Young Adult
Date Published: 8/25/2013
The award-winning Young Adult adventure series reaches its penultimate volume! This collection contains the following books:
Book 7: The Giant Slayer
Europe: birthplace of Grimms' Fairy Tales. An unfamiliar land, brimming with its own breed of Corrupted who hide in the shadows, growing more evil with each passing day. For modern-day hero Alice Goodenough, this is more than enough to worry about. But she also has a fencing tournament to think about.
And a promise to keep with Sam Grayle, a Corrupted dwarf who schemes for more and more wealth. When their train breaks down in a small town in eastern Hungary, Alice finds the legacy of the hero is alive and well. Corrupted have visited this town before, and they aren't quite vanquished just yet. There's one left, hiding away, biding his time to enact a terrible price on his enemies. A little creature with big, big plans ...
Werewolves. Vampires. Giants. Europe is a different place with new dangers, new monsters and new surprises.
Book 8: Darkness Rising
200 years ago, the Brothers Grimm brought their stories to life.
But why? The question has haunted the heroes for two centuries, and no one has come close to the truth. Alice Goodenough will learn the terrible truth. And it will come at a terrible cost.
The fencing tournament is in just a few short days. Alice's team is hopelessly outmatched, facing off against fencers who have more experience and an inhuman amount of energy. But the other fencers also have a special drug, one that Alice's team can use to even the playing field. Whether they should take the drug or not threatens to tear the team apart.
Meanwhile, Alice must live up to her agreement with Sam Grayle, who lusts after a hidden treasure that once belonged to the Corrupted. Alice must team up with a group of explorers and delve deep into a forbidden cave that holds more secrets than any of them expected.
Book 9: Malevolence
The Malevolence has been biding its time inside Castle Vontescue, but now Alice must finally confront it. The very same evil force that brought the Grimms' fairy tales to life now threatens the hero and all she holds dear. No one is safe in the darkness.
But what, exactly, is this centuries-old creature? To find that out, Br'er Rabbit will have to use all of his wits and decode a series of clues before time runs out. Meanwhile, Alice must keep her friends close and fight through her numerous injuries if she hopes to stop the evil.
But nothing is certain. Alice's body is breaking down. Her loved ones are in constant danger. There is no escape now ... soon, she must face off against the ancient evil that lurks within Castle Vontescue.
And there will be blood.
This volume also contains the following extras:
- The lost diary of Abigail Bauer
- An exclusive introduction
... And the following Grimms' Fairy Tales:
- Hans in Luck
- The Brave Little Tailor
- Tom Thumb
- Twelve Dancing Princesses
- Rapunzel
Excerpt
“There’s a
boat,” I told Harper. “Through these trees. It can’t be far. It’ll take us
across a lake. We … well, we’re not going to be any safer on the other side,
but at least we won’t be surrounded by man-eating trees.”
“Fair enough.
Come on!” Harper led the way, the flashlight’s beam bouncing with each step. We
followed him closely, giving every possible branch a wide berth. The groaning
was getting louder, echoing all around us. The sound of creaking wood came from
every direction.
McCormack,
breathing heavily, started to fall behind.
“Come on, you
big lug!” I shouted, grabbing him by the shirt.
“I’m … I’m …
I’m done, lassy!”
“No!” I pulled
him harder, swinging my axe at a twisted branch as it reached out for him.
Burning blackness spread across the bark, igniting the massive tree and
lighting up the forest. We both drew in a sharp breath. All of the nearby trees
were swaying, their branches pulling away from the flames, their trunks
reflecting the orange glow. Each trunk had a distinct face, distorted and
grotesque.
We hurried to
catch up, ducking low beneath the branches of another tree. Something snagged
the collar of my shirt, scratching my neck. I screamed, turning and grabbing
the branch with my left hand. I swung my axe at the branch, but the axe head
flew off the handle, landing somewhere in the darkness.
You don’t
know how to draw an axe head, Alice
“I got ya,
lass!” McCormack’s big hands wrapped around my waist and he pulled while I
twisted the branch. It tore the collar of my sweater but I was free! We hurried
to join the others, weaving our way around another tree.
“Up ahead!” I
told them, pointing with the axe handle. The trees were thinning out, and ahead
I could see the lake. On the other side of the lake were the trees with the
glowing blue plums, their light reflecting on the surface of the black water.
“Careful!”
Cixi said, jumping in front of Wodehouse and slicing a branch in half before
its claw-like fingers could grab him. A dozen trees were still in front of us,
each one swaying, each one’s branches writhing and twisting toward us. Cixi cut
another branch, then another. Harper dodged and ducked, trying his best to keep
the beam of the flashlight directly ahead of us.
“Gaaah!”
McCormack shouted.
I turned
around, cursing. The big man’s arms were pinned to his body, one thick branch
squeezing him tightly around the waist.
“They’re—urk!—they’re
squeezing my bladder!” he shouted.
“Hold on!”
I bent down, drawing a gladius. It wasn’t an axe, but it would have to do. I
pulled it from the ground and looked up. Another branch! I ducked, avoiding the
shadowy limb and swinging the short sword in a wide arc. I chopped away bark,
but the tree refused to burn. I chopped again and again; slowly, the burning
blackness appeared. I hurried to McCormack, hacking away at the limbs holding
him. Bark chipped away. The burning blackness spread, turning the branches to
ash. The trunk burst into flame, sending a hickory-sweet smoke into the air.
The tree burned quickly, leaving ashes scattered at our feet.
McCormack
clutched his stomach, gasping. “I don’t know who ya are, lass, but I owe ya
one.”
BUY LINK
Ken Brosky received his MFA in fiction writing from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and his BA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. To date, he's had more than a dozen short stories published in literary journals, including Gargoyle, Barcelona Review and Midwestern Gothic.
This is Isabella Fontaine's first Young Adult series. In addition to managing the family farm, she also enjoys providing design-related services for those who meet the qualification of "fashion nightmare."
Our Goal
We devised 3 "rules" for this Young Adult series. All three are important to us.
1. There are no love triangles. We've set this as an explicit rule. Our main character might find love, but she won't be hounded by topless boys and she certainly will never spend her time deciding who to spend the rest of her life with.
2. Our hero, Alice, must use her brain to overcome her obstacles. That doesn't mean she can't kick some butt (she definitely can!), but she does have to rely on her knowledge to win the day.
3. Alice will never commit an act of violence against another human being without there being consequences. Sure, she can do battle with evil monsters ... but violence against human beings has real consequences. Too often our heroes of today cause physical pain to people around them in order to achieve victory. Alice is different. Alice respects nonviolence to solve real-world problems, and only uses violence to rid the world of the evil Corrupted.
Posts
0 Comments