Outernet

We are not alone. We might wish that we were... But we're definitely not.

There are some things that exist solely to lampshade, subvert, invert, and generally deconstruct any tropes they come across. This series does that for Space and Science Fiction Tropes.

The series follows fourteen year-old Jack Armstrong, his friends Merle and Lothaf (Loaf) and two Shapeshifting aliens trapped in the form of a dog and cat. After Jack receives The Server, an alien teleportation/database system, the three humans are recruited to prevent The Tyrant's evil plan to steal The Server and thus control the Outernet. (Which is just the outer-space version of the internet). It's Better Than It Sounds, and has some surprising plot twists towards the end. There are seven books in the series.

Tropes used in Outernet include:

• Big Bad: The Tyrant.
• Deadpan Snarker: Loaf, Googie, and the Server's interface, known (ironically) as Help.
• Death World: The Planet Aaaaaargh (with six A's), home to the eyeball-popping razor-toothed ear-drillers.
• Five-Man Band: Jack is The Hero, Merle is The Chick and The Lancer, Googie is The Smart Guy, Bitz is The Big Guy, and Loaf is, well, The Load.
• Fun with Acronyms: The FOEs, the Forces of Evil.
• Lovable Coward: Zodiac Hobo,
• Meaningful Name: Zodiac Hobo.
• Mooks: The Bugs.
• Time Travel: The fourth book.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Googie and Bitz are stuck in the form of a cat and a dog, respectively.
• [spoiler: Stable Time Loop: They create one... accidentally.]
• The Reveal: Who is the Weaver? It will surprise you.