Aliens: Bug Hunt

Pest control

released 18 April 368 pages | Paperback

Editor Jonathan Maberry Publisher Titan Books

Alien is a masterpiece. Aliens is arguably its equal. Alien 3 was disowned by its director, but attracts devoted followers. Alien: Resurrection has its moments, but is ultimately a failure. Prometheus… Well, the less said about that the better. And don’t get us started on the AVP movies.

So: two perfect films, five average-to-terrible; that’s not a great ratio. Sadly, it’s a pattern replicated in Bug Hunt, an Aliens-themed short story collection in which the bad far outnumbers the good.

During a brief introduction from editor Jonathan Maberry, we’re led to believe we’re in for a wild ride of adrenaline-soaked action stories, contemplative human dramas and psychotronic-style weird tales, each story completely different to the next… But then Paul Kupperberg’s “Chance Encounter”, in which a gambler gets more than he bargained for when his crew lands on a new planet, is followed by “Reaper”, in which a space-tractor rescue crew gets more than they bargained for when they land on a new planet. We’re only two stories in before we start wondering how much variety we’re actually going to get.

We can see why Maberry’s chosen to focus solely on Aliens (better that than Prometheus…), but the collection feels restricted by that movie’s tropes – it’s almost as if an action film about Marines shooting killer bugs wasn’t destined to be expanded into a 300-page multi-perspective book.

“Reclamation” takes away from Hicks’s coolness by adding lame backstory, “Blowback” sends Aliens’ marines on an early mission that takes tension from Cameron’s movie, and “Dangerous Prey” gives the Xenomorphs (sorry, Mark, we’re still using it – Reviews Ed) the ability to perceive love, a perspective we’d pay not to experience.

Still, there are stories to enjoy. “Broken” gives Bishop a powerful new origin, and “Dark Mother” shows us what happened next to Burke. Both are welcome additions to the canon. But they’re not enough to warrant a recommendation. More facehugger than page-turner – we’ve shoved our copy in the nearest available airlock. Sam Ashurst

Bug Hunt reveals that the M41A’s inventor, Jonathan LaForce, was related to real-life firearm designer John Browning.