UFOs, aliens, Area 51…no science fiction geek worth their salt hasn’t wondered what secrets lay beyond our planet or what secrets lay buried in one of the government’s most secretive facilities. Are you one of us Sci-fi geeks? Do you believe anything is possible? You’re in luck, Marcha Fox has a tale to tell, one that will entertain non-stop from start to finish!

THE TERRA DEBACLE, a fictitious tale of a captured extra-terrestrial being will tease your mind with Thyron, a sentient botanical life form with the power to communicate telepathically with NASA astrobiologist, Gabriel Greenley, his keeper, his potential tormentor and soon to be his greatest ally and friend. Not only can Thyron communicate, he can walk, no pot-bound plant here! He can even absorb information and stored data at will, something that, if practiced too often for too long of a time, causes a drunken effect which leads to forced dormancy…similar to passing out for humans? Who knows!?

Of course, Thyron is just a “thing” to be studied by many, but his relationship with Greenley becomes more than a cold, scientist to specimen thing and not only does it lead to some hysterical moments, it leads to danger for Thryon and an act of treason for Greenley. As much as I liked Thyron, I wanted him to go home, but will the military decide otherwise? Will they nip the relationship between Greenley and Thyron and potentially all of Earth in the bud? Is this one more dirty little secret at Area 51?

This is their story, science fiction at its best as secrets are uncovered, bonds are formed and one extraterrestrial neighbor fails to get a warm welcome to our planet. Marcha Fox has combined fact, fiction, speculation and just plain fabulous story telling in this fast, fun and furiously entertaining tale that may change the way vegans look at their food!

I received this copy from Marcha A. Fox in exchange for my honest review.
Rating: 5 Stars

Get ready for Thyron. He is a peda flora telepathis; in other words a sentient, bipedal, telepathic plant. He not only communicates telepathically, he acquires knowledge remotely. While imprisoned at the infamous Area 51, he stumbled onto a treasure trove of information and overdosed himself by assimilating it, which caused him to lapse into a dormant state. This triggered a panic in Gabe Greenly, astrobotanist for NASA. Greenly nursed Thyron back to a healthy state and was rewarded with a handful of seedpods.

Thyron’s vegetable chauvinism makes him highly opinionated. He bristles at the nature of paper, he thinks lumber is a crime against botany, vegetarians are serial murderers, and a harvester is a weapon of mass destruction. He cuts Gabe some slack since he is a fruitarian and can gain sustenance without killing the fruiting plant. This makes for a strange relationship, because Gabe is bound by his security agreement, which forbids abetting an escape, and Thyron’s goal is to get off the earth at all costs, along with an artificially intelligent robot—since disassembled—and a humanoid girl.

Marcha Fox has not only created a phyla, she has invented multiple vocabularies. The psychic terminology is plain enough to understand, but you might want to read The Terra Debacle on an ereader with a built-in dictionary to help decipher the botanical terms. This is a brilliant story, extremely well written and with great character development. It is off-the-wall in a way that is similar to how Tom Robbins grabs the reader and shakes him. The research is profound and convincing. It is loosely aimed at the young adult audience, of which I am not a member; however, I recommend it for anyone who wants to venture into a leafy new world.

I love Thyron! I have since I first read Beyond the Hidden Sky. He’s unique--a sentient, mobile plant who’s my hero. In The Terra Debacle he, Aggie and Creena crash land on Earth. In A Dark of Endless Days we don’t know the details just that they crashed. This book accounts for their stay which wasn’t exactly pleasant.

Creena’s taken to a secure location somewhere in the desert. Aggie is dismantled along with their ship. Thyron is taken and sent to Area 51. Gabe a botanist is brought in to examine and study him. Thyron is leery of Gabe to begin with but eventually trust is earned.

The story takes place in the ‘70s when I was a very young girl but I remember enough to suffer several fits of laughter while reading the story with the references to Mork, Star Trek and MASH. Among the laughter was plenty of suspense that built throughout. I was sweating bullets the last few chapters as the story climaxed. What an ending! What a story!

Marcha’s books always contain sound, plausible science. As a biology teacher I was in my element with the science presented in this book and the tests run. It’s very clever and I’m sure I will always think differently about plant chloroplasts and bulbs in the future.

A fantastic story that doesn’t miss a beat!
The Terra Debacle is a spin-off story from the Star Trails Tetralogy. Visit the website to learn more about the series.

The Terra Debacle is a unique novel that is in the genre of hard science fiction. I have read a lot of science fiction over the years but none have been as detailed as this wonderful novel, to be honest, I did not know that science fiction novels could be this dense and rich so you can imagine my amazement when I read this brilliant novel! It is a story that is full of detailed science and the great intrigue wrote throughout it will hook the reader from beginning to end all whilst the suspense enthrals you. It is a dark tale full of mystery that will engross you in a compelling, exceptionally built world which is full of glorious, unimaginable wonders and to top this off this happens all whilst the reader is taken through unexpected plot twists and many shocking moments. Here is a little bit more about this enchanting novel.

The Terra Debacle takes place in the late 1970’s in Utah and then Nevada. On the date, May 30th, 1979 an unidentified ship crash lands in Utah at the Hill Air Force Base and the ship is soon impounded and taken to Area 51 in Nevada – by the people who run the operation. On the unidentified, unusual ship is three passengers; one is a girl named Aggie who is a robot designed for agricultural duties, another is a person named Thyron and lastly, a telepathic walking plant and all are soon taken into custody.

This is the point in the novel where we are introduced to Dr Gabriel Greenley who is an astrobiologist who specialises in botany. Gabriel has been called in to study the unique characteristics of Thyron – the walking, talking plant. Over time through their exchanges, they become close friends and soon they even start to exchange their views telepathically. This is all whilst Gabriel starts to discover many wondrous things about Thyron and his biological makeup which could change many things. Thyron, however, does not like his new home and once he starts to grasp knowledge about Area 51 and its inhabitants he soon hatches a plan to escape from. Will Thyron be able to escape? Read this novel to find out!

The Terra Debacle is an intriguing story with a strong plot that takes the reader on a beautiful, charming journey. The novel’s author Marcha Fox has managed to include incredible back stories of Dr Greenley and even the thoughts of the part animal part plant Thyron; Both of their thoughts and feelings intrigue the reader and compel them to read until the very end and with the added literary prowess of Fox it makes it an even more enchanting novel.

Marcha Fox’s writing is gripping and intriguing, her story may be hard science fiction but in no way is it ever confusing and I am thankful for this because a story as detailed as this one has the potential to be confusing however it is not so thankfully our author managed to write this book wonderfully! At first, it may take the reader a short while to learn the names of the characters but once the reader does this the novel flows perfectly! The Terra Debacle is a brilliant story that is extremely well written, it also has great character development which makes you immersed in the novel. One thing I really admired about the author besides her incredible passion for all things space, UFO’s and so much more was how much research she had included in her wondrous novel; the research was profound and convincing and made me fall in love with the novel even more.

To summarise my thoughts on this intriguing story I would say if you adore anything to do with space, UFO’s Area 51, NASA and all those wonderful brilliant things then you will adore this novel! This wonderful novel gets Four Stars from me!

The Terra Debacle by Marcha Fox is a highly entertaining, suspenseful and thought-provoking sci-fi novel surrounding the exploits of Thyron, a mutant form of sentient plant life with highly-developed thought processes and limited extra-sensory perception. It comes as a quasi-prequel to the author’s Star Trails Tetralogy, where the character appears as a protagonist in the Brightstar family saga. Set in the late 70s northwestern USA, it uses the controversial Air Force investigation of UFOs as part of the storyline. Gabe Greeley, an exobiologist at NASA, is contacted by Colonel Jenkins at Hill AFB in Ogden, They request his opinion on an exotic lifeform discovered by personnel at the base. Greeley arrives at the base and is introduced to Thyron, and there the adventure begins.

Fox could not have selected more fertile ground for such a cross-genre romp. This is easily comparable to a dark version of ET – The Extraterrestrial, though the author herself evokes Little Shop of Horrors in her preface. One thing for sure is that Marcha sets the tone with a humorous phone chat between Greeley and Jenkins. Greeley’s parrot in the background lets us know where this is going, and we are quick to follow. Thyron is not merely mimicking human thought, he conveys concepts of time and space that the Earthlings can only struggle to grasp. As Gabe establishes a psychological bond with Thyron, the author’s message becomes clear. The resources of this world and beyond are not meant solely for man’s exploitation. Understanding their nature and respecting their needs and purpose helps us truly develop our universe to its utmost potential.

This becomes a landmark novel for Fox fans who are witnessing a significant step in her evolution as a science fiction author. The Star Trails Tetralogy was an essential indie lit sci-fi contribution, standing comfortably alongside Star Wars and Star Trek in the space opera genre. This novel takes us in a new direction as we consider not only the possibility of life in space, but that of being able to communicate and learn from it. We may not find aliens anywhere beyond our national borders, but we have discovered water on other planets. Water being the source of life, can it possibly be supporting plant life somewhere among the stars? It makes you wonder whether your trees and flowers are doing more than drinking and breathing out there. And people talk to flowers, don’t they?

Pick up a copy of The Terra Debacle by Marcha Fox and prepare for some unique and titillating sci-fi entertainment. It will definitely give you topics for discussion and food for thought to share with fellow readers and science lovers alike.

The first time I got the point of science fiction was when I went to see the film The Quatermass Experiment about ten years ago. Ignorance of both science and science fiction was forgotten. I was hooked. And the best thing I've experienced since then is The Terra Debacle (a book I received as a gift), a brilliantly conceived and finely crafted creation by Marcha Fox. In this tour de force she continually stunned my senses with her combination of scintillating science, communication skills, sheer virtuosity of style and side-splitting humor. The star turn is Thyron. He is a peda flora telepathis: that is, a bipedal telepathic who picks up information remotely (reminds me of my late Aunt Stella, except that Stella, to the best of my knowledge, was not a plant, which Thyron is).

The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51 is a joy, a must-read.