A gateway to another world. A lucky contest winner. An adventure across the cosmos!
Dwayne "Glitch" Mitchell has always been obsessed with space. When he learns that NASA has discovered an alien gateway, he's the first to enter a contest to see the incredible phenomenon. Glitch wins and he travels deep within the Colorado Rockies to get a peek. He's in awe, but he's also in danger.
As project head Dr. Zheng discusses the gateway, an armed man calling himself John Smith takes Zheng hostage and causes an explosion. When the rubble clears, Glitch is alive but trapped with Air Force Captain Scarlett Anderson on the other side of the gateway!
Far from home on an alien world, Glitch and Anderson must find Zheng before the planet's inhabitants can eat, crush, drown, or execute them. Even if they can escape in one piece, will they still have a home to come back to?
Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is a sci-fi adventure that features exotic alien worlds and fast-paced suspense. If you liked the crazy adventures of Flash Gordon, you'll love this thrill-ride throughout the universe!
Philip Harris is a speculative fiction author and video game developer. Originally born near Oxford, England, he now lives on the West Coast of Canada where he spends his days developing video games and his nights writing speculative fiction - anything from horror to science fiction to fantasy.
His first publication, Letter From a Victim, appeared in the award winning magazine, Peeping Tom, in 1995. Since then he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including Garbled Transmissions, So Long, and Thanks for All The Brains and James Ward Kirk's Best of Horror 2013.
He has also worked as security for Darth Vader.
His science fiction novel, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is a homage to the old Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials has just been released.
You can find free fiction and his blog at his website.
Sometimes we read fiction to learn the greater truths of mankind, or at least a particular writer’s idea of what his version of truth may be. From the philosophies of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain to the human condition of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, you can have your pick of novels that will enlighten you.
But sometimes readers just want to have fun. Thank goodness for books like Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. Philip Harris gives us a Flash Gordon-like serial adventure that takes your breath away, with cliffhanger chapter endings, strange alien life-forms, comedy, death, and destruction. Yeah, you guessed it. This book is a lot of fun.
So when you feel like you need a break from turning to the next page in Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, Glitch Mitchell’s got your back. Get your copy, now!
Aliens. Danger. Impossible situations. Glitch Mitchell gets a taste of it all. “Glitch” Dwayne Mitchell, a certified nerd, enters a competition to win a spot viewing the new alien gateway NASA has found to another planet, another world. He’s surprised when he wins, but the happiness he feels quickly fades as he realizes that the other contestant winners look down on his for his unabashed nerdism. Soon he finds himself stuck on an unknown planet with an Air Force Captain and a renowned scientist fighting his way back to Earth.
This entire book was a nerd’s heaven to read. References were made left and right to popular SciFi and Fantasy culture. I tried to count, but quickly lost count. Danger after danger was pelleted at “Glitch”, the preferred nickname of the main character. Written in episodic format, Harris really laid on the suspense with each chapter hanging off the ledge, urging you forward to learn how “Glitch” and his companions would get out of the current sticky situation. Lighthearted, and funny in some areas, this book was overall a very fun read.
The moment I spotted a Doctor Who reference early on I knew this book was going to be good. There are also references to things that appeal to me on a deep nerdy level like Gimli, from Lord of the Rings, Wookies, Disney, and lots of other things you;d recognize if you are in the geek pop culture.
The plot was fast paced, and the danger seeped out in almost every page. Every once in awhile it’s nice to read something that’s fun, light and keeps you turning the page well past midnight.
Favorite Quote: “For a moment, he thought Fido would fling him onto the ledge, Gimli style”
Recommend For: Fans of Aliens, Sci Fi, Flash Gordon
**This Review is also posted on my book review blog Logophile-chronicles.tumblr.com**
Review from Netgalley book Glitch Mitchell, science geek, wins a dream come true contest when he gets to visit a NASA secret project but when things go very wrong he is transported to a seemingly alien world that will test his ability to survive things hes only dreamed about.
I really should have liked this book more. Its a popcorn sci-fi book sprinkled with geek references and easy to read and follow writing. There was nothing wrong with it I just found myself disconnecting a bit too much. One of the hooks of the book is that it is set up like and old school Flash Gordon serial with every chapter ending in a cliffhanger and the next reviewing where you left off. That becomes a problem if you're a marathon reader as it it gets annoyingly repetitive quickly but its fantastic if you want a book to read during your break each day and just have time for a quick chapter or some other reason a short chapter once a day really works for you. Also I think this would be a great book for 6th-8th graders who like sci-fi. There is no adult content or intense scenes that could be disturbing but its not childish and its easy to read and digest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Adventure is at every turn in this book. Do you like adventure and sci-fi? Well you have it here. Imagine winning a contest, then your picked up with others only to be transported to NASA-yes I said NASA. Then your thrusted into the middle of a war started by a terrorist who wants to rule the world after some aliens destroy most of it because they think your race did something to its dieing planet. Find out if they survive or if they die in the process of protecting Earth!
“Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen World” an innovative space adventure opens deep in the Colorado Rockies after Glitch wins a trip to a NASA complex to see an artifact that could change the world, only to be swept into a gateway with Captain Anderson after an armed man kidnaps Dr. Zeng.
Distant from earth on the far side of the portal the three confront aliens, strange creatures as well as frightening phenomena as they struggle to find their way home. Exciting and fast-paced the action never stops in a sci-fi adventure that holds you captive until the very end.
Witty and fun the novel is written like a television serial with the highlights from the previous chapter outlined in a short paragraph before the adventure continues in the next. Well-written and filled with references to other popular shows like Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings the suspense heats up after Glitch and Anderson rescue Dr. Zeng, only to face the armed man, a war and to fall through a hole to another alien world.
Gripping with all the challenges the three must survive including a harrowing space ride, the story lacks a lot of the description and character development that would add a deeper dimension to Phillip Harris’s world-building as well as giving greater credence to his characters although I did enjoy Glitch an amiable but self-conscious science geek who enjoys his space adventure until poisoned.
Although I liked “Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet" which is a gripping adventure as a geeky, unpretentious hero stumbles through an exotic and dangerous landscape of alien worlds looking for a way home, I thought it might have stronger appeal for teens who would love Glitch and the otherworldly aspect of this book.
This was quite the exciting, action packed, space/portal travel adventure. It did leave me wondering what may have become of one character at the end but that's okay cause I like that mystery ending :)
I received an electronic copy of this book from the author in exchange for a honest and unbiased review.
3.5 Stars
How to begin? First let me say this, I think the book is actually geared for middle school due in part to the premise of the book and the way it is set up. The book is set up differently from anything else I have read. It was helpful that I first read the introduction by the author. What he has written is actually a comic book in book form minus the pictures. Each chapter begins with a recap of what happened in the previous chapter. At first, I found this a bit awkward; but as the story progressed, it somehow felt right. It was like each chapter was a new episode from the comic book only I didn't have to wait a month for the next episode to come out.
The story develops rapidly and before I knew it I found my self in another world along with Glitch, a self conscious geeky nerd with a love for aliens, other worlds, outer space movies and books about Martians, Doctor Zheng and Captain Anderson with all kinds of creepy crawly things, burning acid rain, rock people and sea monsters. How Glitch, the doctor and the captain manage to escape all of this is unbelievable and I guess that is what makes the story soooo grabbing. I found myself flipping each page quickly so I could find out how they got out of this mess only to discover something worse was in the next chapter.
The author doesn't really develop the characters or build the alien world. There are bones; but not much meat. Glitch, though, did grow some and it was good to see him survive. Everything happens so fast and furious that there is barely time to take a breath. Remember, this is a comic book scenario; but the author was very descriptive so it was easy to visualize this strange alien world.
Ahhhh, he did leave a couple of doors open for future episodes. I would be interested in reading how Glitch handles the next adventure.
Publishers Description: As project head Dr. Zheng discusses the gateway, an armed man calling himself John Smith takes Zheng hostage and causes an explosion. When the rubble clears, Glitch is alive but trapped with Air Force Captain Scarlett Anderson on the other side of the gateway!
Review: This was a fun romp through space-time with lots of aliens, movement and repetitive cliffhangers. A glib look at Science Fiction that reminds us to not take ourselves so seriously.
I found the characters to be very shallow with very little interaction between them. Saying that the story itself was very good. I did have a problem with the way the ending of the previous chapter was repeated at the start of the next which for some people may have ruined a good story.
I would have loved this book if I'd read it in my early teens! It's a faced paced adventure inspired by old science fiction serials where every episode ends in a cliffhanger. The protagonist was refreshingly non douchey. The women characters had agency, intelligence and weren't described by their boobs. The prose was good, especially for an indie book. The ever shifting roll of cliffhanger to cliffhanger got exhausting though, especially in the first half of the novel before the author evened out his pacing a little. Some more character development would have been nice as well as a peek into the minds of our other protagonists. It would have been nice to give the other protagonists a little more screen time as well. All in all, while this wasn't a perfect book for me, I think some people will really enjoy it, and I think it's definitely worth checking out!
Liked the way the characters tied in with sci-if culture today, gives a good chuckle. Good young persons book. Clean, easy read, not too deep, constantly goes from one seemingly impossible situation to another without the middle of the book filler that slows down the action.