Cress Kearny

The Mysterians Cress Kearny

Drew is not alone in his quest for dinosaurs amid the tumbled rocks and canyons of eastern Utah-rockhounds have probed these canyons and badlands for half a century and more looking for colorful scraps of agatized dinosaur bone. This time Drew finds something new but very very old: The "AO," an Alien Object from off-Earth. Drew and his two friends have no idea how to handle the discovery. The aftermath and its consequences are the story here, in particular the impact this discovery has on Drew, his sense of alienation now buttressed by his need to become as rational and objective as he believes the real aliens must've been. But where are love and friendship and commonality in such a universe? The story follows him as he slowly realizes that certain attributes are probably universal and may apply equally to intellects on other worlds. And yet although we live our own lives as individuals, they're meaningful largely because of our associations with friends, family and those around us, a very small pool in a very large universe of possibilities. Because all lives everywhere are at core a mystery experienced, the role of faith and belief will always be significant, and with these come all the contradictions and difficulties that belief always brings to self-conscious creatures. Drew's resolution is positive, as is the book's ending. Readers should keep in mind that any serious book needs critical readers looking for a bit of heavy lifting along the way, the difficulties accepted as part of their reward and a reader's contributions necessary for the story's success. Don't expect the "propulsive narrative" some novelists provide. You'll find instead an engagingly literate science fiction story about science, an Alien Object and the human heart, cross-genre speculative fiction that looks in as well as out, science fiction for the informed reader interested in geology, paleontology, philosophy, history, real science, some false-science, and a riveting intellectual yarn.