Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Invaders

Rate this book
Big Joe Merklos was the first of them. He appeared at the Wide Bend National Bank one day, cash in hand. The charm of him, his flashing smile, the easy strength in his big body, were persuasive recommendations. But the bank’s appraisal scarcely got that far. Wasn’t he the first buyer in fifteen years for that bone-yard of lonely dreams, Dark Valley?

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2008

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
2 (7%)
4 stars
1 (3%)
3 stars
15 (53%)
2 stars
7 (25%)
1 star
3 (10%)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
2,065 reviews2 followers
Read
August 5, 2024
How steal the pins at riverbed
thee take green there
many ghost live near
even the moon light was gray
where water fish laugh talk
where half win glasses
thee coulect even my flute
the tree run alone
even the roads was dusts
trimple shiferd
without my dog go at that road
thee even invader to my mind
my brain scrim
thee walk like ghost
what thee
i want my fresh air
i want my hand talk my dream frealy
thee take it all
step by step
harder worker under suneyes
but that was finshed book now
with sun laugh
and p
Profile Image for Ralph McEwen.
883 reviews23 followers
July 31, 2011
A invasion story

Audio Book MP3 downloaded from
http://librivox.org/short-science-fic...
Public Domain stories from Project Gutenberg, that are read by volunteers.
I listen to these short stories while walking to and from work.

Play Duration: 00:34:54
Read By: Blair Buckland
Profile Image for Zen.
850 reviews
April 15, 2026
An Entertaining little Horror story. Though it's probably more on the Creepy Side than Horror.

Over there in the county seat of Wide Bend, there are Three Forks of the Saliniok River. The Middle Fork was once the most prosperous. But since the Middle Fork of the river has now dried up, and the valley has become desolate.

And it is now known as Dark Valley.

Until the Merklos Family buys the land, and Moves in. And once again Dark Valley begins to prosper. But there is something Odd about the Merklos. Something about them, how they look, how they act, is Just Not Right. There is something Spooky about them.

And thus the Dark Valley becomes......the Uncanny Valley.

So a Fun little Horror story. We get to see just enough of the Evil Magic to make the story Creepy.

The problem is, our Hero Jerry Bronson sits up late one night, doing a Ton of Reading on Occult Matters, and comes to the conclusion that there is Something Evil about the Merklos.

But we the Reader get no hint at what that Evidence is that Jerry Bronson discovered in all those books. We just have to take His Word for it.

But....aside from that problem, it's an Entertaining piece of writing. Just not exceptional.
Profile Image for Tinyel.
37 reviews1 follower
December 4, 2024
Very badly written, and very very thinly veiled hatred of immigrants. The story skips around at random points with no purpose, and the protagonist is willing to go on a murderous rampage with not even remotely close to enough justification for doing so.

This seems like the story any random racist guy would write to justify why he thinks we should kill immigrants. There's a lot of scifi and fantasy stories out there that convey the same racist idea, but this one is just really blatant about it and not even trying to hide it.

The protagonist's actions don't even make sense. He just jumps straight to believing in magic, off-screen, for no good reason. And then is 100% down to commit mass murder for likewise no good reason.

Just really racist and not even really trying to hide it at all.
Profile Image for Chris Aldridge.
571 reviews10 followers
May 21, 2018
Part of LibriVox Short Science Fiction Collection 013. Well told tale of unexplained phenomena surrounding a group of newcomers who purchase some barren land and proceed to prosper apparently at the expense of the valleys incumbent population. Perhaps more suitable to be better classified under the Horror genre rather than SF, I found it quite entertaining nevertheless. Read by Blair Buckland 34:54
Profile Image for AnnMarie.
201 reviews10 followers
March 14, 2014
A fun invasion story. Ghost town is bought by someone and his family moves there much to the dislike of the ppl still there. Its interesting how this progresses. Could be a lil better but I enjoyed reading it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews