St. Augustine author Chris Berman. (Courtesy Chris Berman)

For St. Augustine author Chris Berman, it was planted when he was watching a special on TV about the siafu, a species of ant found in central and east Africa.

“I was fascinated watching how they colonize,” said Berman — not to be confused with the ESPN broadcaster. “I wondered what would happen if they evolved into a sort of collective intelligence.”

And Berman, who had never written a novel before, began working on The Hive, which has just come out as a trade paperback from Express Yourself Publishing, a small house. He is taking the book on the road, and was in Miami over the weekend at Florida SuperCon.

The Hive revolves around a species whose biological imperative is to consume all indigenous life on any planet they invade, and their next target is Earth. Two scientists set out to help stop them, and in the process a love story develops between the two of them.

Berman’s writing career began following a traffic accident — he was riding a bike and was hit by a car. While recuperating, he yearned to read a good science-fiction story, and when he couldn’t find one to his liking, he wrote his own.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I started watching TV, but what I’ve really wanted to do is write.”

Like any good author, Berman used what he knew and incorporated it into his first novel. His background in science directed him toward sci-fi, and one of the major plot points — where both scientists are getting past losing loved ones to accidents — mirror a similar situation for both himself and his new wife, Larisa. In addition, the woman scientist in the story is, like his wife, from The Ukraine.

Things have gone pretty quickly for Berman since writing The Hive. His second novel, Red Moon, comes out in the fall.