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Published: May 27, 2010
Words: 6,170 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458064752
Description
Billionaire adventurer Stan Owens has everything, success, fame, all the luxury money can buy... until a plane crash leaves him stranded in the desert. Alone in a hostile environment, he makes a horrifying discovery in the desert wastes. This is a frightening new short story by Robert Williams, the acclaimed author of "Peculiar, MO."Tags
horror, military, science fiction, aliens, survival, desert, experimentsAvailable ebook reading formats
This book is free. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.| Format | Full Book |
|---|---|
| Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser) | View |
| Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps) | Download |
| Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others) | Download |
| PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing) | Download |
| RTF (readable on most word processors) | Download |
| LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub) | Download |
| Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices) | Download |
| Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting) | Download |
| Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page) | View |
Reviews
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Review by:
Brian Mitchell
on April 19, 2012 :
This is good! It really pulled me in, I'll be reading more of this author
(review of free book)
Review by:
Malcolm Harden
on Aug. 03, 2010 :
Intriguing short story which tells of the millionaire survivor of a plane crash who investigates an abandoned military base. The threat of imminent death forces him into a re-evaluation of his life and decisions made, particularly towards his family. Genre is Contemporary Sci-Fi/Horror.
Text is very descriptive though some of the images jar and seem convoluted. The Ozymandias theme, in particular though critical, does not feel well integrated into the flow of the narrative.
In so few words it is difficult to convey a real sense of character and as a result Stan Owens feels a little too much like a stereotypical wicked businessman, who uses violence against those who oppose him and is driven only by profit. Since the reader receives only glimpses into his life, his position as a major King-like figure, is never really established and so this diminishes the effectiveness of the Ozymandias parallels. Equally because he seems so shallow this reduces the sense of pathos of his death and how much the reader cares about it.
Worth reading and full of suspense but I felt ultimately less successful than it could have been.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Nagaswami Venkatasubramanian
on July 05, 2010 :
Scary but most likely scenario in the case of a nuclear accident or disaster. A very absorbing story.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Kipp Poe Speicher
on July 03, 2010 :
Wow another stellar piece of work from one of my favorite authors filled with imagination, and vision a must read well crafted story.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Ed Morris
on June 27, 2010 :
Very good. Enjoyed it a lot. Will have to find some of the author's other works. Thank you for a very good read.
(review of free book)
Review by:
MmavisO
on June 21, 2010 :
Great story! Also well proofed. I didn't notice any misspellings or bad grammar. I'm going to go get some more of Robert's books.
(review of free book)
Review by:
S. Wolf
on June 07, 2010 :
Excellent, well-written story. Engages the reader from the start, and comes through in the end. I highly recommend it.
(review of free book)
Review by:
GraceKrispy
on June 01, 2010 :
I really enjoyed this story. I was engaged from beginning to end and thought the ending tied in well with the theme. I would have liked to have had more story taking place while in the complex-- more discoveries that implied the mystery, and less that was stated outright. That would allow more suspense to build and put this story in the realm of superb. All in all, I recommend this story!
(review of free book)
Review by:
Lene Jorgensen
on May 28, 2010 :
Loved it!
(review of free book)
Review by:
Jim Chambers
on May 28, 2010 :
Having read and enjoyed Robert Williams' short story collection "Strange Times" and his novel "Peculiar, MO," I expected his new short story "Dust" to be a good one, and I was not disappointed. The story is about a character named Stan Owens, a wealthy adventurer and aviator who is reminiscent of Steve Fossett, whose plane crashed in the Nevada desert a few years ago. Owens' plane also crashes in the Nevada desert after the engine fails. Having flow over some buildings a few miles back, Owens hikes through the hot sand and blistering sun to reach the building complex, which appears to be some type of abandoned military base. What he finds there will cause him to reexamine his entire life. I won't give away any spoilers, but the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley is key to the story and to Owens' doubts about the real value of his contributions to the world.
"Dust" would have been a great "Twilight Zone" episode.
(review of free book)
Review by:
B.L. Newport
on May 27, 2010 :
This was interesting. The ending tied in well with the body of the story. I liked it.
(review of free book)