Sandland

by J.M. Slowik

Not long after an ancient artifact turns up in the Oregon woods, professor Henry Foster, engaged to be married, and "elder statesman" of Anthropology, Alan Heiderman, drive up to find more. Field research. An excavation. Simple. What they find in the forest is not only strange, it's ineffable, nothing they could have foreseen.

Knowledge exists to be tested. No two men choose the same path in darkness. Even truth can be sculpted like sand.

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 25, 2013

About the author

The boy raised by books!?

Scholar-of-fortune. Word-nerd. Former warehouse lackey, phone jockey, milkshake maker and office monkey. Knowledge is power-- power corrupts. Read more and learn to see the future-- it's dark.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slowik is obviously a lover of language. To read Sandland is to fall into a fever dream, trapped between disbelief and another world entirely. The diary format works perfectly to limit the reader's knowledge, tripping gradually into the mystery of this isolated land. What could have been a simple quest/adventure is elevated by the writing, refined while still feeling sporadic, sometimes borne from spontaneous association rather than illumination. If you like to do a little thinking with your reading (even if you don't notice that you're doing it), pick this up.

[Marty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw Slowik on Jeopardy, and so wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't.