We get as many inquiries about Johnny Dixon from grownups as we do from children. These adults grew up with John Bellairs’ young sleuth and his friend Professor Childermass and they want to share them with their own kids. But I think they secretly want to reread the books themselves, to relive the tingles and shudders they experienced long ago with the dark horrors of Johnny Dixon’s world.

You can start with The Curse of the Blue Figurine and work your way through the rest, which are numbered in sequence (though they don’t have to be read in any order). Click here to see them. There is a total of twelve, with four more to come as of this date.  So look on the Bellairs author page from time to time.

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The Curse of the Blue Figurine

Living with his grandparents gives Johnny Dixon a lot of time to find trouble. Or adventure. Or, is it both? In this, the first Johnny Dixon mystery, our young hero hears the spine-tingling story of Father Baart, a madman who haunts the town’s church. At first, Johnny doesn’t believe in ghosts, but when he takes a scroll and a small Egyptian figurine from the church basement, all that changes.

Soon, a mysterious stranger gives him a ring, and Johnny plunges headlong into a terrifying adventure. Along with his new friend Professor Childermass, Johnny races to solve the mystery of this very real ghost before another life is lost.

“Heart-stopping”
—Booklist

“As moody as a cold rainy day in March … a horror story to be savored until the final page.”
—School Library Journal

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The late John Bellairs was a beloved master of gothic young adult novels and fantasies. His series about the adventures of Lewis Barnavelt and his Uncle Jonathan, which includes The House with a Clock in Its Walls, is a classic (and currently in development for theatrical motion picture). Bellairs’ solo adult novel The Face in the Frost is also regarded as a fantasy classic – and E-Reads has it!

E-Reads has just released Kirlian Quest, the third novel in Piers Anthony’s Cluster young adult science fiction adventure series.

The “Cluster” adventures are set in a future focused on colonization of distant planets. Sphere Sol is about 100 light years in diameter, centered on the Earth’s sun. Surrounding this sphere are similar ones centered on another star such as Polaris or Canopus. Colonization is accomplished by instantaneous teleportation, called matter transmission or mattermission. Cryonically preserved colonists are sent out in “freezer” ships.

Because of the difficulty of colonization and the smaller population bases, all spheres suffer spherical regression– that is, the greater the distance from source star to colony, the lower the level of technology that survives. Social organizations regress backward to historical periods of the home planet’s past. Outworld, Sphere Sol’s farthest colony, is populated by paleolithic tribes who hunt with flint spears and make fire. Colonists know about the interstellar empire and the home worlds “mattermit” government and security personnel to all colony worlds.

Every living thing has a Kirlian aura that can be measured. Through transfer, a refinement of mattermission technology, the mind and personality of individuals with high aura can be sent to animate a body physically distant but a hosted aura fades at the rate of about 1 unit per Earth day and higher-Kirlian individuals last longer and thus have more freedom of movement.

The first three novels in the sequence, Cluster, Chaining the Lady and Kirlian Quest form a linked trilogy. Thousandstar and Viscous Circle come later and take place in the time sequence between the second and third volumes of the original trilogy.

Twice before, Milky Way Galaxy has been on the verge of extinction, and twice before a heroic defender has come forward to throw back the invaders from Andromeda Galaxy. In Kirlian Quest the galaxies are united in an alliance of peace. But Hweeh of Weew, the Milky Way’s leading research astronomer, observes that Amoeba–just beyond the galaxies’ common frontier–is expanding ominously in the direction of the twin galaxies. Herald the Healer is called in. Armed only with his hyper-intense Kirlian aura, he wages an almost single-handed battle against the greatest threat ever to face the galaxies. But first he must unravel the secrets of the Ancients – astounding secrets whose import could never have been imagined…

Look for all five titles on the Piers Anthony page of the E-Reads website. And visit Piers Anthony’s website.

RC

We trust you were hooked by Piers Anthony’s Cluster, because we’ve just released Chaining the Lady, the second novel in the young adult science fiction adventure series. And there are more to come.

The “Cluster” adventures are set in a future focused on colonization of distant planets. Sphere Sol is about 100 light years in diameter, centered on the Earth’s sun. Surrounding this sphere are similar ones centered on another star such as Polaris or Canopus. Colonization is accomplished by instantaneous teleportation, called matter transmission or mattermission. Cryonically preserved colonists are sent out in “freezer” ships.

Because of the difficulty of colonization and the smaller population bases, all spheres suffer spherical regression– that is, the greater the distance from source star to colony, the lower the level of technology that survives. Social organizations regress backward to historical periods of the home planet’s past. Outworld, Sphere Sol’s farthest colony, is populated by paleolithic tribes who hunt with flint spears and make fire. Colonists know about the interstellar empire and the home worlds “mattermit” government and security personnel to all colony worlds.

Every living thing has a Kirlian aura that can be measured. Through transfer, a refinement of mattermission technology, the mind and personality of individuals with high aura can be sent to animate a body physically distant but a hosted aura fades at the rate of about 1 unit per Earth day and higher-Kirlian individuals last longer and thus have more freedom of movement.

The first three novels in the sequence, Cluster, Chaining the Lady and Kirlian Quest form a linked trilogy. Thousandstar and Viscous Circle come later and take place in the time sequence between the second and third volumes of the original trilogy.

In Chaining the Lady, Melody, a product of Flint and the Andromedan’s mating in Cluster, must save the Milky Way Galaxy and create a place where creatures can transfer without limitations. Melody must survive in worlds unknown and alien to her and she does that where others fail when her aura augments her skills and abilities. The book opens with the discovery that Andromeda, the enemy galaxy of the first novel, has discovered the secret of involuntary hosting: a Kirlian aura that is sufficiently stronger than that of an individual can take possession of that individual. Andromeda has secretly infiltrated the highest levels of government in Sphere Sol and its allies and resurrect its plot to steal the energy of the Milky Way.

Look for all five titles on the Piers Anthony page of the E-Reads website. And visit Piers Anthony’s website.
RC

Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation

What if your mother was a criminal? What if her crime was magic? What if magic ran in the family?

Bran Hambric was found alone in a locked bank vault when he was six years old. He doesn’t have a clue how he got there, or any memory of his past. There’s only one explanation: Magic. But magic is outlawed in the Great and Glorious City of Dunce.

Eight years later, a twisted, hissing creature confronts Bran and his foster father, Sewey, on their rooftop. Sewey, not the brightest Duncelander to begin with, believes it’s a gnome. Bran knows otherwise.

Bran soon discovers that whatever leaped onto his roof is connected to the mother he never knew and that Bran himself is the missing link in a plot so secret and evil that those behind it will stop at nothing to hunt him down.

Armed with wands and weapons, Bran’s enemies are about to attack – with all the power of a horrible curse and a terrible crime. Magic won’t be the only law broken in the City of Dunce…

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On the 3rd night of the 3rd month of 2003, fourteen-year-old Kaleb Nation was inspired to begin the story of Bran Hambric, a novel that would take most of his teenage years to write. In early 2007, he finished the first book. It was published on the 9th day of the 9th month of 2009 by Sourcebooks. You can buy the paperback here. The sequel, The Specter Key, will be published on the 10th day of the 10th month of 2010.

You can follow Kaleb on http://www.kalebnation.com. Below, a video of Kaleb reporting completion of The Specter Key.

Piers Anthony is best known for his long-running Magic of Xanth series, of which many titles have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Another immensely popular series is “Cluster,” and E-Reads is publishing it. Today we bring you the eponymous first novel of five.

The “Cluster” adventures are set in a future focused on colonization of distant planets. Sphere Sol is about 100 light years in diameter, centered on the Earth’s sun. Surrounding this sphere are similar ones centered on another star such as Polaris or Canopus. Colonization is accomplished by instantaneous teleportation, called matter transmission or mattermission. Cryonically preserved colonists are sent out in “freezer” ships.

Because of the difficulty of colonization and the smaller population bases, all spheres suffer spherical regression– that is, the greater the distance from source star to colony, the lower the level of technology that survives. Social organizations regress backward to historical periods of the home planet’s past. Outworld, Sphere Sol’s farthest colony, is populated by paleolithic tribes who hunt with flint spears and make fire. Colonists know about the interstellar empire and the home worlds “mattermit” government and security personnel to all colony worlds.

Every living thing has a Kirlian aura that can be measured. Through transfer, a refinement of mattermission technology, the mind and personality of individuals with high aura can be sent to animate a body physically distant but a hosted aura fades at the rate of about 1 unit per Earth day and higher-Kirlian individuals last longer and thus have more freedom of movement.

The first three novels in the sequence, Cluster, Chaining the Lady and Kirlian Quest form a linked trilogy. Thousandstar and Viscous Circle come later and take place in the time sequence between the second and third volumes of the original trilogy.

Look for all five titles on the Piers Anthony page of the E-Reads website. And visit Piers Anthony’s website

RC

Homesmind is an intelligent force that guides the fates of the inhabitants of the extraordinary world created by Pamela Sargent in her Watchstar trilogy, brought to you for the first time in e-book by E-Reads. Each novel focuses on another female, and in the climactic novel the stories come together in a comet-like blaze. Though it’s categorized as young adult it crosses over into a thrilling read for mature audiences too.

In the first novel, Watchstar , Daiya is faced with a dilemma that will determine her fate. If she fails, her life will be spent with the feared Merged Ones. Confused and torn between worlds near and far, she harbors a secret and must find a way to move to a safe place where she can survive.

In the second Eye of the Comet, young Lydee had always known this strange comet-world to be Home. She had always felt the presence and control of the omnipresent Homesmind. Struggling with her future, she discovers the destiny she is meant for–the fate she will fulfill within her community. And it frightens her…. She will act as a bridge between her comet Home and her species’ native Earth.

In  Homesmind, the capstone of the trilogy, Anra is a solitary, born without the power to mindspeak – communicate in unspoken thoughts. In the past, she would have been killed at birth but the arrival of the Wanderer, the comet controlled by the cybernetic intelligence known as the Homesmind has changed everything. The people of the comet, the skydwellers, now supply solitaries with implants that allow artificial mindspeaking. The solitaries are sequestered in a single village willing to care for such children.

Anra and her new brethren are thought to be the possible bridge between the people of Earth and the skydwellers but the gap may be too great: the people of Earth consider solitaries an abomination – and the skydwellers as soulless.

Click here to see other Pamela Sargent titles offered by E-Reads including her famous Venus trilogy.

The Monster War: A Tale of the Kings’ Blades by Dave Duncan

The King’s Blades ride again! Originally issued as a young adult trilogy entitled The King’s Daggers (Sir Stalwart, The Crooked House and Silvercloak), The Monster War works perfectly as a single novel.

The story fills a gap in the first Blades novel, The Gilded Chain, when King Ambrose sought to shut down the evil sorcery of the “Elementaries” and the sorcerers fought back by trying to kill him. The same great characters are all here: Ambrose himself, Grand Master, and Blades Durendal, Bandit, and Snake. Appearing for the first time are Sir Stalwart, the only Blade who does not bear a binding scar, and Emerald of the White Sisters, the only girl ever enrolled in Ironhall. The action wanders across Chivial from the White Sisters’ headquarters at Oakendown, to Grandon, and into the heart of Ironhall, for the evil penetrates even there.

If you missed this one the first time (and most Blades fans did) then here is your chance to join the action as the King’s Blades ride again! And if there are some gaps in your collection of Dave Duncan’s fantasy and science fiction, visit his author page for a host of great selections.

And if you’ve become hooked on King’s Blades, you can read the two sequels to The Gilded Chain: Lord of the Fire lands and Sky of Swords.

RC

D. J. MacHale fans who were dying to learn what he would do when he finished the Pendragon series have found out – with a vengeance!  It’s a new trilogy called Morpheus Road, and the launch novel, The Light , is guaranteed to grip you ’til your eyeballs bulge.

Marshall Seaver discovers that something beyond our world is after him. The eerie clues pile up quickly, and when people start dying, it’s clear whatever this is, it’s huge.

Marshall has no idea what’s happening to him, but he’s soon convinced that it has to do with his best friend Cooper, who’s been missing for over a week. Together with Coop’s sister, Marsh searches for the truth about what happened to his friend, ultimately uncovering something bigger than he could ever have imagined.

You can buy The Light at Amazon or your local bookstore.  Visit D. J.’s website, see what he’s up to and explore his other books.  And if you want a ghostly experience, this video will transport you directly to a bookstore.

If you ever worked in the garment business you’ll remember the joke about the dress manufacturer who hears that taffeta is going to be big next season and buys a huge amount of it,  only to learn that everyone will be wearing velvet instead. Ruined, he jumps out the window. As he plummets to the sidewalk he notices in a window that his friend Murray is manufacturing a taffeta skirt. “Murray!” he shouts. “Cut velvet!”

I was reminded of this story when I read a Publishers Weekly report by Diane Roback on the Bologna Book Fair, a major worldwide convocation of children’s book publishers. Roback’s title was YA Hot, Digital Not at Upbeat Bologna, and she quoted a number of editors and agents who proclaimed that the superheated trend in young adult fiction, propelled by such engines as Harry Potter and Twilight, continues unabated. For instance, a Disney subsidiary rights official reported that “People are saying ‘we want to see YA fiction.’ And they’re asking specifically for YA, not just middle-grade and not just series.”

However, before you rush to develop another young adult series – remember that for every bubble there is a pin. Can’t happen? Party’s going to last forever? One agent at the fair told Roback that a number of publishers told him their lists are YA-saturated and “what we really want is good middle-grade.” And Random House’s Beverly Horowitz, one of the children’s book industry’s doyennes, thinks the trend may move to younger readers, boasting that she has an “otherworldly” middle-grade project in the works. Agent Simon Lipskar of Writers House elicited a preemptive offer from Random House for a middle-grade trilogy.

For the moment the only certain trend is that children’s books remain one of the few sectors of the publishing ecology that are making money, and the field is equally divided between books for big kids and for little kids. Indeed, YA books may have the edge because their readership often crosses over into the adult world.

But how many YA’s are so fabulously successful that they will be snapped up by grownups? Do you want to be the first author to arrive after the gates shut, leaving you and your agent standing with a perfectly wonderful and utterly unsalable YA project? It might behoove you to hit the bookstores, pick up and study some middle grade novels, and try your hand at one. That way you won’t be left with a warehouse full of taffeta.

Richard Curtis

Ratha, the fire-wielding leader of Clare Bell’s prehistoric cat clan, is back after an almost intolerably long wait, and her fans couldn’t be happier to greet Ratha’s Courage. After introducing her protagonist in 1983 in the now classic hardcover, Ratha’s Creature (Atheneum/Margaret McElderry Books) Bell followed up with three sequels: Clan Ground, Ratha and Thistle-chaser, and Ratha’s Challenge. The quartet went out of print, but Firebird Books, a division of Penguin, recently brought them out again.

In writing Ratha’s Courage, Bell returned to the strength of her award-winning first volume but drew on up-to-date paleontology. She researched a leopard-like paleofelid and a cheetah-like sister species. From the latter she generated her fictional “Named” race.

To learn more about Bell’s creative process and the evolution of Ratha, and to find out why there’s been such a long gap after Ratha’s Creature, click here.

E-Reads is thrilled to launch this long-awaited return of a classic fantasy figure.

– Richard Curtis