Alien Archives: Eighteen Stories of Extraterrestrial Encounters Paperback | Kindle
Written by Robert Silverberg
Publisher: Three Rooms Press
Release date: October 29, 2019
Alien Archives: Eighteen Stories of Extraterrestrial Encounters is a career-spanning collection highlighting some of the best science fiction short stories and novellas from celebrated author Robert Silverberg. With all-new forwards from the author himself, readers are given greater insight into the motivations and process behind each story.
There is quite the variety of tales being told here, too. Some of these stories are humorous slices of life while others trend to darker tales of survival. Some are told from an alien point of view while others focus on the human beings affected by their encounters. But, despite these differences in style and theme, all the stories are believably written with sympathetic protagonists with whom you can easily relate, regardless of species.
Every once in a while I have an author, or their representative, reach out to me regarding a new book they want introduced to our readers. That being said, while I try to read everything that is sent to me, I don’t always get a chance to review the works for one reason or another. When Kaylan Amberik‘s husband sent me a message and a link, I was intrigued about her short story compilation she aptly named Night Light. I will admit, in this case, I definitely judged a book by its cover. The gaslight featured so prominently drew me in and piqued my curiosity.
A small book — actually it’s essentially a novella-length work — it contains ten tales that range from just a trio of pages to those of a more standard length short story. Some seem like modern fiction with a dark twist, whereas others have a very Poe-like quality to them (I must also say that I’m writing this review on what would be his 205th birthday). Having said this, I do want to call out a few of my favorite stories here, without spoilers (of course).
One of the greatest authors ever to live and master of the fictional realms, Ray Bradbury is set to begin shopping around a new mini-series pitch to television networks. The plan is to make a six-hour, six-part series based on six of his classic short stories, and to get six different directors to construct them.
Bradbury, who is now 89-years-old, embarks on this new journey after an agreement was reached with the newbie movie company White Oak Films. If a network decides that they want to be a part of the project, negotiations will begin and directors will be scouted. Supposedly, the directors brought onto the project will get to choose their favorite Bradbury story to adapt into one of the segments.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press