She watched a strip of flesh on the table curl up suddenly at the ends as if dropped onto something hot. She looked closely at the severed head and prayed it couldn't be so. Then, she saw the slack lips twitch and the remaining eye in that ruined head, blink slowly.

Part One: The Things

Run. Hide. Pray. If they find you, pray for death. An unthinkable science - and captives held prisoner by an alien race grown from the morally desolate branches of evolution's tree.

Part Two: The Green

When the moons come up, get inside. At night on the jungle-wrapped planet called Verde's Revenge, they avoid the dense and beautiful bush and take refuge in something with solid doors and windows that close tight. It's a good rule to follow. If you forget it - hope death comes quickly.

Part Three: The Cleaving

Hazel's venom-induced visions reveal a new danger, ominous and deadly - and stir memories of long-ago events, grotesque and monstrous.

Author's Note: I finished the first draft of Dominant Species, the original title of the three-volume story, in 1996 and published it a decade later. I then set it aside, which, in my mind, was just the place for it. Never through with - nor satisfied - with the story, I've continued to write it, on and off, since the first draft. This edition, the parts combined, renamed, retitled, and the story restructured, is now in the form first intended for it, and the previous versions have been unpublished. Those who have read and enjoyed the story over the years will find this revised edition, with its present dimensions and shape, an even more exciting and satisfying listen.