Customer Reviews

The Doom Machine

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mark Teague's work --- his artwork, at any rate --- is instantly recognizable to anyone who has known a kid in the last dozen years. His hilariously inventive illustrations for such books as HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT? tell stories in their own right. Now, with THE DOOM MACHINE, his first work of intermediate fiction, Teague proves that his storytelling skills don't start and stop with illustrations, but he is quite a talented writer as well.

Let me set the scene for you. The year is 1956: the dawn of the Cold War and the height of the country's infatuation with all things outer space. Jack Creedle is a paper delivery boy in the small town of Vern Hollow. He tries to stay one step ahead of the town police chief (and the chief's bullying son, Grady) while not worrying his well-meaning mom too much and spending as much time as he can "borrowing" supplies from the local junkyard to fix up old cars. Perhaps inspired by his Uncle Bud, a dedicated inventor, Jack is a talented, budding mechanic. So it's good thing that he's around when Dr. Shumway and her daughter roll into town and can't roll back out again because their car has broken down. Young Isadora is an aspiring scientist --- with some surprising skills --- who looks up to her accomplished mother but wishes she had a little more excitement in her life.

It turns out that Isadora is about to find excitement in spades. There have been recent reports of extraterrestrial activity in Vern Hollow, and, although Dr. Shumway and Isadora don't believe a thing until they have found empirical evidence, pretty soon empirical evidence finds them. Determined to escape from the quarantine imposed by the Outer Space Division of the U.S. Army, they load up Dr. Shumway's newly souped-up station wagon with Uncle Bud and his destabilizer machine (cleverly disguised as a refrigerator) in tow. When they encounter an alien search party, they (and the extremely valuable machine that can create holes in space) find themselves taken on board the huge flying saucer, prisoners of a ruthless alien commander named Xaafuun who just can't stand "ooman bings."

Mark Teague's debut novel is a nonstop adventure, a wild and whimsical joy ride through time and space. What's remarkable is how Teague manages to include semi-serious ideas about time travel, quantum mechanics and relativity into what is, in the final analysis, an exuberantly ridiculous plot, an homage to the adventure stories of yore. In the style of old 1950s science fiction television shows and movies, THE DOOM MACHINE is a crazy combination of fact and fiction (okay, mostly fiction) as Jack and company encounter dozens of different alien species as they careen through space on an interstellar journey that none of them (or any of Teague's readers) will soon forget.

And, of course, the novel just wouldn't be complete without Teague's own numerous illustrations scattered throughout, bringing to life even more vividly the crazy worlds of his imagination.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

During the 1950s, Earth was visited by giant monster alien spiders planning to take over the entire universe, when they made off with a common household appliance!
Sort of.

What really happens is a little more complicated, but only if you ask the right people, like Jack Creedle, the kid mechanic in Vern Hollow, or Isadora Shumway, or her mother, a scientist who found herself stuck in Vern Hollow with a bunch of crazy people who think there are aliens. You might also ask Joe, the homeless guy who seems to know an awful lot about aliens, and not just the skreeps (those giant spiders I mentioned). The guy to ask about the fridge would be its inventor, Jack's uncle Bud.

Even though it looks like a common refrigerator at first glance, it's actually an amazing scientific invention that would allow spaceships to navigate freely through wormholes and stuff -- meaning that, if the skreeps get it, they could go anywhere in the universe in a moment. And guess what? The skreeps get it. They also get Jack, his uncle, Isadora, her mom, Joe, and the cop and his son.
Can you imagine -- stuck on a spaceship, watching Earth get smaller, with bunches of evil giant spiders, and nothing to eat but what giant spiders eat????!!

It's a good thing Jack and Isadora are a good team. First they manage to repair the ship in a timeless moment before it crash lands and before anyone notices (don't ask, you'll only get confused), then they manage to escape onto Arboria and find the local rebels while skillfully evading their skreep pursuers (and the cop and his son), and they make friends with a cool scary ultra-powerful monster, then they manage to get off of Arboria, then they-- wait, you're going to read it, aren't you? I'll stop there.

With skreeps and tree things and hoolies and time paradoxes, you're in for a few bursts of creativity among snatches of 'Oh My Darling Clementine' and 'Leaving Cheyenne' from Joe. To make it even better, you don't have to moan through Jack and Isadora's thoughts about each other, because real stuff is happening!

The spiders are a little scary, especially the commander of the ship, Xaafuun, eager to please her queen with gifts of the ultimate fridge and a handful of Uurthlings. But they aren't all bad -- you'll have to read it to find out about that!

Has your refrigerator been making weird sounds lately? Because mine has, and frankly, I'm a little worried.

This book took me back several years to when science fiction was starting with aliens and kidnapping and space ships! Not exactly 'literature', but fun to read, no matter how unlikely the action is! As the 'hero' and his friend are both young, I can't tell for whom the book was written, but enjoyed it anyhow.

Jack Creedle is a kid who can fix any engine going. His Uncle Bud has a secret invention that could change the universe. Scientist Dr Shumway and her daughter, Isadora, had their car break down just as they got into town.

Jack saw a flying saucer land in the woods as he was delivering papers. The commander of the saucer, Xaafun, appeared on local TV to reassure the 'ooman bings' that they mean no harm, a blatant lie as they mean to conquer 'uurth' as soon as they get Uncle Bud's invention. They intend to take it to the home planet, make a lot of copies, then grab as many planets as they wish. (As the skreeps look like giant spiders and are extremely ruthless, this did not reassure the town inhabitants, and most left.)

Jack fixes the Shumway's car, but is caught speeding by Sergeant Webb and his son, Grady. As Jack isn't old enough to have a license, he takes off and gets away. Isadora was with him.

The army comes to town to fight the skreeps. In the meantime, Jack, Isadora, Uncle Bud and his invention, and the Webbs are kidnapped by the skreeps and off they go through the universe. It turns out that Bud's invention was secretly funded by the skreeps as it will make traveling from system to system much faster. The skreeps life style is to ruin one planet, then take over another for themselves. Bud keeps stalling them on copying, saying he needs one thing and another!

After many adventures on different planets, it all ends well. The skreeps are defeated on their home planet, and the ooman bings are safe!

This is a good book to read if you like science fiction. It certainly isn't deep, and not much science, but it is entertaining. Kind of like some of the old pulp magazine stories.

It's 1956, and the small town of Vern Hollow is about to be the epicenter of an alien invasion. Newspaper boy Jack Creedle is out on his route one morning when he sees a flying saucer land in the forest. But the tale he tells is met with skepticism, as Jack has had a bit of prior trouble with telling the truth, a trait that seems to run in his immediate family. Joined by a new friend, the stranded Isadora Shumway, Jack begins to get to the bottom of the saucer mystery, only to realize that the UFO sighting is just the beginning of a grand interstellar adventure that will take him from one end of the galaxy to the next.

"The Doom Machine" is written with gentle humor and a fond affection for all of the traditional tropes of 1950's-era pulp science-fiction. The characters are well-developed, the dialogue is crisp, and the plot careens along from one adventure to the next, leaving the reader clamoring for the next chapter. Author and artist Mark Teague keeps things moving right along, spicing up the text along the way with dozens of black and white illustrations depicting the action and scenery. The ending ties things up neatly, but leaves plenty of loose ends upon which to base a sequel.

Good job all around on this book. I'll admit that I have a personal fondness for this kind of pulp space-opera, but this book kind of transcended the genre in some ways. The story may be set in 1956, but the writing itself is fresh and lively, with enough of a basis in hard science to keep the whole premise together. My 14 year-old daughter tried to read this and put it down at first, so I can't comment on it from a YA perspective. It may be that the setting and subject matter are a little too obscure for her, but it rang true to my late-model baby-boomer self. If you're like me and you can remember catching a few black and white sci-fi classics on Saturday afternoon TV, then this book is right up your alley.

I think my daughter is going to take another crack at this book, and if she does then I'll let her add an update to the review. In my opinion, it's pretty awesome, so I'm giving it the 5-star treatment. One last thing, the book is beautifully bound and illustrated with high-quality paper. I'm impressed all the way around. Good job, Blue Sky Press!

Recommended.

"The Doom Machine" is about a small town that receives some visitors looking for a "special item". An unlikely group of people must work together to stop these visitors from accomplishing their agenda in regard to planet Earth. The adventure takes them to strange places and hardships must be endured.

If I did believe in aliens, spiders would definitely be one of the worse ones! I wasn't sure I was going to like this book well enough to read it. I love star wars, but I am not really into sci-fi that much. I read it anyway. I actually liked it! Part of the reason I liked it was because some of the characters were science nerds, and I tend to like nerds. The only bone I have to pick is with the Creedle family. They make light of breaking the law in some cases. It is one thing to have broken the law, but another to make light of it. That factor aside, I liked the story. Aside from an accasional scientific word or alien dialogue, the reading itself is easy. I would say 8-12 year-olds would like this book. There are some sketches scattered throughout the book, which I always like.

Okay, so everyone else is making comparisons to this book, so here's my take on it: It's X-Files meets Men in Black, meets A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets any of a number of current space alien cartoon shows. Sounds like a mess, right? Not really. Teague does a wonderful job creating a space tale that zips along at the speed of light while providing us with a dazzling array of creatures and some uncommon protagonists that really capture the imagination. This is a classic story of alien invasion that goes more than just a bit wonky when the dreaded Skreeps ( a race of spider-like creatures characterized by selfishness and greed) land in the small town of Vern Hollow in 1956.

Jack and Isadora, his uncle, her mother and their rooster Milo find themselves transported into space on an adventure that takes them to many planets and many times. This science fiction book is kind of light on the science although there are some really good time travel moments that are sure to get some scientific minds percolating! Most of the time, it borders on the ridiculous, but who cares? The adventure is the star of this show and this book serves up plenty of action all the way up to the end. The violence for the most part is cartoony, except at the end where things get a bit intense and one scene when the Skreep captain eats part of one of her troops. Yuck.

Jack is an uncommon hero for a childrens book. He has a criminal past and doesn't really apologize for it. According to him, that's just who he is. He soon shows himself to be a youngster of uncommon courage and brains no matter what everyone else seems to think of him. Isadora is a perfect foil in that she provides the voice of reason and is always willing to give Jack a chance. They make a charming pair to lead the reader through such a wild adventure.

My only reservation about the book is that it seemed a bit long. Toward the end I found myself skipping ahead a bit because I was getting a bit weary of these obnoxious Skreeps and wanted the kids to go ahead and save the day already. This will probably not be a problem for the kids who read this book - they will no doubt be fixated on every page. A good recommend for 5th to 7th graders who like sci fi and fantasy.

Published for ages 8-12, Mark Teague's Doom Machine novel is a Science Fiction outer-space story for all ages. I just loved this old-fashioned retro 1950's small town America story filled with humor, adventure, and science, accompanied with great black and white illustrations drawn by the author himself.

It's 1956 in a town called Vern Hollow, a Mayberry RFD kind of rural community with a delightful cast of characters . Our very young hero, Jack Creedle is a juvenile delinquent always crossing the line of obedience and is forever running from the law complete with hightop sneakers. However, he is also the best crackerjack auto mechanic in the county who can hotwire or rev up any vehicle made, with or without wheels. Jack's ornery sarcastic mom runs the town Inn, and Jack helps by earning his keep as a paperboy. Getting up at the crack of dawn each day to the crowing of his cranky old Rooster named Milo, Jack tosses the news from his bicycle onto every resident's porch before school.

Enroute to Boston, Isadora Shumway and her astrophysicist mother crawl into Vern Hollow in a limping old woody station wagon in need of dire repair. Finding it unusual that the only town monkey wrench is a child, and upset that the job will take a few days to fix, Isadora and Mrs. Shumway settle in to the Inn to wait until Jack can find auto parts to do the job.

One day as Jack is delivering the daily news, the sky is suddenly filled with a strange and eerie light. The town folk look up and see their very first authentic flying saucer. An alien soon appears on national television letting America know they are here, and they are real! Hell breaks loose in Vern Hollow and the US army comes to set up base in Jack's living room, informing him that there is an alien invasion and that the woods around the town are swarming with giant alien spiders called Skreeps. They have come from light-years away from a far galaxy, for a secret item. A mechanical invention that they know exists on earth and was created to help them with a most perplexing space travel problem.

The adventure soon begins as Jack's uncle Bud, who is a secret rocket scientist and brilliant inventor, is taken hostage along with Jack and the Shumways. The aliens find their device, built by Uncle Bud for an unknown Mr. X who promised to pay big if built correctly, and whisk them all up into outer space for the greatest sci-fi extravaganza for kids I've seen in years. Their new home is the flying saucer of wonders filled with ugly spiders manning the navigation across the universe. Zipping past stars, diving into black holes, flying without gravity inside time tunnels, are just some of the scary and exciting escapades Isadora and Jack experience as they finagle and escape from some pretty tight jams and death defying stunts. Their mission is to save Earth, and themselves by using Uncle Bud's Doom Machine to unravel the mysteries of space travel at the hands of some not so benevolent very big spiders!

I felt greatly entertained and was delighted with this fun story of an intergalactic journey to outer space. Two thumbs up, l look forward to another book by this author.

I got this for my nephew, who is slightly learning disabled, and so I checked it out before presenting it to him.
I was delighted. A slightly skewed story that teaches some meaningful lessons while never quite taking itself seriously. Great for adolescents and not too bad for an old geezer like me. The characters quickly grow on you and you feel their nervousness as their predicament escalates. Great ending. I really enjoyed it. I'm sure my nephew will too.

I grew up a bit later than this period, but the atmosphere of this book made me nostalgic.
I don't go into the details because other reviewers did great job.
I just want to add that it's a good book for boys between 4th and 8th grader. The story is funny and adventurous, but sometimes becomes too silly for grown ups like me. However, that is something I would've enjoyed when I was around 10. The illustrations by Mark Teaque are great, too. I like the fact the book also deals with social issues.

Overall, a very good Sci-Fi book for children.

This is a fun retro, sci-fi novel. The story takes place in the 1950's with a mechanically-minded juvenile deliquent boy and a logically-minded scientist's daughter girl who have to save the earth from the spiderish aliens from Skreepia who want to take over the earth. The book reminded me a bit of A Wrinkle in Time as they travel to several planets and meet some interesting aliens and cultures. It's a little slow to start but great fun once you get into it. I think it will appeal to middle-graders who like a long, involved book with lots of action and adventure.