Daniel Lawrence Abrams’ Aliens Venmoed Me a Trillion Dollars is a wild, brainy, satirical sci-fi romp that fuses conspiracy theory, first contact, government paranoia, and millennial tech cynicism into a sharp and hilarious short story. It follows Doug, a skeptical YouTuber known for debunking alien myths, and Lena, a brilliant but sidelined astronomer, as they inadvertently find themselves caught in a secret first contact scenario. After a mysterious message, a virus that fries the NSA’s servers, and a string of tragicomic mishaps, including a laser accident involving two federal agents, the couple ends up hiding the evidence and receiving a trillion-dollar alien payout. It’s a tale of proof, power, and what happens when the biggest revelation in history is too dangerous to share.

I laughed a lot. Abrams has this gift for taking a ridiculous premise and grounding it with sharp dialogue and characters who feel real, even when they’re making impossible choices. Doug is a lovable cynic, Lena’s a powerhouse of intellect and heart, and the alien interactions were absurd in the best way. The writing is punchy and fast-paced. I loved the way it leaned into modern tech quirks like FaceTime calls, encrypted clouds, streaming culture, while also throwing in hard sci-fi themes. The pacing kept me on my toes, and I never knew if I was about to chuckle, gasp, or furrow my brow in existential dread. It felt like Black Mirror collided with The X-Files and got notes from Arrested Development.

At times, the sheer amount of pop culture references and winks to the audience took me out of the moment. The breakneck shifts, from deadpan jokes to moral panic to murder cover-ups, could be jarring. But Abrams makes it work. The heart of this story is two people trying to do the right thing when reality breaks all its own rules. And while the aliens remain mysterious, their impact on human lives is very personal and messy, exactly how first contact should feel in our chaotic world.

I’d recommend Aliens Venmoed Me a Trillion Dollars to fans of sci-fi with a sense of humor, people who love a good government conspiracy gone haywire, or anyone who’s ever screamed “what the hell is going on” during a Zoom call. If you like your fiction fast, funny, and full of heart with a layer of “we are definitely not ready for this,” then this story’s for you.

Pages: 60 | ASIN : B0FHCN6H6G