Planet of the Owls

Oxford, England: Marcus (who works part-time at the falafel kiosk in town) awakens to find a giant black and white bird at his window. He's sure that's what he sees: a giant bird with feathers that throb with sinister portent. He shakes himself awake and gets ready for work, unaware that his world no longer exists. Beijing, China: Su-Ki Chin (a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl) stands at the bus stop with her schoolmates, but their bus never arrives. Returning home, she finds the family chickens have gone berserk, chasing her brothers around the yard and leaving her parents for dead. It's like she's in a dream-the chickens tower over her terrified brothers. She will soon become one of those hybrid birds. Planet of the Owls, a new genreclectic novel by UK-based artist/writer Mike Philbin, is a split-narrative story that tells of the time-and-space traveling powers of the Gods who have finally arrived on planet Earth in the guise of birds.