“Stranded” was the first in Shawn Inmon’s Lost Eden adventure series.
Ben and Barney Pepper have always been close though their personalities are polar opposites. When Barney begs Ben to join him on “the adventure of a lifetime,” Ben can’t say no.
Ben learns that the Animus Corporation has discovered a space portal leading to a place they’ve named Lost Eden. As Barney shows him the remains of creatures who have come through the portal, Ben notes how much they look like Earth dinosaurs. Animus has readied a team to go through the portal, explore and report back.
The portal opens for only minutes every 17 days. Lost Eden has less gravity than earth, and the climate is hot and humid. Beyond that, they know very little.
The team is made up of diverse individuals with overlapping skills. Spade, Gord, Dr. Zell, MacDonald, Cranston and ex-military Cooper, Yang, Wagaman, Menendez and Stone, plus Barney, Ben and Animus employee Hansen Teller round out the group.
Before they know it, they, and several crates of supplies, step through the portal into complete darkness. To their horror, the portal opens high above a large lake. Everyone survives the initial splash down, but within minutes a massive water creature attacks Dr. Zell.
The remaining 11 make it to shore, but their back-up medic is quickly torn apart by a panther-like creature. The team regroups and moves away from the lake to discuss how to retrieve the precious crates and plan how to reach the portal when it opens.
The group manages to find suitable shelter but must endure giant ants, massive spiders, pterodactyl-type creatures, a wide array of dinosaur-like beasts and extremely painful acid rain.
The only non-team player is Teller. He spends most of his time entering “reports” into his computer. As Ben moves about Lost Eden, he sees the delicate balance of life there. He soon suspects that Teller is planning to exploit Eden’s resources.
It doesn’t take them long to find a suitable cave for shelter, but it contains some curious marks on the walls. While recovering from a bug attack, Spade “dreams” about a stone key that opens to a hidden lower level. To their amazement, the key is there and they explore what would have been a home for humanoid residents. That, combined with the remains of an orange monk’s robe, convince them that someone has been here before.
Much adventure and intrigue ensues, along with often dangerous encounters with the creatures and other inhabitants of Lost Eden, setting up the second part of what appears to be a trilogy.
AT A GLANCE
Book: “Stranded” (Lost Eden Portal Adventures, Book 1)
Author: Shawn Inmon
Publisher: Shawn Inmon
Year published: 2024
Number of pages: 328
Dinosaurs, another world make for adventure
