Kidnap City (An ET Love Story)

In the spirit of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Kidnap City (an ET Love Story)" answers some of science fiction’s most urgent questions. Can a homeless Native American woman and her pet cockroach take public transit to the Hopi Fifth World? Can a war vet with PTSD fall in love with a belly dancer who cavorts with ten-foot beavers? Why is fluoridated water a leading cause of UFO sightings? Why do so many thirty-something males still live in their mothers’ basements? How is it possible for extraterrestrials to kidnap an entire city?

Aliens kidnap Portland, Oregon, and turn the city into a reality television show broadcast across the “Eleven Known Universes.” Portland’s quirks and perks bedazzle alien audiences. The mayor declares, “Portland is a city that works with aliens.” He organizes an “Alien Pride” parade. Portland’s residents decide that their kidnapping is a victim-friendly crime—with benefits. Everyone loves being on camera and sharing every secret. Aliens and humans are soon ensnared in a cobweb of space-time anomalies. New universes are created. Only Octavius Stickley--an agent from the Quantum Bureau of Investigation--can sort things out.