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Roswell or Bust
Teenager Joe Ferris was raised to help guests—he was third generation in the motel business—but once he connected with mute Judith, they were off on an epic thousand mile road trip through the Southwest, all to help the most unique guests of all—the Roswell aliens stranded far from home since 1947. With the Men in Black hot on their trail, and discovering that the aliens had more tricks up their sleeves than their captors had ever discovered, Joe and Judith have to wonder just who is taking whom on the ride of their lives!
- GenresScience Fiction
332 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Henry Melton
60 books14 followersHenry Melton is often on the road with his wife Mary Ann, a nature photographer and frequently captivated by the places he visits. This has inspired his latest series of novels; Small Towns, Big Ideas. Formerly a programmer specializing in database work and web design, he pioneered Internet use for a Fortune 500 company until the tech bubble collapse. In the early days of home computers, he created one of the earliest commercial word processing programs, and built his own computers back when that meant wiring the chips together by hand to his own schematics.
Henry's short fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies, most frequently in ANALOG. Catacomb, published in DRAGON magazine, is considered a classic, and by the continuing fan mail twenty years later, a formative influence among modern computer gaming programmers. Many of these are available for free on his website.
Other than an occasional short story, most of his time is spent writing science fiction YA novels. Currently being published by Wire Rim Books are the Small Towns, Big Ideas series of books, where high school aged heroes of the here and now are confronted with classic science fiction themes. The first, Emperor Dad, was the winner of the 2008 Darrell Award for Best Novel.
Sharing what he's learned about the art, craft, and business of writing has been an on-going part of his life, from grade school readings to teaching formal classes and veranda coaching for the students of George Benson Christian College in Zambia during his 2007 trip to Africa.
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Henry's short fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies, most frequently in ANALOG. Catacomb, published in DRAGON magazine, is considered a classic, and by the continuing fan mail twenty years later, a formative influence among modern computer gaming programmers. Many of these are available for free on his website.
Other than an occasional short story, most of his time is spent writing science fiction YA novels. Currently being published by Wire Rim Books are the Small Towns, Big Ideas series of books, where high school aged heroes of the here and now are confronted with classic science fiction themes. The first, Emperor Dad, was the winner of the 2008 Darrell Award for Best Novel.
Sharing what he's learned about the art, craft, and business of writing has been an on-going part of his life, from grade school readings to teaching formal classes and veranda coaching for the students of George Benson Christian College in Zambia during his 2007 trip to Africa.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 26, 2022
Abel Ferris owns the railroad motel in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Son Joe is on duty when John Smith rushes out at five AM. When he cleans the room the next day he finds a funny looking remote control. Meanwhile "John Smith" calls his daughter for help and distracted driving runs off the road. Now Judith has to locate that device and save her father.
Judith finds the motel and searched the room fruitlessly. Joe finds her the next day and ends up helping her evade the fake agents, that came by the motel asking about John Smith by his real name. Once they're safe she ditches Joe, because she can't let him in on the secrets.
Fun read. Joe is a great character, has a great work ethic having grown up doing motel chores all his life. Never having had a vacation this being stranded that turned into being taken, escaping, searching and a grand road trip was hectic and stressful, but glorious at the same time. 4.7 stars. Other than coincidence the plot was really clever. Several times Joe and Judith separate but somehow manage to find each other, but the scenes with them together were great so we wanted it to happen and in the end all the pieces came together to explain the motivation of the different factions.
Judith finds the motel and searched the room fruitlessly. Joe finds her the next day and ends up helping her evade the fake agents, that came by the motel asking about John Smith by his real name. Once they're safe she ditches Joe, because she can't let him in on the secrets.
Fun read. Joe is a great character, has a great work ethic having grown up doing motel chores all his life. Never having had a vacation this being stranded that turned into being taken, escaping, searching and a grand road trip was hectic and stressful, but glorious at the same time. 4.7 stars. Other than coincidence the plot was really clever. Several times Joe and Judith separate but somehow manage to find each other, but the scenes with them together were great so we wanted it to happen and in the end all the pieces came together to explain the motivation of the different factions.
March 12, 2017
This is the third book I have read by Henry Melton: Golden Girl, about time travel; Emperor Dad about teleportation; and this one about aliens. All have taken a new slant (at least to me) on these often explored sci-fi themes. Melton is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. Last year my year-end report came back from Goodreads telling me that the most popular book I'd read during the year was The Kite Runner and the least was Emperor Dad which had been read by only 8 other people! What??? These books are great YA sci-fi! Check them out.
November 17, 2008
A fun young adult book about Roswell ands aliens and hotel life. I really liked this book as well as Melton's previous title EMPEROR DAD.
February 7, 2016
A book I could read over and over. Waiting on the movie!! Entertaining and fun!
September 10, 2016
Loved it.
Charming. Exciting. Easy to read. Suitable for YA audiences and also adults. Makes me want to try more of his books.
Charming. Exciting. Easy to read. Suitable for YA audiences and also adults. Makes me want to try more of his books.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews