Qualiens: The Prolusion I [Paperback]

Michael Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

In Tucson, Arizona, Marland is attempting to contact extraterretrials using a homebrew SETI project. In Indiana, Leah longs to have a baby, but complications arise after her lover departs suddenly with several of her major appliances. Connie has been transplanted from Indiana to South Carolina and then abandoned there by her boyfriend. When Marland succeeds in contacting aliens (who call themselves "Qua") everyone's lives are changed forever in very strange ways. Qualiens consists of three novellas, each complete in itself and together comprising a story of love, lost children, spacetime oddities, fortune telling, burglaries, amateur detectives, Shakespeare, and more love.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author graduated from college and is a member of the Authors Guild of America. He has had many jobs. He is not some amateur, half-hearted weirdo. He is a full-time crank. His name appears on various mailing lists. He lives in motel rooms and does not represent a danger to anyone other than himself.

Product Details

• Paperback: 337 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738819794
• ISBN-13: 978-0738819792
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,639,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tempest in a Teapot, January 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Qualiens: The Prolusion I (Paperback)

This novel begins as a retelling of Shakespeare's <i>The Tempest</i>. I can honestly say that I identified with the main character in that part of the story very much. The other two parts of the story have female protagonists, and I didn't identify with them as much. As an amateur computer programmer, my imagination was captured by the idea that a putterer with a fresh approach might be the first human to contact aliens.

I very much agree with the reviewer who used words like "loopy" and "quirky"; however, I enjoyed the parts about theoretical physics. All in all, I love this book. I think anyone who enjoys the works of Thomas Berger, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Portis, or for that matter Shakespeare would probably enjoy this book. The book is also accessorized by a jewel-like website, qualiens.com.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Guy Can Write!, September 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Qualiens: The Prolusion I (Paperback)

I loved this book! To categorize it as science fiction is to define it too narrowly. Though it is about aliens -the quirky and inscrutable Qua- it's also about real life and love and Big Boggle and books and lots of entertaining stuff. You might want to take the author's advice and skip pages 13 through 16, unless you're the kind of person who reads physics textbooks for fun. But after that it's all snappy dialogue, wit, word play, and a cast of loopy characters who are all heading toward some, as yet unrealized, collision with each other. I can hardly wait for part II to be published. In the meantime, those who like part I can communicate with the author on his website.