Hard Landing

By Algis Budrys

Book Overview

A science fiction adventure told from the point of view of aliens who crash-land on Earth and must assimilate in secret-until their human cover is blown

Budrys's final novel opens with the report of a man found electrocuted on suburban train tracks in Shoreview, Illinois. Neville Sealman appeared to be just another commuter, but after his tragic death, no one comes forward to claim his body. And a routine autopsy reveals some disturbing physiological anomalies. Then a spaceship is unearthed in a New Jersey swamp. It's the stuff of tabloids-except it's all true.

Years earlier, a starship crash-landed on Earth. Its passengers, human in appearance, were forced to go their separate ways in an alien world. No one knows that these otherworldly visitors have been living among the human race-but now their cover could be blown.

Told in the form of an investigation reconstructed through direct and indirect witness testimony, Hard Landing takes the listener into the minds of its four protagonists as they struggle with the far-reaching ramifications of discovery. This is a suspenseful and revelatory novel about the elusive, ever-changing nature of identity.

• Format: MP3 CD
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1982557583
• ISBN13: 9781982557584
• Release Date: January 2019
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
• Length: 1 Pages

Customer Reviews

Interesting and enjoyable

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.

Welcome Back

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.