Mystery Hill [hc] [Hardcover]

Alexander Irvine (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 86 pages
• Publisher: PS Publishing; First edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906301395
• ISBN-13: 978-1906301392
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,555,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Native of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Writer of books, comics, games etc. Fan of Detroit sports, any and all soccer. PhD, former professor. Father of three. Resident of Maine. Favorite writers, in no particular order: Cervantes, Borges, Murakami, Dick, Pynchon, Herriman, Chaucer, Kelly. Ask me again tomorrow, the list would be slightly different.

Some favorite books, not written by people on the previous list (but all written by people who might have been on the list on a different day), and again in no particular order: Sarah Canary, Gould's Book of Fish, Geek Love, Midnight's Children, Song of Solomon...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A good science fiction novella, June 21, 2011

By 

"Seregil of Rhiminee" (Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mystery Hill [signed jhc] (Hardcover)

I haven't read anything by Alex Irvine prior to reading Mystery Hill, so I can't say anything about his other books and stories, but what I can say is that Mystery Hill is a good science fiction novella. I enjoyed reading it.

Mystery Hill is a story about a Vietnam veteran Ken Kassarjian, who runs a roadside attraction called Mystery Hill where water runs uphill and other strange things happen too. Ken's had to deal with different kind of people. One of these people is Little Boozy Boswell, who's Boozy by name and decidedly boozy by nature and makes his own kind of alien tea. Another one is Vera of the Forked Tongue, who believes she's a Reptilian alien. Things begin to change in Mystery Hill when Ken meets a young and attractive physicist, Fara Oussemitski, who comes to study the area with her scientific instruments. Ken gradually begins to notice that things are weirder than what they seem to be.

When I read Mystery Hill I thought that the author had written a homage to The X-Files, because the story reminded me of some of the episodes I've seen. It especially reminded me of the episodes written by Darin Morgan, because it contained the same kind of weird humour as these episodes. This novella was of course totally different than Darin Morgan's episodes, but the weird and fascinating atmosphere of it made me think of those episodes.

The main character, Ken Kassarjian, was an interesting man. I liked the way Alex Irvine described Ken's feelings about things and other characters. The other characters were also interesting, especially Little Boozy who seemed to be a disgusting man.

As I mentioned earlier I enjoyed reading this novella. The story was fascinatingly weird and it contained some humour. In my opinion Alex Irvine has managed to write a good and entertaining novella, which is a bit different from other new science fiction novellas. This novella shows that Alex Irvine has a good imagination and he can make the usual science fiction clichés work in his favour. I can recommend this novella to science fiction fans, who enjoy reading something a bit different.