Higher Strangeness

by Eric Bickernicks, Jan Brady

In some eccentric corners of Cape Cod, away from the tourist traps and clam beds, conspiracy theories are more than an internet pastime—they're a way of life. After a bizarre incident at a local diner, Ken Wakeman, a skeptical UFOlogist, and his quirky sidekick, Noodles, find themselves caught in the dark web of the M-Oron network and a shadowy government agency known as OCULUS.

Alien crystals become the new stimulant of choice, transforming those who come in contact with them into intellectual elitists with a taste for jazz. Reporter Melissa "Mel" Howard struggles with the crystals dark side, while conspiracy talk show host Zeke Brandon undergoes a transformation that no one could have predicted.

But when Derek Ungluck, identified as ’The Last Stupid Man On Earth’ resists conforming to the new world order, Ken and Mel must combat this last refuge of irrationality. Is the dream of an intellectual utopia just that—a dream? Dive into this satirical sci-fi adventure, where conspiracy, comedy, and cosmic interference collide.

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2024

About the author

Download High Strangeness for FREE here: http://high-strangeness.net

Cape Cod author. How many stories about dragons, detectives, zombies and vampires does the world need? Trying to supply a change of pace.

Working on Higher Strangeness at the moment.

#offbeat #humor

Reviews

[Dan Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the first book, but, sadly, I thought this one was a pretty poor offering.

I like the authors' writing style but that's really just more of the same as the first book.


Ken and Noodles are really flippant about how they treat the alien bones they rediscover, and it feels like they do this just because the plot demands it.

Long swathes of the story are written from the POV of the OCULUS surveillance system, but it's quite long, dry narration.

Characters are spending a lot of time relaying stories to one another and it gets very repetitive.

The authors obviously want to poke fun at truthers/MAGA types. But in this universe it appears they're right about most of the conspiracies, e.g. OCULUS , so it falls a bit flat.

The lack of involvement from the man-in-black-in-a-hawaain-shirt (another bit that gets repeated ad nauseum) or anyone else from the government, until late in the day seems like a giant plot hole.

At the end, the aliens just sort of stop working and the book ends.


Quite a few typographical errors such as repeated words.