ON EARTH AS IT IS ON TELEVISION

First Contact stories have never been as intoxicating and fun as in Emily Jane's debut novel of the sudden arrival - and equally sudden departure - of spaceships above Earth.

In Emily Jane's debut -- a rollicking paean to what it means to be alive in the twenty-first century -- the fleeting presence of alien vessels, and the certainty that humans are not alone in the universe, sparks intense uncertainty as to our place within it.

Blaine has always been content to go along with whatever his supermom wife and television-addicted, half-feral children want. But when the kids blithely ponder skinning people to see if they're aliens, and his wife announces a surprise road trip to Disney World, even steady Blaine begins to crack.

Half a continent away, Heather, bored in a Malibu pool while the ships hover overhead, watches as the Arrival heralds the demise of her dead-end relationship and sets her on a quest to understand herself, her accomplished (and oh-so-annoying) stepfamily, and why she feels so alone in a universe teeming with life.

And Oliver, suddenly conscious and alert after twenty catatonic years, struggles to piece together broken memories and understand why he's following a strange cat on a westward journey and into the greatest adventure of his - or anyone's - lifetime.

Emily Jane grew up in Boise, Boulder, and San Francisco. She earned her BA in psychology from the University of San Francisco and her JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She lives on an urban farm in Cincinnati with her husband, Steve; their two children; their cat, Scully; and their husky, Nymeria. On Earth as It Is on Television is her first novel.