.

[Scott Leeper]

Beginning with a good premise and engaging future technology, Alien Morning shows great potential for delivering an interesting story about first contact. The novel centers on an early adapter to new experience-sharing technology that records events for others to share. The main character becomes involved with Earth’s first contact with aliens, who choose him so that his experience can be shared through this new technology. Unfortunately the author gets bogged down with character development instead of progressing the storyline at an adequate pace, and the full potential of the premise is lost. Feels like the story was dragged out so that a sequel could be offered, and it ends with a very unsatisfying denouement.

[Bob Finkenbiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was expecting much more, and it kept building and building... to a sequel?!?! WTF... not wasting my time with an author who cannot write concise strong stories, but wants to string us out with commercially motivated drivel. too bad, because the premise was good, the characters interesting, but the editing sucked.... too bad they didn't have the guts to cut this off early and force the author to write ONE good story, instead of a "trilogy" of commercial mush.

[Peter Flom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Holman is a former professional basketball player who makes his living now as a "sweeper" - letting other people vicariously experience what he experiences. He has troubled relationships with both his siblings.

Then aliens show up. And they want him to be their .... something, although it's not clear what.

This is a good first contact novel and the first of a planned trilogy. I look forward to the next volumes.

[David Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed and loved so much of this book. It was captivating and real. I love the steam of conciousness setup with interspersed vignettes into the narrator's previous experiences. The last 1/8 of the book or so feels incredibly rushed though, and the editing drops off significantly. The ending feels like a rough draft that doesn't match the feel or voice of the rest of the book.

Great book, but feels like it got pushed to print because of a deadline.

[Patrick Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and I reading the second novel.

Spoiler info so you have been warned.

The aliens are interesting as they are not what you expect and that is fun.

I was not a fan of the VR stuff at first then I liked it so good for Rick for making that happen.

I often think that when we finally meet aliens they will be merchants as this is probably a draw for any intelligent species.

That brother of his! Oh boy.

I liked it. A solid story.

[Alison Solberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well… that was disappointing. I think the story has a lot of potential, but it jumped around too much for my tastes. It was hard to tell what was happening and when; I mostly blame the dialogue formatting. Something else that is not a huge deal but made it distracting, was the mix between using metric and standard measurements.
Like I said, I think the story could be really good and I am hoping the second one gives more backstory while in a clearer format.