Lunar aliens linger behind King’s cast of characters

If aliens made contact with Earth, how would people react? Not governments, scientists or religious groups, but average, everyday Canadians?

That’s the premise of the new novel from Guelph, Ont.-based Thomas King, author of more than 20 books and recipient of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

In this quirky, multi-character novel, aliens have landed on the moon and are observing humans. They give a short, simple manifesto on how to save the planet — abolish all weapons of mass destruction, reduce the population to no more than two billion humans, reduce emissions and limit consumption.

Most of King’s characters react by going on with their lives, only occasionally referencing the aliens. But an overall helpless lack of knowing what the future holds looms.

Among the more memorable characters is Thea, an older woman who is placed in Autumn Leaves, a retirement home that no one can remember the name of. She goes on a day trip to a mall with her fellow residents and doesn’t return. Instead, she embarks on an adventure that takes her back to her home that her son has put up for sale.

Thea loses her fanny pack on her journey and it is picked up by Darlene, an unemployed woman who can really use the $265 she finds inside.

Meanwhile, one of the novel’s most oddly charming characters, an older Indigenous man named Herb Good Runner, has moved into a run-down drive-in theatre so he can live in the snack shack and hit golf balls at old movies silently playing on the big screen. A neon rocket ship sits atop his home and he keeps strangers away with a “permanently closed” sign.

Even with Herb’s rocket ship décor as a reminder, it’s easy to get caught up in the intertwined stories of these characters and forget about the alien presence.

However, while there are some fun characters populating King’s nameless southern Ontario town, there are a few too many to keep track of and become truly invested in.

While there are some great moments, the book feels disjointed overall.

Finishing Aliens on the Moon feels a bit like watching a TV series that doesn’t get picked up for a second season — by the time you start to care about the characters, it’s time to say goodbye to them.

Perhaps we’re the aliens looking down on these characters, and they only have 260 pages to hold our interest until we fly away and give up on the human eccentrics.

Alan MacKenzie is a Winnipeg-based writer.

Thomas King will launch Aliens on the Moon on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location, where he’ll be joined in conversation by Rosanna Deerchild.