I--Alien

by Michael Reaves

1st edition paperback, vg++

Genres: Science Fiction

185 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Michael Reaves is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and screenwriter whose many credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone, Batman: The Animated Series, and Gargoyles. His novels include the New York Times bestseller STAR WARS: Darth Maul- Shadowhunter and STAR WARS: Death Star. He and Neil Gaiman cowrote Interworld. Reaves has also written short fiction, comic books, and background dialogue for a Megadeth video. He lives in California.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrated by Terry Austin

Calaban meets a woman whose paintings reveal the land of his birth. Her mind holds the secret to Calaban's struggle, but the government is closing in fast. With his alien strength and the ability to distort perception, Calaban faces the threat of two worlds.

Interesting side note. If you own this book or can access it, my wife and my self are caricatured in the drawing in the center left of page 139. with me happily drinking a mug of beer.

This copy has been signed by Mr. Austin.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short and fun read, very nicely and liberally illustrated. It's listed as tangentially connected to Byron Preiss's Weird Heroes series of pulp-hero characters, but I didn't see the connection other than Preiss is credited as the "Producer." The introduction also calls it first of a series, but I don't believe any further volumes appeared. It's a good contemporary science fiction story with a fantasy flair and flavor. Fiction about sf fans... what can go wrong?

[Scott Nieradka · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a theory that all books with the title "I, ________" are going to be terrible, only slightly less terrible then any book with the title "The ________ Man" This theory is obviously false, but this ups the ante by dispensing with the comma and inserting two dashes. And it certainly doesn’t disappoint in the crap department.

Where to start? This book is written at a six grade reading level. It has wonderfully bad illustrations, and copious amounts of them. The main enemy is a gang of motorcycle riding cultists who dress each in a different color of the rainbow. Cause that wont get people to laugh at you.

Ok, our hero, the titular alien, crash teleports in. He looks human, but he has eye implants that emit rays of pure wank, called the distortion, that makes everyone’s vision in the area go all perspective-less and stuff. Hence like any true hero he has to wear sunglasses all the time.

After a scuffle with some stereotypical LA hoods from the 70s, he gets picked up by a girl in a RV. Ok, typical, but not terrible, except, see, the girl is the hugest sci-fi fan ever.... yes, this is that sort of book. So the FBI wants to capture/dissect him, he gets a sidekick an african american guitar wielding beatnik, and the rainbow warriors ride around trying to kill them for some flimsy reason. Oh, and the girls best friend can open up a portal to his home world with her mind. Wacky hijinks ensue for 150 pages then it ends promising an undelivered sequel.

Which sort of makes me sad. This book is horrid, but in a saturday morning cartoon script sort of way, a cultural product of the late 70s early 80s, I don’t know it made me nostalgic for something I can't quite place, something, that i hope was better than all this.

[Eric Bolden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book, but I-alien in New York the next book in the series doesn’t seem to exist, left hanging for years

[Chrissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was like the novelization of a great 70's tv show that I never had the good fortune see. The action and the descriptions translated perfectly into that kind of a world--college students with lots of freedom and the desire to live on the bleeding edge of the possible, artists who were seduced and almost destroyed by their visions, motorcycle gangs/government agencies who were dangerous but not so much so that random citizenry couldn't be their equal and plenty of flash and satin.

The b&w illustrations maintained that sense of time & place and, combined with the relative lack of violence/romance, caused the story to skew into YA territory for me.

"I, Alien" was a great quick read, however, without offering spoilers, the plot didn't have a final resolution as it appeared other books were planned but not written (at least that I could find).

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did not think I would have so much fun with I--Alien, but here we are. I'm lamenting that this was the first and only book in the series but I feel lucky to one such a rare find. Reaves fast-paced action and humour is complimented beautifully by the lavish artwork from Terry Austin. This was a rollicking scifi adventure that unabashedly jumps the Star Wars bandwagon. A big recommend.

[Mik Sabiers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, a mixture of novel and graphics, it is stuck in its time, but also timeless, too many mixes of future and fantasy, a book I have dragged around various countries on holiday and always like to dip into when exploring new countries and even worlds...
MiK!