Falling Bakward

by Henry Melton

Jerry Ingram never wanted to be an interstellar explorer, just a bit more special than a sixth-generation farmer in South Dakota, and that's why he spent hours after school digging at the mystery spot in the back fields, searching for Indian artifacts. But those bones he found weren't Indian. They didn't even look human. His family were ordinary folks, just struggling to make sunflower seed farming pay, but with maybe a few secrets his father never discussed. Why did Sheriff Musgrave always pick on them, and how did dad lose the fingers of his right hand? It would be great to be more like lucky Uncle Ted and his rich cousins down the road. But when a cave-in forced Jerry deep into the derelict flying saucer buried there since the last ice age and through a portal to the world of the Bak, both branches of the family came together to hunt for him and reveal just why the Ingrams of Chamberlain S.D. were the perfect people to make first contact with the Bak and why the zebra-striped gentle giants on the alien world had been waiting thousands of years for them.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Henry Melton is often on the road with his wife Mary Ann, a nature photographer and frequently captivated by the places he visits. This has inspired his latest series of novels; Small Towns, Big Ideas. Formerly a programmer specializing in database work and web design, he pioneered Internet use for a Fortune 500 company until the tech bubble collapse. In the early days of home computers, he created one of the earliest commercial word processing programs, and built his own computers back when that meant wiring the chips together by hand to his own schematics.
Henry's short fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies, most frequently in ANALOG. Catacomb, published in DRAGON magazine, is considered a classic, and by the continuing fan mail twenty years later, a formative influence among modern computer gaming programmers. Many of these are available for free on his website.
Other than an occasional short story, most of his time is spent writing science fiction YA novels. Currently being published by Wire Rim Books are the Small Towns, Big Ideas series of books, where high school aged heroes of the here and now are confronted with classic science fiction themes. The first, Emperor Dad, was the winner of the 2008 Darrell Award for Best Novel.
Sharing what he's learned about the art, craft, and business of writing has been an on-going part of his life, from grade school readings to teaching formal classes and veranda coaching for the students of George Benson Christian College in Zambia during his 2007 trip to Africa.

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Reviews

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerry Ingram is looking for artifacts on the family farm and finds a portal to another world. He runs into the friendly zebramen, and soon learns about the dangerous Kree. Back on Earth the sheriff has it in for the Ingrams, his mother and other family members have a sort of telepathy.

The first third of the book is about Jerry trying to discover something. Then meeting the Zebramen. Finally conflict with the Kree and who knows what kind of problems are going to happen on Earth. The Ingrams don't want strangers or government to take away the land they've had for generations because that's what they'd do if the secret got out.

Fast fun YA read. I liked Jerry, Kira, the zebramen and the other characters. Good plot. After Jerry got into the saucer I got the impression of a lot of twists and turns, ramp is mentioned, more rooms and doors, to even get to the portal to the other world. In the climax is sounded like it was a straight drop/climb. I visualized it wrong. 4.4 stars.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another of Henry Melton's YA sci-fi books. I somewhat disagree with the YA unless we add a "not just" in front of it, me being 76. I think this is one of his best, just because of the suspense. Suppose you decided to dig in your back yard looking for Native American artifacts and find instead a flying saucer complete with skeletons of aliens and a portal to another world! And the story began so sweetly... Loved this.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When young Jerry Ingram started digging in the field of his family's farm, he was only looking for an Indian burial mound perhaps. There was a large circle that was warmer than the surrounding area and had been for generations. His father had given him a spear point that his grandfather had given him, dug up from the circle around 1900. It was of an unusual metal, almost aluminum colored.

What he found was NOT an Indian mound. The two skeletons had narrow skulls and hands with three fingers and a thumb.

A flat metal surface was next with an obvious port filled with mud. Cleaning out the mud, he descended into a huge thing of winding corridors and closed doorways. And a lot of rust. Down at the bottom, he found a huge cylinder going down into the ground with ladders built into the walls at several points. his flashlight couldn't find a bottom.

Curious, he started climbing down and soon noticed an odd sensation in his stomach. he quickly realized his weight was dropping off an he descended until he reached a point where he was weightless. The tube continued doen, so he followed it. no longer losing weight, but gaining, he was now climbing. At the end he seemed to be exactly where he'd started. But when he emerged from the port, the first thing he saw was a red sun and realizzed he was not on Earth anymore!

Young Ingram's adventures with the Bak race and the Kree invaders make for a fine book.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down and yet something didn't sit right with me. Maybe it's the casual telepathy that the family has. My rational brain tells me that this is a fantasy story and that it is ok for them to be telepathic, but the part of me that has recently read a lot of James Randi and skeptical articles gets squeamish at the meeting of the ordinary with actual supernatural abilities. That border, the one between an ordinary believable world, a fantastical extraterrestrial world, and extraordinary ability is where this book lives. The author and the characters find that seam in the world and slowly pick at it and probe it until it is ripped wide open. I believe it is good to read things that make me uncomfortable as it helps me to examine myself as well as the story. Maybe you will find the same things I did or maybe not. Either way it is an engaging and interesting story.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good. Young reader.

[Janie]

YA science fiction set in South Dakota; aliens, telepathy, suspense all set in a small town, rural setting. Good read so far.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer!