SLIPPERY ROCK — An English professor at Slippery Rock University just released his 10th novel.

"In a Town Called Mundomuerto," is a fantasy fiction novel by Randall Silvis that has received positive reviews in Publisher's Weekly, "Best American Fantasy," and Bloomsbury Review, according to a news release about the author.

The short book of 160 pages tells two stories at once. The book focuses on a grandfather and a boy, including tragic events from the grandfather's youth.

The book is published by Omnidawn Publishing.

According to the editors of SfSite.com, a Web site that includes reviews and discussions of works of science fiction and fantasy, "This book has a tangible feeling of magic, even though there is little overt evidence of it in the novel itself."

Last winter, Silvis was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from Indiana (Pa.) University in recognition of his record of "sustained and distinguished achievement."

This fall, he will begin a new position as an associate professor in Chatham University's master's degree program in creative writing.