Parking Lot Construction: As part of our ongoing work to maintain and improve Central Library, the parking lot will be closed for construction from Tuesday, July 28, to Saturday, August 1. Visit the Central Library page for more details. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

eBook hoopla Instant

Area 51-1/2

Year

2025

Language

ENGLISH

Publication Information

Schuyler & Sons Publishing

Summary

Area 51-1/2 is a workplace sitcom in prose about the government's third-worst idea this week: a desert daycare for rejected aliens. Each chapter plays like an episode-cold open gag, A/B plot chaos, escalating misfires, a set-piece meltdown, deadpan cover-up, and a tag that sticks the joke. Private Jenkins, a by-the-book rookie turned honorary slime wrangler, tries to keep order under Major Karen Briggs, a hyper-competent babysitter in uniform, while nepo-scientist Dr. Paul Smythe abuses a lab coat like a security blanket. The inmates: Glarnock the oversharing ooze, Klop the conspiracy prophet, Princess Flarnu the royal nightmare, Zorb the involuntary polka machine, Chad (maybe human), and Snorf, an empathic mood grenade. Expect culture-clash snacks, bureaucratic forms for catastrophes, and running bits (vending machines eaten, cargo shorts not invisible). Dry, quick, and straight-faced.

Subjects