No Place Like Loam

Michael O'Brien, a somewhat spoiled 12-year-old, is puzzled when his workaholic mom insists on a two-month road trip, to New Mexico, in the middle of the school year. While exploring in Roswell, they encounter the Timizhon family, aliens from the planet Loam. During a tour of the spaceship, Michael accidentally causes it to take off on a nonstop course for Loam. Upon arrival, the O'Briens and the Timizhons are met by Looster, a sinister Avarian who is temporarily ruling Loam. Looster refuses to allow the O'Briens to return to Earth, and places them under compound detention at the Timizhon's vast estate. Michael and his mother have many good and bad experiences on Loam, including being subjected to medical examinations and experimentations to determine their compatibility for existing on Loam. Overtime, the O'Briens uncover and thwart Looster's diabolical plan to takeover Loam as well and all the other planets in its universe, before moving on to conquer Earth.

" From the wealth of place names in Kentucky, Rennick has selected those of some 2,000 communities and post offices. These places are usually the largest, the best known, or the most important as well as those with unusual or inherently interesting names. Including perhaps one-fourth of all such places known in the state, the names were chosen as a representative sample among Kentucky's counties and sections. Kentucky Place Names offers a fascinating mosaic of information on families, events, politics, and local lore in the state. It will interest all Kentuckians as well as the growing number of scholars of American place names.