When the famous Dr. Keeling embarked on the secretive Keeling Expedition, he hired Brad Conner for his muscle, nothing else. Brad, a star quarterback and passing student, regarded that as the better part of himself anyway.

But when the expedition for dead bones stumbles over roaring life, Brad will need everything he’s got to escape with his skin.

With Journey into Legend, Henry Schreiner delves into magical realism. The narrative wants to be believed, taking the form of letters, diary entries, and other documents. Schreiner, a PhD, fortifies his lone fantastical element with careful scientific explanations, and he turns a practical more than a poetic eye on the jungles of Burma.

Dr. Henry F. Schreiner is an award-winning research physicist and oceanographer. and worked over 15 years for the U.S. Navy. He and his wife live in central Texas.

HankSchreiner.com

This insistence on reality while presenting a fantastic story echoes late nineteenth-century ventures in science fiction. In other ways, too, the novel is old-school. It moves meticulously toward its dramatic moments, declining to hurry. The characters themselves seem to have stepped out from an older world. So much in them, from their dialogue to such quirks as college students communicating by letter, is removed from the twenty-first century.

This novel bends toward religion as well as science. Christianity is plain in the story, and the author briefly forays into the creation v. evolution debate—stopping well short, however, of making a complete statement on either one.

All the realism and complexity of Journey into Legend wraps around an old, blazing vision, and those with patience for the journey will find the legend worthwhile.

Best for: Adults, fans of mythical creatures and magical realism.

Discern: Several violent deaths; mild language.