Brand new edition of the 1973 Classic with an introduction by Jeannot Szwarc. Out of the brimstone and hellfire of the North Carolina sandhills comes a simple, deadly challenge to man's supremacy on earth: The Hephaestus Plague. Blind, black, armoured and unstoppable a fire making beetle with an amazing scientific secret. A secret that the reclusive, monomaniacal Professor Parmiter is obsessed with sharing and an insect whose biological destiny he is determined to fulfill, without regard for the human consequences. With a preface by Jeannot Szwarc, director of the motion picture based on the novel, BUG (1975), and of hit television show Heroes, this new edition puts this brilliant novel back in its quintessential context.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Thomas Page, author of The Hephaestus Plague, was born in Washington D.C., and is a graduate of Elon College and The University of North Carolina. He has a major in English and an M.F.A in film from Columbia University. He grew up in North Carolina. Having worked as a bartender, fossil cleaner, Radio DJ, fortuneteller, advertising copywriter and Hollywood script doctor he turned his hand to literature in 1973 producing a string of successful science fiction novels, murder mysteries and non-fiction titles. The Hephaestus Plague was made into a major motion picture in 1975, BUG, co-written by famous horror movie auteur William Castle and directed by Jeannot Swarc, who has written a foreword for the new Trashface edition of the book. A wanderer by nature, Thomas has lived in Middletown Ohio, Durham North Carolina, New York City, Western Massachusetts, Denver Colorado and Los Angeles CA, finally settling in Santa Monica California. His lifelong love of biology lead to what he considers his greatest achievement: "I believe my one immortal contribution to the world was finding a small fossil deposit in the west which was named after me (Page One) and which was determined to consist of carnivorous bird droppings. It is around 10 million years old and likely to be there 10 million years from now. Writers come and go through the ages but bird sh*t is immortal. Thomas lives and works in Santa Monica, California and has a married daughter who lives in Paris, France. Not Texas.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and too little known sci-fi /horror novel,
By F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)
This is a novel about bugs ; they are not the giant variety common to low rent science fiction movies or books ,but while unprepossessing in appearance they are none the less deadly .They are a primordial species ,thrown up into the world when an earthquake dislplaces them from their natural habitat at the earth's core .The bugs are blind and have become carriers of their own bacteria but , more deadly yet , they feed on carbon ,and when none is available in their immediate environment they create it ,by the simple expedient of burning any combustible material in the vicinity .The problem seems containable by virtue of their inability to procreate but then a scientist .Parmittler .decides to mate one with a giant cockroach .The result is a species that threatens to incinerate the whole world as they spread out from their original grounds in small town USA . Page has done a great deal of entomological research and it shows ,sometimes to the detriment of moving the plot along briskly enough ,but the book is logical and well worked out .The threat it postulates is rendered realistic enough to make this disturbing as well as engrossing . It should be a great deal better known than it is at present
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A story from the depths of the Earth,
By
This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)
I have just finished reading Dust from Charles Pellegrino where the death of insects heralds the end of the human race. Here, the appearance of a new kind of insect might do the same. Entomologist irony.The relation between the excentric scientist (James Parmiter) and the bugs was very well developed. I wish that the author would have explored more the properties of the bacteria which supposedly gives intelligence to the roaches. The story is short and was made into a movie, which I did not see, yet. I would have liked to give this book 3 and a half stars but since the rating system is limited, I will settle for three.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's attack of the carbon eating, flame farting cockroaches!,
By
This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)
Forget the cheeseball movie called BUG that was made from this fine doomsday thriller. This book is a fairly creepy sci-fi monster story about a misanthropic entomologist that tampers with a newly discovered, and quite dangerous, cockroach that is unleashed during a small earthquake in North Carolina. These creatures eat pure carbon and can make fire by rubbing their rear legs together, thus creating a food supply whenever, and wherever, needed. When James Parmiter unlocks their secrets, then the true fear, and even greater threat to humankind, really begins. Worthwhile reading for monster fans.
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