Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc

July 18, 2022
Bishop’s feel-good sci-fi debut kicks off when drifter Russ Wesley discovers a mysterious stone among his recently deceased grandfather’s collection of oddities. Russ recruits Nina Hosseinzadeh, aspiring electrical engineer and “the smartest woman in all Evanstown ,” to help him identify the stone, hoping to sell it for quick cash to save his family’s crumbling bookstore. Nina, meanwhile, needs money to help out her terminally ill father. Instead, the stone attracts hostile extraterrestrials, plunging the pair into interstellar drama. The eponymous organization arrives to dispatch the hostiles—and, upon witnessing Russ’s superior marksmanship, forcibly conscript him into intergalactic pest control. But Nina also wants a lucrative (if potentially lethal) job with the company, putting the pair in fierce competition—until looming danger threatens to destroy their careers as exterminators before they can begin. After a slow start, Bishop ramps things up, imbuing this romp with solid worldbuilding, a broad sense of adventure, and a sensitive emotional core. With gruesome alien battles, layered conflict, and a sprinkling of humor, this is sure to find an audience. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Lisa Dawson Assoc.

August 1, 2022

DEBUT After assisting in the extermination of an intergalactic pest on the backward planet Earth, Russ Wesley is faced with two impossible choices. He can either try to become a galactic citizen and an unpaid member of the Intergalactic Exterminators crew or he can wait for the immigration control robots to capture or kill him. Instead, Russ chooses to scam them all and suborn one of those robots for his own purposes since he needs to save his grandmother's livelihood, and his girlfriend wants to see the galaxy and save her father's life. The former immigration control robot, now calling itself Steven Applebum, wants to wear a mask and a cape and save everybody, while the exterminators just want to stay in business and live for another day of pest control. In this madcap adventure of space bugs, advanced tech, and corporate greed, they might all manage to get their wish--or die trying. VERDICT Bishop's sci-fi debut is recommended for readers who think Larry Correia's "Monster Hunter International" series should go intergalactic, those who enjoy stories featuring the people who get the dirty jobs done, and especially anyone who wishes that Martha Wells's Murderbot would become a superhero.--Marlene Harris

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July 29, 2022
Deep in the woods, Russ encounters a strange group of people who are tracking a weird animal. Turns out, this animal is a dangerous alien cat-beast. Thanks to some extraordinary marksmanship, Russ manages to help locate and kill the beast. Impressed by Russ' skills with a rifle, the group decides to adopt--or draft--him into their mission, which is to secretly hunt down and exterminate dangerous alien creatures that threaten people's lives. In the meantime, Russ gets a scientist-type girlfriend to join him on this mysterious quest. Of course, it turns out things are much more complicated than just pest extermination. The set-up at times is reminiscent of Men In Black, but while MIB played things for laughs, Intergalactic is more high-space adventure. One caveat is that the book comes with an appendix listing all the strange terms, names, and places contained in the narrative, often a sure sign of authorial over-complication. But then, a lot of fans of space adventures like such complication. For those who like space adventures with mystery, intrigue, and some scary beasties, this will be an engaging read.

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