Currently I'm reading: Jenseits vom Tatort by Horst Brandt
Bloglovin
Page visits
Follow me on
Showing posts with label alien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alien. Show all posts
7 February 2016
Title
| The Tommyknockers |
Author
| Stephen King |
Publisher
| GP Putnam's Sons |
Publication Date
|
November 1987
|
Pages
| 558 |
Genre
| horror, alien |
Description (from Amazon)
Everything is familiar. But everything has changed.
Coming back to the little community is like walking into a nightmare for Jim Gardener, poet, drunk, potential suicide.
It all looks the same, the house, the furniture, Jim's friend Bobbi, her beagle (though ageing), even the woods out at the back.
But it was in the woods that Bobbi stumbled over the odd, part-buried object and felt a peculiar tingle as she brushed the soft earth away.
Everything is familiar. But everything is about to change.
My thoughts
King on best form here.
He brings us (once more) to a small town in Maine called Haven. This is where Roberta 'Bobbi' Anderson lives on an inherited farm. In the first few chapters of the book, the story is set when Bobbi walks into the woods with her dog and sees a piece of metal sticking out of the forest grounds. Curious, she examines it and finds that it is much bigger then she initially thought (not a tin can!) and she starts digging around it.
Almost straight away, she feels a compulsion to continue digging. But this is not the only change. She also seems to have strange abilities, being able to repair household items and invent things for example a type-writer who writes by purely her thoughts. Bobbi's friend James Gardner ('Gard'), an alcoholic and almost of the brink of suicide, visits her and starts digging with her, but he is unaffected from the changes happening as he has a large steel plate in his head, courtesy of a skiing accident in his youth.
The book is separated in 3 parts. Part 1 deals with Bobbi and Gard, how Bobbi finds the object and a bit of a background story on Gard (great descriptions again here of the fallout of alcoholism). Part 2 introduces us to the people in town and what is happening to each of them. Part 3 is the conclusion and what's happening once the object is fully out of the ground. It also sees the 'resurrection' of Gard who spends the first 2 parts in a bit of a drunken stupor.
I loved it, I never got bored and felt the story moves along nicely. There is a bit of a dip in the middle, but the middle deals with how people in town are effected and all the strange things they do, and that makes a very interesting read. The conclusion also left me satisfied. On a whole, what makes it scary is that it is actually a believable story. Even though King is talking Aliens here, it all takes place on our planet earth and happens to ordinary people.
25 May 2014
Title
|
This Changes Everything
|
Author
| Sally Ember |
Publisher
| Amazon |
Publication Date
|
18 Dec 2013
|
Pages
| 381 |
Genre
| Sci-Fi, Alien |
Blurb:
Many Worlds Collective Chooses Dr. Clara Branon, Ph.D., as 1st Liaison!
Are You Ready for the Changes?
Sci-fi, Romance, Paranormal, Aliens, Multiverse, Utopian, Speculative ten-Volume Series for Adults, New and Young Adults: The Spanners, starts with This Changes Everything.
Find out how Earthers cope with becoming a member of the Many Worlds Collective. Read how multiverse timulter, Dr. Clara Branon, Earth's first Chief Communicator, deals with being with/not being with her on/off love, Epifanio Dang. Meet Esperanza Enlaces, her Chief Media Contact, Clara's son, Zephyr, and the rest of her family and friends to find out how they deal with the psi wars and psiskills training programs and the thousands of other changes in Volumes I - X of The Spanners Series, starting in late 2013 - 2018, with one new Volume every six months.
Are You Ready for the Changes?
Sci-fi, Romance, Paranormal, Aliens, Multiverse, Utopian, Speculative ten-Volume Series for Adults, New and Young Adults: The Spanners, starts with This Changes Everything.
Find out how Earthers cope with becoming a member of the Many Worlds Collective. Read how multiverse timulter, Dr. Clara Branon, Earth's first Chief Communicator, deals with being with/not being with her on/off love, Epifanio Dang. Meet Esperanza Enlaces, her Chief Media Contact, Clara's son, Zephyr, and the rest of her family and friends to find out how they deal with the psi wars and psiskills training programs and the thousands of other changes in Volumes I - X of The Spanners Series, starting in late 2013 - 2018, with one new Volume every six months.
My review:
Finally, a Sci-Fi Series that is not exclusively aimed at teenager. Don't get me wrong, there is a market and this book can be read by everyone. But it does challenge you mentally. What I like is that the main characters are not teenagers caught in some intergalactic wars.
Dr Clara Ackerman Branon, a middle aged Ph.D. school teacher, narrates the book (in most parts). She gets contacted by aliens from the MWC = Many World Collective. Led, Mick, Ringo and Janis - Diana (as Clara names them *geddit?*) appear to Clara in her bedroom as holograms and tell her that she is chosen to be earth's first Chief Communicator with the MWC. They have come to prepare earth for membership of the MWC. Clara is not too spooked by their appearance, as she had visions since childhood. For me, she is a very likeable character and I took to her straight away - she has a great sense of humour.
These aliens are actually friendly, and want to help earth and all its inhabitants (and that incl human and all other life) to live peacefully together. Reference John Lennon and "Image" here! Being aware of everything that went on at earth, they feel now the time is right to come forward and help earth with its transition to a more peaceful future.
While the book in most parts is narrated by Clara, the chapters are also interlace with interviews, press conferences and diary entries written by others. This may sound confusing and it was at first when I read the contents pages. But the title of each chapter, whilst long, explains exactly what it is, so you will always now where and when you are. And there are a lot of ideas to take in, so a very helpful section at the end explains main phrases / concepts / abbreviations. But while it challenges your reading experience, it is not difficult to get your head around the ideas presented here.
I found the idea that the MWC have been watching earth and are responsible for some of the disasters on earth (when things have gone wrong…) thought-provoking and absorbing. The concept of 'timulting' was more difficult for me to take in - Clara (and others) can see different timelines at any one stage. And than there is Clara's love interest Epifanio whom she is / isn't married to depending what timeline she is in and I struggled a bit with it. But I think I 'got' it at the end. I loved the idea of a 're-set' on your life where you can change an event once. For Clara, that was the fact that she had a car accident as a teenager which left her with a degree of disability, which than ruled her life. When she can 're-set' this event and watches how her life plays out without this disability in a different timeline, she realises that she would certainly be more outgoing, but the life of those around her (mostly her son) would also change significantly - at a price. Loved that. So, would you 're-set' if you could?
This book is the foundation for the Spanners Series, and while I understand that the following books can be read independently, I really think one ought to read Vol I to get the main ideas and concepts on which the author can now build upon. There is certainly a lot of scope to develop the ideas introduced in Vol I.
About the author:
Biography
21 May 2014
Title
|
Dreamcatcher
|
Author
| Stephen King |
Publisher
| Scribner |
Publication Date
|
20 March 2001
|
Pages
| 900 |
Genre
| Sci-Fi |
Blurb:
In Derry, Maine, four young boys once stood together and did a brave thing. something that changed them in ways they hardly understand.
A quarter of a century later, the boys are men who have gone their separate ways. Though they still get together once a year, to go hunting in the north woods of Maine. But this time is different. This time a man comes stumbling into their camp, lost, disorientated and muttering about lights in the sky.
Before long, these old friends will be plunged into the most remarkable events of their lives as they struggle with a terrible create from another world. Their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past - and in the Dreamcatcher.
My review:
Yes, this book is advertised as a sci-fi story and yes, there are 'aliens' and strange creatures who land in the woods and start to mess around with people, but for me, this book really is about lifelong friendship.
The story starts off again in Derry / Maine (the fictional town where many of Stephen King's books are based). As teenagers, Gary '"Jonesy" Jones, Pete Moore, Joe "Beaver" Clarendon and Henry Devlin rescue teen Douglas "Duddits" Cavell, who has Down's Syndrome, from sadistic bullies. All five become firm friends. The four boys move away from Derry and only Duddits remains there. However, they do meet up once a year to hunt in the Maine Woods. Only this time it's different. Alien species who landed in the woods who are infecting all humans and animals in the woods. 'Shit Weasel' (as the boys call it because it excites the human from the back passage and killing the human in the process) is an alien worm escaped / launched from the spacecraft. Than there is Colonel Kurtz and the Army - it seems the authorities are aware of this spacecraft and the trouble it causes. And they are determined to get rid of all the humans who were in the woods and potential witnesses.
There are flashbacks where the boys reveal each their individual stories and demons they have to cope with. Duddits, who is not with them on this trip, can feel they are in trouble. Duddits has always been able to 'see' things which others can't and he is the only one who can safe all.
The German translation of the book is called Duddits, which I find quite appropriate as he is the hero in this story. Him, and the lasting friendship and connections between the boys / men. It is reported that King wrote this book when recovering from his serious car accident in 1999, and that the book was finished in 1/2 year. It is a large book - 900 pages. In my opinion, King is in fine form again here with this sci-fi alien-inspired story. Aliens and invasion are indeed not a very common topic in King's books (I can't think of any other apart from The Tommyknockers?)
Criticism? I maybe found that it dragged a little bit in the middle. But, hey, there aren't too many books where a person with Down's syndrome is the hero and rescues the world :)
quote:
(Just to show why I love King's writing style so much - not so much of a teaser for this book :)
To Say that Beaver's marriage didn't work would be like saying that the launch of the Challenger space shuttle went a little bit wrong. Joe 'Beaver' Clarendon and Laurie Sue Kenopensky make it through eight months and then kapow, there goes my baby, somebody help me pick up the fuckin pieces.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)