The Bug Light Room

About the Book

With so much apparent alien activity and presence on our planet, what would happen if an American actually took a swing at a UFO and landed a punch? Who in Washington would take that call? What would such a government agency look like? How would it function in such a crisis? How would the aliens respond? This is the nexus of this novel. This disaster occurs in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest two weeks before a close Presidential election. The incumbent President tries to keep a lid on the events that start erupting in southern Indiana in the wake of the UFO’s destruction. The aliens pursue the wannabe militia-men Jimmie Hatter and his buddy Brian Spangle who inadvertently destroyed an alien space craft. But so does a super-secret U.S. agency called ORA (Office of Retrieval and Analysis). The frantic search for the perpetrators is punctuated by explosions, firestorms and mysterious deaths the President and ORA seek to keep under wraps two weeks before the election. At the same time Indiana’s Governor Kasson of the opposite party senses a cover-up revolving around the mysterious and frightening happenings in his state and tries to unmask them to benefit his own re-election and elevate his standing by bringing down the President. In this riveting narrative, the author connects the dots regarding phenomenon reported by Americans for decades but denied by authorities. The narrative evokes some unsettling possibilities about the presence of aliens, strange creatures and what may be the real reasons behind the alien presence on earth. In the mayhem of events in this novel, will these secrets be revealed? Will the President be re-elected? Will Governor Kasson triumph? How prepared are we for the alien challenge? And what happens to our hapless, inadvertent protagonists Jimmie and Brian; two sympathetic, deplorable roofers who just wanted to defend the country, but must flee for their lives.

About the Author

Gregg M. McManus was born and raised in Indiana, spending nearly half of his life in the Indianapolis region and half in Evansville. McManus earned a Bachelor’s Degree in history and political science from Butler University, a Master’s Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Indiana University. He served as an assistant to U.S. Senator Birch Bayh (IN) in Washington during the Watergate era. He returned to Indiana to begin work over the next twenty-six years as manager, director or vice president of government & public affairs at Vectren Corporation and its predecessor companies; working with and lobbying federal, state and local officials on a wide variety of public policy issues. He traveled hundreds of times through southern Indiana on his way from Indianapolis to Evansville. Since 2004 he has taught over eighty courses in American History to the Present at the University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana. His interest in astronomy and the UFO phenomenon dates back to his childhood when he could first observe the satellite “Sputnik” cross the night sky. Much of this book results from an application of his knowledge of government and public policy as it might be directed at the UFO phenomenon. Gregg and his wife Jane Hackett-McManus currently reside in Peterborough, New Hampshire, although they have kept their home in Indiana.