The Twiller follows the adventures of Ian and his newfound companion as they are whisked around the Universe, and Ian learns how difficult it can be to find his way home to a backwater planet called “Earth.” Along the way, Ian must survive the traffic of El Leigh, the enthusiastic protestors of Bez Erkeley, and rampaging politicians in the city of WMD. Even worse, he must contend with exorbitant prices in the city of York, endure the heat and crazy drivers in Fleur Ida, and struggle to escape the small planet of “Huh? Why E?” before he contracts island fever. Astute readers might pick up on subtle correlations to real places here on Earth, but my lawyers have reminded me to state that such resemblances are purely coincidental.

As it starts to dawn on Ian that the bizarre planets he visits suffer from many of the same problems, comical situations, and inane rules all too familiar to him, he stumbles upon an important secret that gives his quest to return home added urgency. Can Ian make it home? Will he arrive in time to prevent a terrible catastrophe? And can he find a flight without a Saturday night stopover? The answer lies with the Twiller…

“No matter how far away from home Ian gets, the more things stay the same, and the better his cell phone reception seems to get. Author David Derrico follows up on his more serious space epics ( Right Ascension and Declination) with a sci-fi comedy of that is fun and funny from start to finish.”
–Jay Allbritton


“How much can one find oneself caring about a title character described as a big yellow marshmallow with eyes? Well, if it’s the Twiller, it doesn’t matter what he looks like, the humor that supports was powerful enough to make me almost miss my subway stop. Even though the Twiller is the title character of the book, Ian Harbungler is the main character. Abducted by aliens, Ian finds himself stranded on a series of worlds that should seem somewhat familiar but skewed, with the above mentioned yellow marshmallow as faithful companion.”
–Scarlet