A Maggot by John Fowles

I’m tempted to describe A Maggot, John Fowles’s peculiar 1985 novel, as a “first contact” story. Fans of science fiction are familiar with these tales of aliens arriving on Planet Earth, bringing peace or war or merely an ominous black monolith. The plot has been reworked countless times, with everyone from H.G. Wells to Carl Sagan, speculating on the i…