It's later than you think!

Yes indeed, it's time to go order FIRST CONTACT: Or, It's Later Than You Think, what I call hilarious and what PW calls stimulating and intelligent and what we both call Evan Mandery's newest novel.


First Contact is made by the hyper-intelligent Rigelians, who admire Woody Allen movies and Bundt cake, and urge the people of Earth to mend their ways to avoid destruction of their planet.

But the president of the United States, a God-fearing, science-doubting fitness fanatic, is skeptical of the evidence presented to him and sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of his young attaché, an alien scam artist, several raccoons, and a scientist who has predicted the end of the universe. Parrot sketch excluded.


Here's what PW had to say:

An alien invasion turns the United States, if not the world, upside down in this smart, witty romp—but not in the ways that extraterrestrial enthusiasts might expect. Ralph Bailey is working as a sandwich-fetching attaché to an inept president who assigns him to act as a liaison to the recently arrived aliens.

As one of the few White House employees who seems to understand the Woody Allen–obsessed, generally laid-back visitors, Ralph begins to interrogate his existential angst: I think everything has happened before, he says to his girlfriend, Jessica Love (it's that kind of book), ...every grief has been endured, every idea has been explored, every joke has been told.

And in Mandery's world, it's certainly the truth. As we meet the intergalactic characters, we find that jokes, situations, prejudices, and even pets are the same no matter where you go.

While coincidences add up and characters lives bleed into one another, Mandery's sharp sense of humor and habit of addressing the reader make for a stimulating and intelligent read that's never short on laughs.

And Booklist weighs in with:

Mandery’s Dreaming of Gwen Stefani (2007) drolly deconstructed popular music while plumbing the psyche of a celebrity-obsessed hot-dog vendor.

Here Mandery offers a Douglas Adams–style political farce about first contact with aliens from the planet Rigel-Rigel who, at first glance, bear a striking resemblance to Orthodox Jews.

Instead of announcing themselves on the White House front lawn, the technologically superior Rigelians choose the savvier option of getting a teenager to download their YouTube video.

When the White House’s culturally challenged Republican president finally receives the news from assistant Ralph Bailey, his first order of business is arranging a kosher state dinner. But it doesn’t take long before the president’s inept diplomacy turns the encounter into a major misunderstanding, culminating in a U.S.-led nuclear attack aimed at Rigel-Rigel.

Ultimately, it will be up to Ralph and his newfound Rigelian ambassador friend, Ned, to save the day.

Mandery’s digression-filled narrative, covering topics ranging from Woody Allen’s early comedies to Rigelian Bundt cake, spoofs contemporary popular culture while telling an irresistibly good story.

— Carl Hays