I also liked the bits with the berserk missileman. Wilson meets his death at the jaws of dust mites. (He’s a working scientist in several fields including biology, archaeology, paleontology, and starship engineering.) Here entomologist E. Pellegrino is a fascinating writer not only for the hard science details but for including his scientist friends as characters. The effects of insects dying off – lethal swarms of dust mites, plagues of fungus, the death of higher level insectivores, a lack of plant pollinators – were horrifying and fascinating – exactly what a sf disaster novel should offer. The premise that insects might have a millions of years death cycle – and that this death cycle preceded, and perhaps caused, the decline of the dinosaurs (which were finished off by an asteroid impact) was novel and speculation based on science according to the Afterword in which Pellegrino outlines the historical and scientific facts behind his tale. This is the second Pellegrino novel I’ve read, and I really liked this disaster tale though, and Pellegrino admits he changed his original ending of humanity’s death, I thought the ending of resurrecting old insects to save humanity was improbably cheerful. Raw Feed (1998): Dust, Charles Pellegrino, 1998. So, since the idea of a “bug apocalypse” has been showing up a bit in the news lately, I thought I’d get put this up. The Lovecraft series has ended, and I still haven’t got any new reviews written.
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