Sunday 5 December 2010

Tripping Astral by Brian Smith

Official Blurb

When a matter transfer experiment goes wrong, a scientist find himself stranded on a alien planet.

My Review

Well, that Official Blurb doesn't say a lot does it! I'll add a little something to give you a better idea.

As the blurb says, he wakes up on an alien world with no idea of where why or how. He finds himself on a beach with friends and enemies to be discovered.

The title sounds a bit trippy and hints at drug induced hallucination. It's an apt title that fits the style of the story. At times you're not sure if the protaginist is flipping his lid or just experiencing really odd things.

The story sunk its claws into me and wouldn't let go. If nothing else I found myself wanting to reach the conclusion to see if he was nuts! All told the seven parts add up to about an hour and a half so even it turns out to not be your sort of thing you'll be through it before you know. It seemed to me to be an "Astounding Stories" type short story, something with aliensbut not straight sci fi. Very interesting if not absorbing.

The audio is a full cast audio drama presented by the "Seeing Ear Theatre" and worth a download. Let's face it, at a price of "Free", you can't complain too much.

Reading 2/3
Production 3/3
Story 2/3

Total Score 7/9

Download it from the Internet Archive

Listen to the first part

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