hard landing [Hardcover]

algis budrys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1993

Neville Sealman looked like just another commuter, an ordinary guy - until he died on a suburban Chicago train track, electrocuted in a tragic accident. He had lived alone, and no one came forward to claim his body or sue the transit authority. So his death was, for all intents and purposes, the end of his story. But Neville Sealman's death was only the beginning. Because the routine autopsy performed by the medical examiner revealed an abnormal physiology. And when that startling discovery was added to another one made in the New Jersey pine barrens - the unearthing of a metal-domed spaceship - the authorities could only come to one conclusion: There was other sentient life in the universe, it had come to Earth, and there was every reason to believe that some of those alien visitors were still among us...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 199 pages
• Publisher: Warner; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001J9YRGO
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,571,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome Back, January 11, 2005

By 

H.L. Mencken (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Landing (Questar Science Fiction) (Paperback)

Algis Budrys' first novel to appear in fifteen years, Hard Landing begins with report of an electocuted man found lying on the tracks of the Burrow Street station in Shoreview, Illinois. The story Budrys goes on to tell is a tale ripped from the pages of a supermarket tabloid. A starship crash lands in a New Jersey swamp, its passengers, human in appearence, scatter, each forced to find their own way in an alien world, living the rest of their lives among the human race.

Like much of Budys' best work of the 1960s, Hard Landing expounds on the nature of identity, following its cheif protagonist, Jack Mullica, through a series of adventures after his initial crash landing.

Hard Landing is a welcome addition to Budrys' small but impressive collection of work. Hopefully Budrys, who has never been the most prolific of writers, will not go another fifteen years before releasing his next.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and enjoyable, April 18, 2008

By 

Evan the Dweezil (A Place-Sort Of, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Landing (Questar Science Fiction) (Paperback)

Written in the form of a research journal, Hard Landing contains interviews, personal accounts, and other documentation about five ETs who find themselves in exile on earth during the Cold War.

Unlike so many books, Budrys was able to make the format work while telling the story of what became of the ETs following the crash of their ship right up to their deaths. I've given this book a fifth star, just because the author was masterful enough to make the format work without making his readers crazy.

Each of the characters, even those just briefly in the story, are given good development, which makes this short book very good as well.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Landing By Algis Budry, September 23, 2010

By 

W. Larson "N.M.S" (EARTH - I - THINK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HARD LANDING. (Hardcover)

Hard Landing begins with report of an electocuted man found lying on the tracks of the Burrow Street station in Shoreview, Illinois. The story Budrys goes on to tell is a tale ripped from the pages of a supermarket tabloid. A starship crash lands in a New Jersey swamp, its passengers, human in appearence, scatter, each forced to find their own way in an alien world, living the rest of their lives among the human race.

Like much of Budys' best work of the 1960s, Hard Landing expounds on the nature of identity, following its cheif protagonist, Jack Mullica, through a series of adventures after his initial crash landing.

Hard Landing is a welcome addition to Budrys' small but impressive collection of work. Hopefully Budrys, who has never been the most prolific of writers, will not go another fifteen years before releasing his next.

Stolen Review....At least I admit it !