After a head injury, a washed-up actor who believes he's a B-movie astrophysicist becomes the unwitting star of a fast-talking radio host's flying-saucer hoax that wreaks more havoc in a small town than a real spaceman invasion.

SYNOPSIS:

BRAIN-EATERS FROM SPACE

Dark Comedy . Science Fiction | 85 Pages

Don’t Look Up … with a flying saucer hoax.

Hollywood. The set of B-movie Brain-Eaters From Space. Past prime actor Marlow Tobey blows takes as Dr. Marvin Russell, government astrophysicist, defender of Earth, and expert on the extraterrestrial menace. Marlow's drug and alcohol-pickled brain mangles “mesmerize."

That night at his favorite watering hole, drunk and obnoxious Marlow pisses off the wrong person. One punch. He kisses linoleum.

In Verity Falls, Oregon (birthplace of the Hand Shaped Plastic Back Scratcher), fast-talking college radio talk host Walter Crowley fields a call from a spooked local who spreads a rumor about a spaceman sighting and lights in the sky.

Walter’s fiancée Stella, a PhD candidate in astronomy, warns it’s nonsense. He sees it as a major opportunity and feeds the rumor to the newswire.

His head bandaged, Marlow wakes up in a hospital totally convinced he is Dr. Marvin Russell. He reads the newspaper article Walter instigated. They're here! The invaders I’ve been battling.

Marlow commandeers a military staff car from the studio motor pool, loads the trunk with spaceman-tracking equipment (props from the movie set). He bullets to Oregon on a mission to defeat the alien enemy. Marlow tunes into Walter’s radio show en route.

Walter turns the rumor into a ratings bonanza that blows up when Dr. Russell joins the show to warn listeners the spacemen consider human brains a delicacy. The network notes the show’s popularity and offers Walter and Dr. Russell a national slot for a live “Skywatch” event in Verity Falls.

Fear becomes a commodity and there's too much money in it. Donations flood in to Dr. Russell. Tourists clog the small town’s Main Street. Merchants see dollar signs.

Stella cringes at the spectacle. She challenges Walter privately, confronts the city council publicly, calls the governor's office to stop an event she believes is dangerous. Nobody listens.

Walter goes national with Skywatch. Quiet Verity Falls turns into a three-ring circus where upturned faces scan for spacemen. They listen to Dr. Russell and protect their brains with Army surplus helmets and stainless mixing bowls.

The show gives the crowd what it came for: a flying saucer whines overhead.

At the same time, an overload sparks a fire. A freaked audience member yells, “Spaceman Fire Ray!” Verity Falls’ grid fails. When the town blacks out and the Civil Defense siren shrieks, there’s P-A-N-I-C!

The Crowd stampedes for their lives. In the fiery chaos, Marlow becomes something he only played in the movies. A real hero. Marlow risks his life to save seven-year-old Little Sam, then disappears into the crowd.

The petrified Mayor phones the Governor and convinces him Verity Falls is under attack from space. The National Guard goes on the move.

Dawn. The truth behind the “invasion” proves stranger than anyone imagined. A real mystery remains. One Stella carries for the rest of her life.

BRAIN-EATERS FROM SPACE