[1] Science fiction author Michael Swanwick said, in an overview of McDevitt's work, "Jack's first novel, The Hercules Text, appeared in 1986 as an Ace Special, putting him in the august company of such luminaries as William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Lucius Shepard.

Unlike typical first contact stories, there is no dialogue between the senders of the message and mankind, as the received radio signals have traveled through space for one and a half million years.

The message is received with a large radio telescope, the fictional Hercules Array, which was built on the far side of the Moon.

Later, more complex information is found, e.g., parts of the sender's DNA, schematics for very advanced technology, philosophical texts or poems.

The story received some changes, taking into account the end of the Cold War and some technical developments such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Internet.