I was delighted to find Season of the Plant, my first sci-fi novel to be published, given a great review in the Boca Raton News, in Boca Raton, Florida, and also in The Florida Weekly, published in Fort Myers, Florida. The review gives a good summary of the story and catches the mood I hoped to create.
Here it is:
Books
by Prudy Taylor Board
In Season of the Plant, Rev. Frederick J. Masterman, retired associate priest at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, has created a thoughtful, suspenseful, intriguing thriller that involves an ancient and deadly form of rogue plant life determined to exterminate all human and animal life from the planet.
The book begins as an archeological and botanical research team journeys to an ancient Mayan ruin, Xuntap, in the jungles of southern Belize. The protagonist is Sam Casper, one of the volunteer team members and the great-great nephew of Arthur Fremont, a famous archeologist who had vanished in these same jungles in the 1923. While finding his uncle’s remains is Sam’s primary motivation, he is soon attracted to Karen Closky, a botanist who is more than beautiful — she’s psychic and actually talks to and understands plants. The other members of the team include scientists and students and members of the Belize National Police led by Captain Antonio Torcado. Other research teams had disappeared while investigation Xuntap and Torcado is assigned to protect this expedition to avoid bad publicity that might adversely affect Belize’s burgeoning tourism.
The research expedition has been organized by an organization named PlanetCare founded by Dr. Ian McDermott. McDermott has always operated on a cautious, ethically and scientifically-sound basis, but the possibility of worldwide publicity and the resultant profit from organizing more adventurous and costly fields trips has Glen Krease, his second-in-command and heir apparent, salivating. Krease is determined to do whatever it takes to get McDermott out of the picture. And he’s also not the least bit concerned about potential damage to the environment.
Masterman’s book is fascinating. As skillfully as his characters weave their way through the flora and fauna of the jungle, the author weaves a plot filled with menacing, escalating events that begin with minor sicknesses that befall two team members. While there’s high excitement as they uncover a Mayan temple and ball court and stairs in the middle of the jungle that rise to nowhere, frightening dreams plague everyone, the seven Land Rovers that represent their transportation to safety are damaged, and soon the death toll begins to mount as does suspense for the reader. The climax of the novel is chilling and well written. Masterman’s grasp of botany and archeology is impressive and lends credibility to the book.
Season of the Plant. Trade paperback from Windstorm Creative. $16.99. 294 pages. ISBN 978-1-59092-502-7.
About Me
- Frederick J. Masterman
- I'm a retired Episcopal priest living in Tucson, Arizona for the past two and a half years. My wife Rebecca is also an author, as well as forensic editor for a scientific publishing house. Our dogs Casper and Raven fill out the household, since our children are grown and gone. Although I had a wonderful career as priest, and still function part-time, my first college degree was in geology and paleontology. I've never lost interest in those fields, and have managed to keep up with them. Astronomy also has fascinated me since I was a kid, and provides a lot of satisfaction here in the desert air of Arizona. The science is a great base for my books, and one of these days I might put together a book on the positive interface of science and relgion. For me, they have complemented and strengthened each other!