It Came From Space

It Came From Space #1

by Eddie Generous

The only way on or off Picture Island is by two-hour ferry ride. The locals know how to get along without outside help, dealing with emergencies as they come. That was before something huge and monstrous crept from the ocean to discover it had a taste for human flesh.

This mysterious creature is fast, strong, and seemingly impervious to human defenses. Can the locals stop this incredible beast? Or will they be massacred in the name of a bloody buffet...all to feed a single insatiable hunger.

142 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2021

Reviews

[Dale Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Another good creature feature from this writer and Severed Press. It's well written, if not, in some places, a bit overloaded with "filler" words. Could have been cut shorter had these been removed. That's only a minor, personal view though.

I liked how some chapters were from the creature's perspective, gave me some feeling towards it. Although, on the other hand, it removed the suspense and dread i was expecting. Plenty of background info on the characters that live on the small island, that added to the story.

Overall, an enjoyable read.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect even though I've read a couple other books by this author. I enjoy big Gator stories and this one did not disappoint. I enjoyed the creature's creative origin story. Getting to know the folks of the little island was interesting.

The author established a baseline with the characters and their various occupations. When one of the regulars goes missing it is noticed very quickly and a search is organized. The other wildlife on the island brought more attention to the story. The Gator's appetite was tremendous commiserate with his size and internal anatomy.

This was an entertaining Creature Feature book full of gore and guts. The inhabitants of the island persevere in looking out for themselves. Looking forward to reading Book Two.

[Myra Gabor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't know what took me so long to get around to reading this. It's a perfect little thriller. It did come from outer space and quite believably so even without a spaceship. I'm not giving things away by saying this gigantic proto-alligator/crocodile lands near a small, but inhabited, island off the west coast of Washington state. Mayhem ensues. Very good all the way through. A recommended read.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just isn't too much fun. At under a hundred pages, you'd think it would be a quick, nasty creature feature, like something Guy N. Smith would write, but it doesn't deliver on that sleazy front.

First of all, the monster amounts to a giant alligator--it's even called a gator--despite having an over-the-top backstory where it's come from a destroyed alien world and meteored its way to Earth, coming out of cryogenic suspension like Captain America to chomp a bunch of tasty humans.

You'd think, with an origin like that, it would have wings or turn invisible or something crazy like that, but it's just a big croc and it could've been explained much easier as a genetic experiment or a mutation caused by toxic waste or even a defrosted dinosaur. I know it sounds petty, but if your monster is an alien, I feel like it should be ALIEN. Throw in twelve more eyes! Give it six tentacles! The Calvin in me is deeply disappointed.

Second, the human interest portion of the story. The main character is Carole, a widow whose dead husband, a struggling writer (hey, wait a minute) committed suicide rather than become a father to the orphaned children of his dead brother. I don't consider myself particularly macho, but it seems to me that if your fucking brother dies and his kids need a father, you step up and take care of them. Only a real ratfuck would take the easy way out and further traumatize these children who need a father.

But that's what our writing pal does and the narrative is just full of sympathy for how rough he had it and people feeling sorry for how they treated him. It feels uncomfortably like the author working through some personal issues with his female lead regretting that she 'forced' her late husband into becoming a father instead of letting him work at becoming a writer ad nauseum while she supports his broke ass (NO, he didn't have a day job, thanks for asking!).

My apologies if the author is happily married and a loving father and this is just his attempt at a compelling characterization, but it feels like a staggering lack of self-awareness--like a child writing a story where he dies and his mom excoriates herself for not letting him stay up late and eat pizza for every meal.

Aside from that, it's just meh. The story's half-over before the gator gets down to really eating people and before you know it, the rampage is done-but-not-really, since the gator's only been stunned and not killed. Guess one has to read the three (!) sequels to see it actually put down for real. Looking at the synopses, it seems the second book actually wraps up the current plot thread. Seeing as it's 120 pages and this is 90 pages, I don't see why this book and the sequel weren't combined into one reasonably long narrative. And it looks like the third and fourth book do the same thing, splitting one story into two halves just to sell more books. Maaaann, I want my sleaze in the story, not in how it's published!

[OneDayI'll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space gators

The end of one world led to the invasion of another. A planet similar to prehistoric Earth blows up into debris. That debris travels through space in icy chunks. Those icy chunks melt as they fall through our atmosphere. Inside one of them was a gravid beast that resembles a gator species alive during dinosaur days. The heat of entry forced it awake, the crash allowed it to evacuate the shell. Now, it will do as all newborns do, and seek food.

Spoilers ahead.
Ok, this was fun. There's not a lot of scene setting, just pretty much here's everyone with rotating POV. The action kicks in pretty fast, the science is shaky but close enough, the people not well fleshed out so you don't miss them when they get chomped. There's slightly more focus on Carole, who's portrayed as a domineering narcissist that pushed her husband into taking his own life to escape her- not exactly flattering. And definitely needs trigger warnings for that. But otherwise all the groundwork to be a decent CGI sci-fi movie by Asylum.

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about a creature that is familiar but not quite. How the creature gets where it does is, well a little unusual, and the whole plot, monster and characters would have made a great movie (I'm thinking like the old monster movies from the 50's and 60's, which I loved). Great setting, really appealed to me.
Overall a fast and easy read. I was happy with it.