{"description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "The bizarre events that have been occurring across the United States-unexplained \"oddities\" tracked by Air Defense, mysterious disappearances, shocking deaths-seem to have no bearing on Benita Alvarez-Shipton's life. That is, until the soft-spoken thirty-six year-old bookstore manager is approached by a pair of aliens who request that she transmit a \"message of peace\" to the powers-that-be in Washington, D.C. Suddenly an ordinary woman with a poor self-image and low self-esteem has been thrust into the limelight as she leaves behind an unhappy home and marriage to undertake a mission of utmost importance.But this adventure is more perilous and important than Benita can imagine. For the alien envoys have come with a dire warning about another extraterrestrial race: predators whose attention is focussed on Earth-and who may have already made their first \"visit.\""}, "covers": [237979, 380058, 10293251, 10964111], "key": "/works/OL443935W", "authors": [{"type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}, "author": {"key": "/authors/OL18898A"}}, {"type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}, "author": {"key": "/authors/OL14956009A"}}], "title": "The fresco", "subjects": ["Fiction", "Science Fiction", "Women", "Fiction, science fiction, general", "Human-alien encounters", "Fiction, general", "collection:otherwise_tiptree_award=honor"], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "latest_revision": 11, "revision": 11, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2009-10-28T22:02:25.893359"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-10-29T21:10:54.159013"}}