Alien Embrace: An Astronaut's Struggle to Face a Horrifying Reality

by Phil Slattery

Logan Rickover, owner of a hardware store in a small town in Kentucky, has lucid dreams of life as an astronaut that intrude upon his life at any moment. Which of his lives is real? The quiet paradise of Danville or the terrifying jungle world of Stheno D?

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 2, 2017

About the author

As of February 2023, I am frequently busy with the two magazines/websites I publish (thechambergmagazine.com and ruralfictionmagazine.wordpress.com), I still find some time to focus on my own writing and am trying to finish two novels and a novella at this point. Visit my personal blog (its posts are repeated in the blog section below and a link to it is provided) for more details on my writing progress and philosophy.

The magazines are going great guns and I am receiving a lot of contributions and praise on each. Please visit at least one if you have the chance.

Currently, I have three short fiction anthologies, a poetry anthology, and two novelettes available on Kindle and one short story collection (A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror) available through print on demand from most, if not all, major book retailers. Many of my short stories and a few poems (and some photographs) can be found scattered around the Internet.

Originally from Kentucky, I have traveled to 24 countries, many states, and now live in New Mexico. I have a B.A. in German and Russian from Eastern Kentucky University, where I learned to love literature. I started writing poetry while in the Navy from the mid-80's to the mid-90's, but eventually turned to writing short fiction.

Reviews

[Frank Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good though short escape tale to read on the beach. I like the way Slattery blurs the line between dream, nightmare, and reality for the protagonist and ends the story in a flurry of action.