our BOOKS
Silent Lee and the Adventure of the Side Door Key
As if life isn't already complicated when you have to sneak out a magical side door and enter a different century just to get to school each morning.
And now Silent has to figure out what happened to her beloved Aunt Generous, the woman who raised her--which would be complicated enough even if CIA agents in black SUVs weren't chasing her--but they definitely are!
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The magical birdcage was in the attic, and when fifteen-year-old Silent discovers its secret and receives a message from her (allegedly deceased) aunt, this story is off to a rollicking start that is sure to capture the enthusiasm of readers 10 to 100.
Plot Hint: There seem to be two Newbury Streets, one at least a hundred years in the past and brimming with alchemy and magic.
Silent Lee and the OxFord Adventure
Silent has just started ninth grade at the Girls Academy of Latin and Alchemy and her co-adventurer, Raahi, is now attending the Boys’ Academy of Alchemy and Magic. Both schools are located through the magical side door in Great Aunt Gen’s Back Bay house.
Fortunately, the magically old fashioned version of Boston through that side door is far less sexist and racist than ‘our’ Boston was a hundred years ago—but there are a great many other dangers awaiting our intrepid duo this semester!
For instance, it is strange that they have to keep defending themselves against mysterious attacks—lightning strikes, poisonous snakes, falling trees—which seem far too frequent to be explained just by chance.
What twisted plot is this? And why are Silent, Raahi, and Sie’s best friend Ali getting so entangled in it? When Ali is almost kidnapped (were it not for the intervention of the magical custodian from the Boston Public Library), and Great Aunt Generous and Raahi’s mother both go missing, it’s time for our favorite mismatched sleuths to leap into magical action once again!
The Book & Cat
For fiction readers from 4th through 8th grade, The Book & Cat: A Very Dangerous Bookstore is full of fun plot twists and surprises, both for Sam (short for Samantha), our main character, and the reader. When Sam's parents disappear, forcing her to stay with her mother's distant cousin who is an eccentric mathematician, she soon discovers that equations can open doors to parallel worlds--especially in front of the mysterious bookstore on his block.
She meets Samuel, a double who doesn't prove all that helpful in her quest to avoid the people hunting her across worlds. Then another double pops up--and things get really crazy! Between the gravitational waves (portals open at the nexus of multiple waves), the strange plot to divert gold dust and control the world's precious metals, and the annoying habit of her enemies dropping grand pianos on her, there is a lot going on in The Book & Cat to amuse middle-grade readers and all who love a fabulist mystery adventure. Coming to Amazon Fall - 2023.
Norah and the Crow Witch
Norah is dropped off at her great aunt's house, which is 'in the middle of nowhere' - a place where witches, both good and bad, are surprisingly common.
Ignoring her aunt's warning, she slips through the black iron gate into the neighboring yard, only to find herself transformed into a mouse.
To return to her proper form, she must first save others who have been captured by the evil Crow Witch!
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An enjoyable and exciting adventure for middle-grade readers from 3rd through 6th grades. Coming to Amazon this Fall - 2023.
Blood #1 - Falcons Escape
Falcon has no idea she's special until a crazy uncle comes to visit and tells her she's Val, short for Valukar, the real vampires upon which the stories are based. And then her fangs drop down for the first time. Blood definitely sets off the reaction, with her senses heightening and animal strength flooding her body. But who exactly is she becoming? Could she really be the last of an ancient line of super hunters?
Apparently the government thinks so, since they want to take her to a research facility and turn her genome into a new kind of super-soldier. Fortunately, Falcon and her friend Hedges, along with their new friend Amira, stay a half step ahead of the agents. Too bad Amira's grandfather, the head of the local Valukar families, sells them out in order to get rid of Falcon and the threat to their peace that she represents. (Grades six through ten and up. Some violence and teenage crushes.)
Sorcery
In this magical adventure, five teenagers come together to pursue their education at a very untraditional school: A long defunct academy of magic that they decide to revive and run on their own. But first, they must avoid becoming subjects of an experiment run by a shadowy government agency that is tracking down anyone who exhibits a natural talent for witchcraft and sorcery.
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Nivian (but call her Nivi) stumbles upon a strange door in downtown Boston on her way to a new job as a telemarketer. When she opens it, she finds herself in a magical library where she is soon studying sorcery instead of sales. Peregrine, a young Black scholar and spray-paint muralist who has trouble with wind (it tends to waft him away), also finds himself recruited for magical training.
They both pulse with power and have trouble controlling it, but can they master their magic in time to escape the federal agents who seem determined to track them down? Then a third student, Niss, who prefers they/them and can trace their lineage all the way back to the Salem witches, joins their fight. Who will they meet next—and will Merlin, the professor who has offered to teach them, prove to have an agenda of his own?
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Suited for middle and high school readers. Sequel to come.