Rarity From the Hollow

A Children's Story for Adults

Fiction - Science Fiction
286 Pages
Reviewed on 01/17/2016
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency. Today, he is a recently retired children's psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia, where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Ray Simmons for Readers' Favorite

Rarity From the Hollow by Robert Eggleton is a very unusual novel. It is a fantasy novel, but it happens in a place that sounds a lot like small towns all over America. Rarity From the Hollow is a Lacy Dawn Adventure. Lacy is an unusual girl. This particular adventure is so weird that I shudder to think of future ones. Having said that, I kind of like Lacy. Her optimism in depressing circumstances grew on me. And make no mistake about it, the “Hollow” would be a very depressing place to grow up, if you even got a chance to grow up. Just ask Lacy’s best friend Faith about that. Full of cranky characters and crazy situations, Rarity From the Hollow sneaks up you and, before you know it, you are either laughing like crazy or crying in despair, but the one thing you won’t be is unmoved.

Imagine a small town where people talk in a homey dialect that for the most part reflects their intellectual capacity, or maybe incapacity might be a better word. Now, imagine a spaceship with a lone robot passenger landing in this town. Let’s call him DotCom. DotCom is on a mission and needs a little human help to accomplish it. He needs to learn more about humans so he befriends a little girl. There are some towns and some little girls where a safe, beautiful story might evolve. The Hollow is not one of those towns. Robert Eggleton is a brilliant writer whose work is better read on several levels. I appreciated this story on all of them.

robert eggleton

Great review!

robert eggleton

Somebody agrees with you! See the most recent review:

"...The best thing about ‘Rarity is the writing. It feels timeless, classic and mature in a way that would ensure its longevity if more people knew about it. I would even say it could be read in a college setting both for the craft itself and its unique brand of storytelling. The premise was brilliant and brought a distinctive approach to the adult-fairytale/modern-retelling sub-genre..." -- http://tabbyafae.com/rarity-hollow-robert-eggleton/

Thanks again.

Robert Eggleton

For a limited time, the eBook version is on sale for $2.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017REIA44/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk A sale on the paperback version began a few days ago: https://www.amazon.com/Rarity-Hollow-Robert-Eggleton/dp/190713395X/
Project Updates: https://www.facebook.com/Lacy-Dawn-Adventures-573354432693864/ and https://twitter.com/roberteggleton1

Robert Eggleton

The 2018 Edition of Rarity from the Hollow Paperback is now on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LfzP84. It is also available for Any eReader: https://bit.ly/2KNJkI2 Proceeds help abused children. If you want to raise money to help abused children (50% donated), more revenue is generated from the paperback if you buy it from Lulu: https://bit.ly/2K2j3cd Thanks

Amazon


Top reviews from other countries
Alibopo
5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
I read once that the foundation of Science Fiction was captured in the two words; what if!
I’ve also heard these words used as a therapeutic tool; what if you woke up tomorrow and things had changed, things were better, what would that be like? So, what would that tomorrow be like if you were a very smart 12-year-old girl called Lacy Dawn, and you lived in a rundown farm property in near poverty. In ‘Rarity from the Hollow’, Robert Eggleton has some very surprising answers to that question.

But here’s a few more what ifs to help set the scene; what if Lacy Dawn‘s war traumatised dad spent half his day stoned on weed and regularly beat her and her mother? And what if Lacy Dawn’s best friend Faith had been beaten to death by her abusive father, but was still keeping her company as a spirit that could jump from object to object? And what if, somewhere along the way, Lacy Dawn had learned the magical ability to transport herself telekinetically, skimming across the ground at great speed? And what if Lacy Dawn’s secret friend, DotCom, was a super intelligent shape-shifting alien bio-android who lived in a hidden cave nearby? And what if Dotcom was here on earth for a very specific reason, a reason that probably makes Lacy Dawn the most important person on our planet!

The only way to find out the answer to how things might get better for Lacy Dawn is to read this book. With hints of Heinlein, Kornbluth and Pohl, and the golden age of SF, I found this a gritty, challenging, often too honest, and always entertaining story. No rose-tinted glasses here folks; just great storytelling with challenging adult themes.

Robert Eggleton

Rarity from the Hollow has a new website: https://www.hostingauthors.com/books/RarityfromtheHollow