Fiction/Science Fiction Neighbors J.
N.
Sadler 2012 Xlibris Corp.
111 pages In J.
N.
Sadler's novel, Neighbors, a reclusive man reluctantly enters into the world of alien beings after a brief encounter with his new neighbor.
It is a strange story with a science fiction slant that features abductions and an outrageous amount of pizza consumption.
Oxnard Chockley has lived on Whipple Street his entire life.
He never married.
He lived with his parents until they passed away.
Oxnard never learned to drive, and he still sleeps in the single bed of his youth.
After retiring from the assembly line at Jinx and Dawson Ball Bearing Works, Oxnard spends his days watching television, completing puzzles, caring for his cat, Bacchus, and eating.
Every evening he walks across the street to the neighborhood pizza place and orders dinner.
During one evening excursion to the pizza joint, Oxnard encounters a strange little man dressed in a gray cape.
The man looks severely deformed.
Oxnard greets the odd little man whose voice sounds like an electric whistle.
The man returns the greeting then takes off for the recently sold house in the neighborhood.
When Oxnard returns home with his pizza, his phone begins to ring.
As he looks out of his window at the house the strange man occupies, Oxnard can see the man is on the phone watching him.
Oxnard's solitary life quickly changes.
Later in the night, he is abducted from his home and renamed Number Billion One.
Billion One is transformed into a being much like the strange man he met near the pizza restaurant.
The force that controlled the stranger now controls Billion-One.
His mission is to abduct Billion Two.
But there is a change in plans when Oxnard as Billion One meets Gladiola.
The story gets complicated as Oxnard/Billion One moves back and forth between the world the alien force places him in and his life in his own home.
The mission of the alien force is revealed, but not entirely clarified.
My sense is that this book will be interesting to young adults who enjoy quirky science fiction.
The author has my rapt attention until the alien abductions begin.
While Sandler does impart an interesting twist to eject the socially anxious, isolated Oxnard out of his comfort zone, a little more substance in the plot would have made him a more interesting character.
Neighbors is an unpredictable tale of alien intervention in human lives.
Adult readers may not get it, but younger science fiction lovers should find it appealing.
Melissa Brown Levine for Independent Professional Book Reviewers
N.
Sadler 2012 Xlibris Corp.
111 pages In J.
N.
Sadler's novel, Neighbors, a reclusive man reluctantly enters into the world of alien beings after a brief encounter with his new neighbor.
It is a strange story with a science fiction slant that features abductions and an outrageous amount of pizza consumption.
Oxnard Chockley has lived on Whipple Street his entire life.
He never married.
He lived with his parents until they passed away.
Oxnard never learned to drive, and he still sleeps in the single bed of his youth.
After retiring from the assembly line at Jinx and Dawson Ball Bearing Works, Oxnard spends his days watching television, completing puzzles, caring for his cat, Bacchus, and eating.
Every evening he walks across the street to the neighborhood pizza place and orders dinner.
During one evening excursion to the pizza joint, Oxnard encounters a strange little man dressed in a gray cape.
The man looks severely deformed.
Oxnard greets the odd little man whose voice sounds like an electric whistle.
The man returns the greeting then takes off for the recently sold house in the neighborhood.
When Oxnard returns home with his pizza, his phone begins to ring.
As he looks out of his window at the house the strange man occupies, Oxnard can see the man is on the phone watching him.
Oxnard's solitary life quickly changes.
Later in the night, he is abducted from his home and renamed Number Billion One.
Billion One is transformed into a being much like the strange man he met near the pizza restaurant.
The force that controlled the stranger now controls Billion-One.
His mission is to abduct Billion Two.
But there is a change in plans when Oxnard as Billion One meets Gladiola.
The story gets complicated as Oxnard/Billion One moves back and forth between the world the alien force places him in and his life in his own home.
The mission of the alien force is revealed, but not entirely clarified.
My sense is that this book will be interesting to young adults who enjoy quirky science fiction.
The author has my rapt attention until the alien abductions begin.
While Sandler does impart an interesting twist to eject the socially anxious, isolated Oxnard out of his comfort zone, a little more substance in the plot would have made him a more interesting character.
Neighbors is an unpredictable tale of alien intervention in human lives.
Adult readers may not get it, but younger science fiction lovers should find it appealing.
Melissa Brown Levine for Independent Professional Book Reviewers