Strange Valley

by Darrell Bain

A clerk working in the census bureau discovers a series of anomalies in the population of a small city located in the Ozark Mountains. Intrigued, the clerk continues to investigate. He finds that, on average, the people of the city and surrounding valley, are a little smarter, less religious, more thrifty, marry less, have a higher level of education, are more sexually liberated and have fewer illnesses. The city also refuses government money for schools and roads, has little crime and no sign of racial unrest. None of these factors would mean much taken alone, but together, they spell out a population that is distinctly skewed from the normal. Surprisingly, hardly anyone in the valley realizes that most of them are different from the average. They simply think they live in a good place among good people. Then the investigation starts...

Genres: Science Fiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

I grew up in an extremely poor family that was dysfunctional in many ways. We lived in the old segregated south, an era many of my readers have no knowledge of. This and a hardscrabble existence as well as an addictive personality gene(s) that apparently runs in our family shaped my life and played a part in me finally realizing a life-long dream and becoming a writer when I was about fifty years old. This autobiography, now in print and ebook both was begun in response to fans wanting to know more about me, and eventually one of my publishers thought it might make an interesting book. Many members from Betty’s side of the family were amazed at all the things they hadn’t known about me. You can judge for yourself now whether my publisher had the right idea of me doing an autobiography. I hope you are both entertained and possibly that some of you will learn a number of life’s lessons that I discovered the hard way!

Reviews

[Cheryl Medley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different

Okay, I liked the story. I had no problems with the anti religious, the polyarmous or anti government theme. But I can see where some people might. On the other hand the author does not write a good sex scene so some of that could have been left to our imagination and I would have been fine with that. Those scenes felt forced like the author felt they needed to be added to explain the free love concept. With that said I think I would actually like to see what happens next so a sequel would be appreciated.