The Pellet of At

The Pellet of At is a fantasy novel for young adults by T. G. Vanini.

Freda would rather be milking Aphids. Bab never misses a chance to rebel. And Xalababl is fresh from his Cocoon. But the future of two war-ravaged cities depends on these three young Ants.

As the evil Queen Paua’s Army Ants rampage through the streets of Aphidopolis, Freda faces up to her responsibilities as her town’s last surviving Virgin Queen and escapes.

Far away in the underground city of At, happy-go-lucky Xalababl sets off on a mysterious mission for Sassa Fras, the powerful sister of the Queen. Xalababl’s sister Bab commits a brazen and unforgivable theft.

The three weave a path through prison, a desperate flight across a stream, and uncomfortable proximity to a deadly duel between two Queens.

The Pellet of At makes vivid the actual emotional, social and sensory world of ants, told from within. So it’s in the tradition of Watership Down; in tone it more resembles the Redwall series, not least in its leavening of humor and songs. It weighs in at about 90,000 words.

T. G. Vanini says, “I’ve long thought that the complex and varied societies of ants would make a good setting for a series of novels. As I learned more about ants I realized how rich are their emotional lives and how sophisticated their chemical communications, and was compelled to write this tale.”