Chuck Palahniuk’s first foray into science fiction, following a young man searching through old sci-fi pulp magazines for clues to find the father who disappeared into space years ago.

On Earth, a young man named Grunt is searching for his father, a writer who has seemingly vanished off the face of the planet. But Grunt is convinced his father left behind clues in his writing. In a pulp magazine called Rockets Ho!!, Grunt discovers a curious series—Welcome2 Homestead1—that is out of this world, but something about it hits very close to home. Maybe Grunt has always been destined for bigger things.

Homestead1 is perfect, where everyone is beautiful, fit, and smart. Where Bradbury9 and Ursula6 do calisthenics by the Fountain of Authors and children hop on the bus for field trips back to the home planet, gleefully learning to kill Earthlings. But when Tomisina8 goes missing on one of the field trips, Homestead1’s facade begins to crack.

As Grunt creeps ever closer to finding his dad, and the leaders of Homestead1 frantically search for their missing colonist, things take a turn revealing that sometimes the facts are stranger than fiction.