The Doom Machine by Mark Teague
Published by The Blue Sky Press, 2009
List Price: $17.99
n 1956, Vern Hollow was just like any other Smalltown, USA. That is, until the
aliens arrived! Known as the Skreeps, these giant fanged spider-like aliens
didn't pick Vernon Hollow as a place of visitation by chance. The Skreep leader,
Commander Xaafun, has been delegated by her queen to find the "Special Item".
Xaafun knows the Item is in Vern Hollow, but has no idea what the Item is. Her
queen just said something like "you'll know it when you see it."
Jack Creedle, a young boy, is one of the first Vern Hollow residents to see the aliens land in a nearby forest, but nobody beleives him. The Creedle family has been in trouble with the law in Vern Hollow for as long as anyone can remember. Jack is just out of a stint in Juvie for trying to steal a math test out of his teacher's room after hours. He's become more responsible since then, helping at his Uncle Bud's autoshop. His Uncle Bud has a bad reputation too, and he's served a stint in prison after catching the attention of the government for conducting his own rocket launches. In fact, Jack has been doing most of the work in the shop because his uncle spends most of his time working on his own inventions instead of working on customer's cars. Unfortunately for Jack and Bud, it soon becomes clear that the "Special Item" the Skreeps are searching for is one of Bud's inventions!
Dr. Shumway, a scientist, and her young daughter, Isadora, enter into this madness when their car breaks down on the way back from a Chemical Society Conference. Not being from Vern Hollow, they have no idea about the alien invasion, or the Creedle's involvement with it. They find out soon enough when the Skreeps kidnap them, along with Jack, Uncle Bud...AND his invention, which could lead to the conquest of Earth by the Skreeps.
When I first started reading The Doom Machine, I had a lot of problems with the Skreeps. I mean, they act just like humans (if a bit more bloodthirsty). I am not a big fan of aliens being anthropomorphic. I want them to be strange. I want them to be "Other". In other words, I want aliens to be ALIEN. I want Stanislaw Lem, not George Lucas. So I didn't have a very positive reaction to how the Skreeps were portrayed. Xaafun is just like any human, wanting to impress her queen to curry favor and move up in the social strata. At some point though, I decided I just had to let go of my preferences and dislikes and accept this book for what it was: A goofy pulp sci-fi adventure. Once I decided to not take it seriously, The Doom Machine became a really fun read.
Teague did a really good job with the atmosphere of the novel, which channeled the ambience of a 1950s alien invasion story with some trippy time travel and wormhole tech from the sci-fi of more recent scientific discoveries and theories.
I also enjoyed the characters and especially the comraderie between Jack and Isadora.
Jack Creedle, a young boy, is one of the first Vern Hollow residents to see the aliens land in a nearby forest, but nobody beleives him. The Creedle family has been in trouble with the law in Vern Hollow for as long as anyone can remember. Jack is just out of a stint in Juvie for trying to steal a math test out of his teacher's room after hours. He's become more responsible since then, helping at his Uncle Bud's autoshop. His Uncle Bud has a bad reputation too, and he's served a stint in prison after catching the attention of the government for conducting his own rocket launches. In fact, Jack has been doing most of the work in the shop because his uncle spends most of his time working on his own inventions instead of working on customer's cars. Unfortunately for Jack and Bud, it soon becomes clear that the "Special Item" the Skreeps are searching for is one of Bud's inventions!
Dr. Shumway, a scientist, and her young daughter, Isadora, enter into this madness when their car breaks down on the way back from a Chemical Society Conference. Not being from Vern Hollow, they have no idea about the alien invasion, or the Creedle's involvement with it. They find out soon enough when the Skreeps kidnap them, along with Jack, Uncle Bud...AND his invention, which could lead to the conquest of Earth by the Skreeps.
When I first started reading The Doom Machine, I had a lot of problems with the Skreeps. I mean, they act just like humans (if a bit more bloodthirsty). I am not a big fan of aliens being anthropomorphic. I want them to be strange. I want them to be "Other". In other words, I want aliens to be ALIEN. I want Stanislaw Lem, not George Lucas. So I didn't have a very positive reaction to how the Skreeps were portrayed. Xaafun is just like any human, wanting to impress her queen to curry favor and move up in the social strata. At some point though, I decided I just had to let go of my preferences and dislikes and accept this book for what it was: A goofy pulp sci-fi adventure. Once I decided to not take it seriously, The Doom Machine became a really fun read.
Teague did a really good job with the atmosphere of the novel, which channeled the ambience of a 1950s alien invasion story with some trippy time travel and wormhole tech from the sci-fi of more recent scientific discoveries and theories.
I also enjoyed the characters and especially the comraderie between Jack and Isadora.
My Grade: B+
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