Bug Hunts: Surviving and Combating the Alien Menace
Dark Osprey Series 8
Paperback | Kindle Edition
Written by Mark Latham
Illustrated by aRU-MOR
Osprey Publishing
Release Date: October 20th, 2015

If you’re a fan of science fiction, and an ardent supporter of humanity’s fight against giant alien monsters, then Mark Latham‘s Bug Hunts: Surviving and Combating the Alien Menace is for you!

From Osprey, the leading publishers of illustrated military history, comes a trip into the future of… illustrated military history. Part graphic novel, part historical fiction, part military manual, Bug Hunts describes in vivid detail, mankind’s discovery and unfortunate encounters with a variety of alien species. Written in near-textbook style, Latham describes 23rd century Earth and our attempts to reach advanced intelligence. What we found was advanced and intelligent… unfortunately, it was also in no way friendly.

The book is divided into three parts, with the first and largest section dedicated to three alien races that wreak havoc on the interstellar humans. There are the Xeno-Parasites of Draper’s World, the Centauran Araknyds, and the Hive-Beasts of Klaatu VI. The descriptions of these vile creatures are an amalgam of all the worst sci-fi extraterrestrials in movies, most blatantly the Xenomorphs from the Alien films; the bugs from Starship Troopers; and the Kaiju from Pacific Rim. The comparisons don’t end there. The lively illustrations by aRU-MOR combine the imagery of those movie monsters with an almost Lovecraftian mythos; they reek of the Old Ones.

Bug Hunts goes into a timeline of famous battles between the baddies and STAR industry space marines… ala Aliens. My favorite section is the final one, which is all drawings and descriptions of the cool anti-Bug machinery the space marines use. Again, there are clear inspirations in the weaponry, but it comes across more as flattery than sheer mimicry.

Bug Hunts: Surviving and Combating the Alien Menace is a sci-fi geek’s encyclopedia, a perfect compendium for one’s collection of sci-fi books and movies.

You can follow author Mark Latham on Twitter at @aLostVictorian.

Official book synopsis:

They said there were no monsters. But there are. It is the 23rd Century, mankind has reached out to the stars, populating great swathes of the galaxy in their bid to become the rulers of space. And yet one threat more than any other stands in the way of humanity’s manifest destiny: Bugs.

Across the cold void of space, alien monsters prey on humanity – infesting generation-ships, destroying colonies, and transforming humans into hosts for their foul spoor. From the insectoid hive-beasts of Klaatu, to the xenomorphic parasites of the outer rim, this book contains the sum total of human knowledge of the myriad forms of alien menace; where to find them… and how to kill them.

In this guide you will find details of mankind’s greatest champions, the marines of STAR dynamic. With their state-of-the-art technology and advanced combat tactics developed over a century of warfare, the STAR marines battle the alien, wherever it may strike.

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