Synopsis: From the flaps of the AvoNova first edition: "The people of Earth call them "Gods" - handsome, secretive beings who came from the stars to live among humankind. Their motives are unknown - they share little of their knowledge, culture and technology with their inquisitive hosts. But after years spent in quiet, aristocratic isolation, the gods decided to display their artwork. A ship arrives from their world bearing paintings and sculpture of enormous and unsettling power - visual works that evoke intense emotional reactions and communicate startling truths to all who observe them. Almost immediately mass violence and insanity erupt across the globe. Even the gods themselves are unprepared for the chaos their exhibition has wrought - and are forced to flee their adopted planet, abandoning a handful of their race to the vengeful fury of the rampaging mobs. Great cities burn. Societies crumble. A boy recently resurrected from the dead seeks the hidden purpose behind the visitors' mission on Earth. While a tormented intelligence agent, a stranded diplomat and a brilliant alien artist inadvertently conspire to create a potentially enlightening and universally devastating new masterpiece - in anticipation of the catastrophic, inevitable return of the gods."