Blurred Vision

Six men; a General at Area 51, interviewing a Grey on a potential global threat; a Professor announcing to the world's media the gift of time travel to the past, only to discover a horrifying truth at the crucifixion of Christ; a young man, desperately trying to survive amongst a human resistance group amidst the invasion; a man who will do whatever is necessary to protect the woman he loves, as they watch the horrors unfold on the television; a suicidal man, dejected at life, seeks answers from the archangel Michael, only to find more horror; an everyday normal nobody, rallied into a fate worse than anything anyone could ever imagine...

Blurred Vision (SF/Horror)

By Chris Botragyi

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN #978-1910565858

Price $0.00 (price not listed yet)

185 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“I Was Unable To Put The Book Down”

Six men mysteriously awaken as prisoners aboard an alien space ship. Locked in a cell together are Tom Valentine, Professor Mark Bennett, Air Force General James F. Hargreaves, James Jones, John Chapman, and Daniel Lambert. Their captors are seven-foot tall Grays with large black eyes and slender bodies. The prisoners remember very little about the past or how they were captured, but hear voices elsewhere on the ship so know they are not alone. They do wonder why they are together. Why them, specifically? General Hargreaves appears to know more than the rest about what is going on, and Professor Bennett remembers that he was at Stanford University and was a theoretical physicist, and from what the general told him he had worked on a time machine. The general also admits he had one of the aliens captive at Area 51, under interrogation, but the creature had lied to him.

Spoiler alert. There is no way I can review this book without giving away some spoilers. So if you don’t wish to hear them, stop reading this review now. First, the author drops a strong hint about the plot simply with the characters’ names: John, James (Jones), Daniel, James (the general). Mark, and Tom (Thomas Valentine). We learn more as each of the six tell their (final) stories. Tom tells us about the invasion. The aliens interrupt television news broadcasts to explain why they are here: (Paraphrased) “We are from Heaven, and we are here for Judgment Day. Everyone will be judged for their sins, and punished accordingly.” Of course, we are all sinners, so we’re all going to be judged – and punished. As each tells their story, we learn a little bit more about the invasion and the aliens, but it is in the professor’s story that the closest truth is revealed. A horrible murder two thousand years ago is now bringing retribution down on us, and it could wipe out the human race. The aliens tell them the writers of the Bible didn’t exactly lie to us, but they didn’t explain everything, either.

Okay, this was an interesting story, and I couldn’t put it down. I had to find out what was happening on the next page, so I read this book in one setting. It had my full attention. I picked up on the names at the very beginning, and thought I had the whole story figured out, but I didn’t. Close, but not quite. The names were mere namesakes of the Biblical writers, but maybe they “represented” the actual writers to the aliens. Or the author was just playing with the reader, maybe. The story has no ending, just the death of these six men. At the story’s conclusion, our planet’s population has dropped from seven billion to 150 million, and the reader is left hanging. Will there be a remnant saved, or will the human race cease to exist? Unique storytelling, and highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THESE ALIEN SKIES