The story is about an aging man who experienced alien visits several years prior. He claims to have been visited by a particular alien named Bob Solomon several times. Bob cleared up problems with his lumbago and other ailments using his healing light.
When we catch up with the narrator, he’s being visited by a pushy young girl from an alien encounter magazine, who’s been following up with old timers who once claimed they were visited.
The author does a fantastic job with keeping the narrator true to his identity as someone who experienced a sighting. Several things happen through the course of the story that help pull us into the reality of this person’s experience. Several times we’re left wondering if it was real at all, but in the end the biggest shock of all comes.
The characterization was excellent, especially for a sci-fi story. But, really, there wasn’t much sci-fi in the tale. It was really the human condition, curiosity, experience, perception, ambition, and grace. I enjoyed it.
Author
Andy Duncan
Publication
Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine September 1, 2012 Issue
Date Read
October 7th, 2012