Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores, May 2026

“Global Warming Is a Hoax Says the Alien in the Spare Bedroom” by Larry Hodges

Reviewed by David Wesley Hill

As per a quote attributed to Mark Twain, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” The older I get, the more I realize the same is true for science fiction. Each generation of writers asks similar questions, and come up with stories appropriate for their times. Which is why, perhaps, I felt such a strong sense of déjà vu while reading the May offering of Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, “Global Warming Is a Hoax Says the Alien in the Spare Bedroom” by Larry Hodges, an enjoyable tale, silly in a good way, whose title gives away the entire plot except for the fact that the alien has a sort of built-in MIB neuralizer, which allows him to bunk with the protagonist for ten years while he and one billion other ETs attempt to xenoform the Earth to a more comfortable 130° F. Finally, I went to my bookshelf and took down my copy of William Tenn’s classic collection, The Wooden Star, and re-read the short story, “Will You Walk a Little Faster.” Sure enough, the aliens in this story were trying to chivy humanity along to extinction, too, only back in 1951 we were concerned about atomic destruction … and nowadays, while we still fret about the bomb, climate change probably tops our lists of worries, at least it’s at the head of my angst list. Similar stories … different generations … it rhymes, it rhymes … Anyway, “GWIAHSTAINSB” ends with a soupçon of hope, which I appreciated, and I can recommend the story as a light, amusing read with a very serious kernel of truth at its heart.