Mystery writer Jacob Casell has borrowed the plush beach house of his millionaire playboy pal Jeffrey in order to finish his latest manuscript. While taking a moonlight stroll along the water’s edge he stumbles across a strange spherical object. Basketball sized. Metallic. The next thing he knows is that the sphere is communicating with him telepathically. It’s an alien life form. It’s name is Arcon. Casell takes it back to the house and it starts giving him orders. Time is running out to save the world. Arcon needs Casell’s help not only to prevent a catastrophe on earth but also to save the planet he has come from. The race is on. Arcon is part E.T., part BB-8 with perhaps just a touch of Number 5 from the movie “Short Circuit” thrown in for good measure. Much of the action, and humor, in David Gittlin’s THE SILVER SPHERE TRILOGY is driven by Casell’s attempts to smuggle his strange partner into various venues that are required to complete his mission.

In the first of the three novellas, Arcon disguises itself as an antique vase. By the second it has taken over the body of a woman called Amy. By the third part, things have escalated. Casell, Arcon and Amy are in space and engaged in warfare with alien ships. The stories are mostly played for laughs. And though there’s plenty of drama and a certain amount of peril, a lot of the potential for tension is undercut by the actions and attitude of the protagonist. Gittlin never really convinces in portraying a sense of wonder at the, literally, otherworldly events that his hero is party to or the presumed danger he might be feeling, preferring to pitch him as bemused onlooker and feed him self-deprecating wisecracks. That said, the book is a page-turner and a fun ride. As Casell says towards the end of the trilogy, “my life since meeting Arcon has had three speeds: Fast, faster, and fast forward”, an idea carried through in the text as it builds and builds to its dramatic climax.

David Gittlin’s THE SILVER SPHERE TRILOGY is a blast of old-school science fiction with witty dialogue and a relentless pace.

~Kent Lane for IndieReader