These are books from SimonSays.com, a website from Simon & Schuster. I found them by using the guide on the left, clicking on Teens at the top, and then on Science Fiction and Fantasy under “category.” They are the printers of many of the teen books available, and are a great way to find books for your kids, and they group then not only by teen, but by each grade level and by genre, series, etc. Most of these are published within the past year, or are yet to be published. Check the publication dates listed if you’re not sure, or can’t find it – it may be forthcoming. They are very exact about age grading, far more so than Amazon, although they ARE limited to the books they publish. But it’s a great place to start, since they are so precise in age ratings, and in how to find the exact type of book you’re looking for. So try some and see what you think. I tried to pick a representative selection. They also have a number of books for the younger set, 8-12, which I will cover next time. NOTE: These have NOT been read by either me or my kids, so I can’t vouch for them. But many have won awards, and those are listed. So be adventurous – try some.
Wake
By Lisa McMann
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 04, 2008
Our Price: $15.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
Not all dreams are sweet.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody- notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can’t tell anybody about what she does — they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant….
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments)
By Cassandra Clare
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments)
By Cassandra Clare
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: February 19, 2008
Our Price: $9.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
Their hidden world is about to be revealed….
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know….
The Past is Gone (The Time Jumpers)
By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 8, 2007
Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7
Description
The Adventure Begins….
When Theodore Pine Four suddenly appears in the bedroom of Genevieve Corrigan just as her friend Jules Santorini is about to ask her out on a date, the only thing they can all agree on is that it is highly unordinary. Things get even more complicated when we find out that Theo is a teenager from the year Fourteen Billion and Seventy-Three with multicolored hair, a talking coat, and the hottest new time machine on the market: the TimeMaster JumpMan Pro. And little do they know that this chance encounter is going to kick-start an epic adventure — one that will take Jules, Gen, and Theo through history, from the Big Bang all the way up to 14,000,000,073 and everywhere in between. Along the way, our heroes are going to have to figure out how to get Theo and his malfunctioning time machine back home without undoing the fabric of time itself. And, if he’s lucky, Jules might just manage to ask Gen on that date.
The Present Never Happens (The Time Jumpers)
By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7
Description
The Adventure Continues….
Rule One of TimeJumping was broken, but luckily disaster has been averted (at least for now), and Jules, Gen, and Theo are back. Their first adventure had them whisking through Time, talking to coats, and just managing to save Theo’s life — but that was just a warm-up. In the second chapter of the mind-bending TimeJumpers series, Jules and Gen (finally) go on a date, Theo turns out to be the biggest celebrity anyone in the year Fourteen Billion and Seventy-Three has ever seen, and we meet a peculiar and very irritating old man who has the strange idea that the entire history of the world is about to be overturned — and somehow Jules and Gen are involved. And that’s just the beginning. There are sinister forces at work, and Rule One is not just going to be broken, it’s going to be smashed apart.
The Future Is Unknown (The Time Jumpers)
By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7
Description
The Adventure Ends.
In the third millennium, Jules is suddenly very popular, for reasons he doesn’t really understand. He should be happy, but all he can think about is Theo. Are Jules and Gen ever going to see him again? Meanwhile, in the fifteenth billennium, Quincy Carter One has disappeared after the world witnessed his aborted attempt to undermine the entire structure of Time. Not only that, TimeJumping has been all but outlawed on the Two Planets. And Theo can’t stop worrying about Jules and Gen — and what Quincy may be planning, wherever (or whenever) he is. It’s the thrilling conclusion of the TimeJumpers trilogy, and no one knows what’s going to happen next. Or before. But that’s what happens when you start fooling around with time.
Sky Inside
By Clare B. Dunkle
Cover by Sammy Yuen, Jr.
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Martin lives in a perfect world.
Every year a new generation of genetically-engineered children is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring the residents of his town take down the snow they’ve stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning his family gathers around their television and votes, like everyone else, for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It’s business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1.
And it’s all about to come crashing down.
Because a stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin’s sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where she has gone. The way Martin sees it, he has a choice. He can remain in the dubious safety of HM1, with danger that no one wants to talk about lurking just beneath the surface, or he can actually break out of the suburb, into the mysterious land outside, rumored to be nothing but blowing sand for miles upon miles.
Acclaimed author Clare B. Dunkle has crafted a fresh and fast-paced science-fiction thriller, one that challenges her characters — and her readers — to look closer at the world they take for granted.
Pirate Emperor (The Wave Walkers)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Dominic Harman
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: January 08, 2008
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 10 – 14
Grades: 5 – 9
Description
In the vast Caribbean Sea, pirates Jolly and Griffin are stranded on a tiny island where a peculiar architect is building an enormous bridge — but to where? Another world? Before they can find out, the bridge bursts into flames and the kobalins attack. Jolly and Griffin have nowhere to run until the Ghost Trader mysteriously appears and carries them off to the magical coral city of Aelenium. It is from Aelenium that Jolly and Munk are supposed to descend far, far into the deep to keep out the world-devouring Maelstrom.
But Jolly isn’t ready for that task. She wants to rescue Captain Bannon, the only father she’s ever known, so she steals the ghost ship and sets sail. Griffin follows her, until he is trapped by the man in the whale. Princess Soledad has her own plans — to kill Pirate Emperor Kendrick. But the truly terrifying cannibal king stands in her way. Is Soledad ready to become the new pirate emperor?
Trickery Treat (Charmed)
By Diana G. Gallagher
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 16 and up
Grades: 10 and up
Description
Trickery Treat
A portal opened — as a means for amends,
Leaves a vengeful spirit to roam.
Helping him cross over is the only way,
To restore peace within the home.
It’s Halloween, and Piper is busy decorating the Manor, which has become the neighborhood hot spot on the most bewitching night of the year. Meanwhile, Paige decides to use the party as a chance to honor the dead. She casts a spell that creates a portal for a clan of leprechauns…and other wandering spirits.
The guests are thrilled and impressed with the realistic effects, but Phoebe, Piper, and Paige soon realize that they have a big trick to deal with: one not-so-friendly ghost going out of his way to turn the Manor into a haunted house. The Charmed Ones must stop this evil soul with a vengeance before he takes the life of one experienced ghost hunter who knows his story and has met him before….
The Water Mirror (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
Kansas State Reading Circle Senior High Titles
NYPL “Books for the Teen Age”
SLJ Best Book of the Year
Description
In Venice, magic is not unusual. Merle is apprenticed to a magic mirror maker, and Serafin — a boy who was once a master thief — works for a weaver of magic cloth. Merle and Serafin are used to the mermaids who live in the canals of the city and to the guards who patrol the streets on living stone lions. Merle herself possesses something magical: a mirror whose surface is water. She can reach her whole arm into it and never get wet.
But Venice is under siege by the Egyptian Empire; its terrifying mummy warriors are waiting to strike. All that protects the Venetians is the Flowing Queen. Nobody knows who or what she is — only that her power flows through the canals and keeps the Egyptians at bay.
When Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen, they are catapulted into desperate danger. They must do everything they can to rescue the Queen and save the city — even if it means getting help from the Ancient Traitor himself.
Stone Light (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Evil forces have invaded Venice – the city that Merle and Serafin call home. Luckily, the two friends hold secrets that just might stop the pharaoh from destroying their ancient city.
Merle has within her spirit of the Flowing Queen, a mysterious legendary force who serves as her guide. Indeed, the Queen’s voice has led Merle to Vermithrax, a winged stone lion. And together they are on a mission to Hell to enlist help from Lord Light.
Meanwhile, Serafin remains in Venice. He’s joined a group of rebel boys who are plotting to assassinate the pharaoh. But can a group so small really kill the biggest, most powerful man on earth?
Though they follow separate courses, Merle and Serafin will both encounter unexpected betrayals and startling revelations. And together they learn that evil takes many shapes in the world of Dark Reflections.
Glass Word (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
When they emerge from Hell, Merle, her friend Junipa who has mirrors for eyes, and Vermithrax the flying stone lion find themselves in Egypt. Of course the Flowing Queen is with them as well, since Merle swallowed her back in Venice. There is something very wrong in Egypt–it is freezing cold, and everything is covered in snow. Winter is here, looking for his lost love, Summer. And another creature is here as well–Seth, the highest of the Horus priests. Betrayed by the pharaoh and his sphinx henchmen, Seth is seeking revenge. Together they travel to the Iron Eye, the vast fortress of the sphinxes.But what does the Flowing Queen want Merle to do there?
Meanwhile Serafin, the master thief, the beautiful sphinx Lalapeya, and Eft, the mermaid, are also headed for Egypt. They are traveling underwater, in a submarine piloted by pirates. Serafin is not sure what they can do to the fight the pharaoh, but he knows surrender is not an option. Egypt has captured and enslaved his beloved Venice, and he and the others must fight the empire no matter what the cost. But the final battle will not be one that Serafin has even imagined–and the cost will be high indeed.
Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)
By James A. Owen
Illustrated by James A. Owen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Our Price: $9.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee
Description
The Imaginarium Geographica
“What is it?” John asked.
The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow.
“It is the world, my boy,” he said. “All the world, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the world, and it is yours to save or lose.”
An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica — an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.
Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.
An extraordinary journey of myth, magic, and mystery, Here, There Be Dragons introduces James A. Owen as a formidable new talent.
Search for the Red Dragon (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)
By James A. Owen
Illustrated by James A. Owen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
“‘The Crusade has begun’…
“There’s an old myth in the Archipelago,” he went on softly, shaking his head. “A legend, really…I recall it mentioned a Crusade, but those events happened seven centuries ago. We always thought it was only a story.”
It has been nine years since John, Jack, and Charles had their great adventure in the Archipelago of Dreams and became the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica. Now they have been brought together again to solve a mystery: Someone is kidnapping the children of the Archipelago. And their only clue is a mysterious message delivered by a strange girl with artificial wings: “The Crusade has begun.” Worse, they discover that all of the legendary Dragonships have disappeared as well.
The only chance they have to save the world from a centuries-old plot is to seek out the last of the Dragonships — the Red Dragon — in a spectacular journey that takes them from Sir James Barrie’s Kensington Gardens to the Underneath of the Greek Titans of myth. With friends both familiar and new, they will travel through an extraordinary landscape where history, myth, and fable blend together to tell the oldest story in the world. And along the way, the Caretakers of the Geographica will discover that great deeds alone do not make heroes, and that growing up may be unavoidable…but growing old doesn’t have to be.
Quillan Games (Pendragon)
By D. J. MacHale
Cover by Victor Lee
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up
Description
Let the Games Begin….
Quillan is a territory on the verge of destruction. The people have lost control of their own future and must struggle simply to survive. The only chance they have of finding a better life is by playing the Quillan Games. Hosted by a strange pair of game masters, Veego and LaBerge, the games are a mix of sport and combat. They use the people of Quillan as pawns for their amusement as they force them to enter competitions that range from physical battles, to impossible obstacle courses, to computer-driven tests of agility. To triumph in the games is to live the life of a king. To lose is to die.
This is the dangerous and deadly situation Bobby Pendragon finds on Quillan. He quickly realizes that the only way to save this troubled territory is to beat Veego and LaBerge at their own games and dismantle their horrible fun house. But there is more at stake for Bobby. The prize for winning the Quillan Games may be discovering the truth of what it really means a Traveler.
Raven Rise (Pendragon)
By D. J. MacHale
Cover by Dawn Austin
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up
Description
This is where it begins. The showdown for Halla. At stake is nothing less than all that ever was and all that will be.
There’s only one thing missing–Bobby Pendragon.
While Bobby remains trapped on Ibara, the battle moves to his home territory: Second Earth. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are left on their own to defend Second Earth against the forces of Saint Dane. They must face off against a charismatic cult leader who has risen to power by revealing a shattering truth to the people of Earth: They are not alone.
The Convergence has broken down the walls. The territories are on a collision course. The final phase of Saint Dane’s quest to rule Halla is under way.
And Bobby Pendragon is nowhere to be found.
The Time Thief (The Gideon Trilogy)
By Linda Buckley-Archer
Cover by James Jean
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up
Description
What happens when a seventeenth-century bad guy has twenty-first-century technology?
An accident with an antigravity machine catapulted Peter Schock and Kate Dyer back to 1763. A bungled rescue attempt leaves Peter stranded in the eighteenth century while a terrifying villain, the Tar Man, takes his place and explodes onto twenty-first-century London. Concerned about the potentially catastrophic effects of time travel, the NASA scientists responsible for the situation question whether it is right to rescue Peter. Kate decides to take matters into her own hands, but things don’t go as planned. Soon the physical effects of time travel begin to have a disturbing effect on her. Meanwhile, in our century, the Tar Man wreaks havoc in a city whose police force is powerless to stop him.Set against a backdrop of contemporary London and revolutionary France, The Time Thief is the sequel to the acclaimed The Time Travelers.
Fall of a Kingdom
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: January 01, 2005
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Who was Sorahb?
Stories are told of a hero who will come to Farsala’s aid when the need is greatest. But for thousands of years the prosperous land of Farsala has felt no such need, as it has enjoyed the peace that comes from being both feared and respected.
Now a new enemy approaches Farsala’s borders, one that neither fears nor respects its name and legend. But the rulers of Farsala still believe that they can beat any opponent.
Three young people are less sure of Farsala’s invincibility. Jiaan, Soraya, and Kavi see Time’s Wheel turning, with Farsala headed toward the Flames of Destruction. What they cannot see is how inextricably their lives are linked to Farsala’s fate — until it’s too late.
In Fall of a Kingdom, the first volume of the Farsala Trilogy, Hilari Bell introduces readers to a world of honor, danger, and magic in this spellbinding tale of self-discovery.
Rise of a Hero (The Farsala Trilogy)
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: June 01, 2006
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
The Return of Sorahb?
Legend has it that when Farsala most needs a warrior to lead it, Sorahb will be restored by the god Azura. That time has come. After a devastating loss to the army of the Hrum, Farsala has all but fallen. Only the walled city of Mazad and a few of the more uninhabitable regions remain free of Hrum rule, and they seem destined to fall as well. Farsala needs a champion now.
Three young people are waging battle as best they can. Soraya, Jiaan, and Kavi, their lives decimated by the Hrum, are each in a personal fight against their common enemy. Apart, their chances are slim, as none of them is Sorahb reborn. United, perhaps they can succeed. But only Time’s Wheel can bring them together — if it turns the right way. If it doesn’t, Farsala is surely doomed.
In the sequel to the critically acclaimed Fall of a Kingdom (formerly titled Flame), the first book of the Farsala Trilogy, Hilari Bell draws readers deeper into the mythical land of Farsala and weaves an epic tale of destiny and danger.
Forging the Sword (The Farsala Trilogy)
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
The spirit of the ancient champion, Sorahb was reborn into the body of a deghan youth, who raised an army of peasants to resist their Hrum conquerors.
Sorya, Kavi, and Jiann do everything they can to keep control of what little land remains free from Hrum rule. They have most of the peasantry, a small, untrained army, and the Suud helping them, but there is still one important piece missing: a sword that is able to withstand the Hrum’s watersteel. Without it, Farsala will fall.
But what none of these young heroes can foresee is the growing desperation of the Hrum leaders. It will lead them to break some of their own laws and sacred pacts. It will also reveal truths about the nature of war, the nature of human beings, and — most important — themselves.
Sunlight and Shadow: A Retelling of “The Magic Flute” (Once Upon a Time)
By Cameron Dokey
Cover by Kinuko Y. Craft
Designed by Mahlon F. Craft
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
A new spin on “The Magic Flute” by an acclaimed author!
In a time when the world was young and many things were quite commonplace that are now entirely forgotten, Sarastro, Mage of the Day, wed Pamina, the Queen of the Night. And in this way was the world complete, for light was joined to dark. For all time would they be joined together. Only the ending of the world could tear them apart. In other words, in the days in which my parents married, there was no such thing as divorce….
Thus begins the tale of Mina, a girl-child born on the longest night of the darkest month of the year. When her father looked at her, all he saw was what he feared: By birth, by name, by nature, she belonged to the Dark. So when Mina turned sixteen, her father took her away from shadow and brought her into sunlight.
In retaliation, her mother lured a handsome prince into a deadly agreement: If he frees Mina, he can claim her as his bride.
Now Mina and her prince must endure deadly trials — of love and fate and family — before they can truly live happily ever after….
Sara’s Face
By Melvin Burgess
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
Fame, beauty, and face transplants
Sara wants to be famous, and when legendary rock star Jonathon Heat offers to take her under his wing and pay for her cosmetic surgery, it’s like a dream come true. But beauty comes with a hidden price tag. Is Sara willing to pay?
Unwind
By Neal Shusterman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 06, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 13 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
ALA Best Books For Young Adults
ALA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Description
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them
Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.
In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers’ ideas about life — not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.
Clovermead: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: December 01, 2005
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 6 and up
Awards:
NYPL “Books for the Teen Age”
Theodore H. White Lecturer/Joan Shorenstein Center, JFK School of Government/Harvard University (2002)
YALSA Teens Top Ten (TTT) Nominee
Description
Twelve-year-old Clovermead Wickward’s head is filled with stories of adventure. She dreams about the thrill of a sword fight and the excitement of heroic quests. The last thing Clovermead expects is for those dreams to come true. But it seems her father, Waxmelt, is not who she has believed hi to be. As she becomes aware of strange new powers within her, Clovermead realizes that her father is harboring secrest that threaten to tear their small family apart.
At the same time, the good nuns of Lady Moon are waging war again the evil bear-priests of Lord Ursus. Suddenly Clovermead and Waxmelt find themselves thrust into the middle of an epic battle.
Clovermead comes to understand that the clash between good and evil is raging not only on the battlefield but also within herself. Will she succumb to the temptation of evil, in the shadow of the bear, or will she fight for the salvation of good?
Chandlefort: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: December 26, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
It has been just months since Clovermead Wickward discovered that she is really Demoiselle Cerelune Cindertallow — daughter of Lady Melisande Cindertallow, the sovereign of Chandlefort — and that the man she had called Father all her life was actually an embittered servant who stole her away when she was a baby. Since then, she has learned that she doesn’t wholly care for life inside the walls of Chandlefort, and that she doesn’t much like her mother’s expectations for how a Demoiselle should behave — especially the bit about not changing shape anymore. When you can turn into a bear, being forced to stay human can be deadly dull.
Now Clovermead must confront dangerous secrets from her family’s troubled past when a mysterious stranger appears in Chandlefort. Perhaps he is the old friend of Clovermead’s real father, as he claims to be — or perhaps an old enemy of the Cindertallows who seeks a final revenge. When Clovermead unintentionally puts her mother’s life in mortal peril, her only chance to make amends and save the mother she has just begun to know is to set off on a dangerous journey to a distant abbey. The life of her mother, the salvation of Chandlefort, and the freedom of the bears enslaved by the overwhelming power of Lord Ursus all depend on Clovermead
In this intense and compelling sequel to Clovermead, David Randall explores the strength of love, courage, and forgiveness in the battle of good and evil.
Sorrel: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
The fight against the evil Lord Ursus continues, and the fate of the battle lies in the hands of fifteen-year-old Clovermead Wickward. Chandlefort’s army is in need of reinforcements, and Clovermead is charged by her mother, Lady Cindertallow, to seek allies among the nomadic Hordes of the Tansy Steppes. At the same time, Lord Ursus has dispatched Clovermead’s old enemy Lucifer Snuff to contest her. A battle of diplomacy ensues, and it is only one of many struggles that Clovermead must face.
First, Clovermead must choose between her mission to the Hordes and the pleas of her best friend, Sorrel. All the while the survival of Chandlefort is pitted against Clovermead’s promise to free Lord Ursus’s enslaved bears. But the most painful choice of all awaits Clovermead in a face-to-face confrontation with Lucifer Snuff. In the end, Clovermead must decide between the logic of war and her heart’s instinct for mercy, relying on her sacred gifts — the ability to shift into bear-form and to speak the bear-language — to have even the slightest chance at victory.
In an epic tale of honor, love, and redemption, David Randall follows Clovermead and Chandlefort with an adventure determining the fate of nations and human souls.
Questors
By Joan Lennon
Cover by Jon Foster
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: September 11, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 10 – 14
Grades: 5 – 9
Description
Three worlds, held in perfect balance. Nothing can change that. Well, nothing except a cataclysmic disruption in the Space-Time Continuum…
Luckily the people in charge have a plan: Create three perfect Heroes, the best of each world, and send them on a quest to find the Objects of Power that will restore the balance. But things go wrong when the Heroes are needed ten years earlier than expected, and three confused kids set off to save the worlds. Madlen, Bryn, and Cam have no idea what they’re looking for or where they’ll find it. What they do know is that to fail would mean unthinkable disaster.
It’s a pity, then, that someone is determined to stop them…
From the icebound city of the dragons to the magical kitchen of The London House, Joan Lennon has crafter a highly inventive story that is fast-paced, fantastical, and funny.
Bloodtide
By Melvin Burgess
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 22, 2007
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
PART I
London is in ruins, a once highly advanced city now a gated wasteland. Within its walls, a bloody war rages between two clans. Hope is sparse, but the people believe the gods have risen from the dead.
Odin himself has come to play a part in the lives of two twins, a brother and sister from the Volson clan. Siggy and Signy must come to grips with their destiny as London’s future teeters on the edge of a knife….
Bloodsong
By Melvin Burgess
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Awards:
ALA Best Books For Young Adults
Description
PART II
Fifteen-year-old Sigurd, son of King Sigmund, is the last surviving member of the Volson clan. His father’s kingdom — the former city of London — is gone. And his father’s knife, a gift from Odin himself, has been shattered to dust.
Now, Odin’s eye is upon him. Armed with a powerful sword forged from the remnants of his father’s knife, Sigurd will face death, fire, and torment. He must travel through Hel and back…to unite his country once again.
She’s a Witch Girl
By Kelly McClymer
Cover by Kirsten Ulve
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Prudence Stewart is FINALLY getting her witch on at Agatha’s Day School. Sadly, her love life isn’t quite so charmed. Boy trouble is lurking, big-time:
• First, there’s Angelo, Pru’s adorable crush-next-door. When he shows up at Agatha’s, it spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Pru. Especially when it comes to…
• Samuel, Pru’s best bud and tutor in all things magical. For Angelo and Samuel, it was loathe at first sight.
• And then there’s Daniel, the bad boy with wicked talent — who also happensto be the great-great-great-great-grandson of Pru’s nemesis, Agatha herself.
With all this boy drama, it’s all Pru can do to prep for the national cheerleading competition — the one that will bring her broomstick-to- spirit-stick with her former squad AND her boy-stealing ex-BFF.
A little magic just might come in handy right now….
Skin Hunger (A Resurrection of Magic)
By Kathleen Duey
Cover by David Ho
Illustrated by Sheila Rayyan
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: July 24, 2007
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best
National Book Award Finalist
Description
Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving poor villagers prey to fakes and charlatans. A “magician” stole her family’s few valuables and left Sadima’s mother to die on the day Sadima was born. But vestiges of magic are hidden in old rhymes and hearth tales and in people like Sadima, who conceals her silent communication with animals for fear of rejection and ridicule. When rumors of her gift reach Somiss, a young nobleman obsessed with restoring magic, he sends Franklin, his lifelong servant, to find her. Sadima’s joy at sharing her secret becomes love for the man she shares it with. But Franklin’s irrevocable bond to the brilliant and dangerous Somiss traps her, too, and she faces a heartbreaking decision.
Centuries later magic has been restored, but it is available only to the wealthy and is strictly controlled by wizards within a sequestered academy of magic. Hahp, the expendable second son of a rich merchant, is forced into the academy and finds himself paired with Gerrard, a peasant boy inexplicably admitted with nine sons of privilege and wealth. Only one of the ten students will graduate — and the first academic requirement is survival.
Sadima’s and Hahp’s worlds are separated by generations, but their lives are connected in surprising and powerful ways in this brilliant first book of Kathleen Duey’s dark, complex, and completely compelling trilogy.
Guide to the Uglies
By Scott Westerfeld
Cover by Carissa Pelleteri and Howard Pyle
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 21, 2008
List Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Not available yet, but keep an eye out!
Z for Zachariah
By Robert C. O’Brien
Cover by Sammy Yuen, Jr.
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Is anyone out there?
Ann Burden is sixteen years old and completely alone. The world as she once knew it is gone, ravaged by a nuclear war that has taken everyone from her. For the past year, she has lived in a remote valley with no evidence of any other survivors.
But the smoke from a distant campfire shatters Ann’s solitude. Someone else is still alive and making his way toward the valley. Who is this man? What does he want? Can he be trusted? Both excited and terrified, Ann soon realizes there may be worse things than being the last person on Earth.
Dream of the Stone
By Christina Askounis
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: April 10, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Someone is following Sarah Lucas. When she peers down from her apartment window late one night, she sees him hovering in the shadows. And what about the other strange things that have been happening to her? The old woman who appears every so often to give Sarah a cryptic piece of advice and then vanishes? The mysterious gleaming stone that turns up in the mail, a universe of tiny stars suspended in its depths?
But there’s no one Sarah can trust with her story. Her journalist parents have been killed in a freak plane crash, and her older brother, Sam, a scientific genius, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances from the top secret institute where he works.
Sarah couldn’t be more alone in the world, until the day she meets Angel Muldoon, a half-Gypsy stable boy who carries a secret of his own. Together they will begin an incredible journey to another world, where they must return the stone to its rightful place and keep the forces of unimaginable evil at bay.
Turnabout
By Margaret Peterson Haddix
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked — Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.
Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all….
Virtual War (The Virtual War Chronologs)
Gloria Skurzynski
Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 1, 1999)
Language: English
Book Description
Imagine a life of virtual reality — a childhood contained in a controlled environment, with no human contact. Corgan has been genetically engineered for quick reflexes, high intelligence, and physical superiority. He is unbeatable in battle. But he lives his life in a lonely module. What is a real sunset like? Or a friend?
When he meets fellow teens Sharla and Brig, Corgan begins to doubt the Federation, whose decisions he has unquestioningly obeyed. Life outside virtual reality may be for him. His fourteen years of training are about to end as the real challenge approaches. But he can’t lose focus now: He must win a virtual war, or the Western Hemisphere will be lost forever.
Clones (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Barry David Marcus
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 03, 2007
Our Price: $10.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Book Description
Clones are supposed to be identical…aren’t they?
Corgan, hero of the Virtual War, has been living a blissful, if placid, life on the Isles of Hiva, his reward for winning the War with Sharla and Brig. But what he doesn’t know is that Brig died soon after the War, and yet is not truly gone. Sharla had saved some of Brig’s DNA and has created clone-twins with it. Corgan’s world is disrupted when Sharla brings one of the clone-twins, Seabrig, to him to raise on the island, while she keeps the other, Brigand, with her in the Domed City. However, when circumstances force Sharla to bring Brigand to the island, they find that while the boys may look identical, their temperaments are not. Brigand is haughty, willful, power hungry, and despises Corgan because of his relationship with Sharla. And, as a result of the cloning process, both boys are growing at an astonishing rate. In what may or may not have been an accident with his clone-twin, Seabrig is badly injured and must be airlifted from the island to receive medical treatment in the Domed City. This leaves Corgan alone with an increasingly dangerous and unstable Brigand, who is now his size, and looking to get rid of Corgan once and for all.
A gripping sequel to Virtual War that could be ripped straight from the headlines — in eighty years….
Revolt (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Michael Frost
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: June 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
What do you do when someone truly hates you?
Corgan is used to being the hero. Leader of the team that won the Virtual War, he chose for his reward to live on the Isles of Hiva, in an idyllic paradise. Idyllic until the clones, Brigand and Cyborg, arrived, that is. Life hasn’t been the same for Corgan since.
Now he’s lucky if his former fans even remember his name. But more worrisome is that he has an enemy, a mortal enemy in the form of Brigand, who has taken over not only Corgan’s mantle as the most well-known person in the Domes, but has taken Corgan’s girlfriend, Sharla, away too. When Brigand tried to kill Corgan back in the Wyo-Dome and failed, Corgan thought he would be free of Brigand at last. But now the power-obsessed Brigand has followed him to Florida, determined to rule the Domes and finish Corgan off for good. Corgan escaped from Brigand once, but can he do it again? And more importantly, does he even want to escape this time?
So now Corgan’s got two choices. He can fight and risk getting killed or, worse, captured by Brigand. Or he can walk away and take Sharla with him…if he can figure out how to use a spacecraft that hasn’t been flown in more than fifty years.
Picking right up from where The Clones left off, this fast-paced sequel will not disappoint Gloria Skurzynski’s eager fans.
Choice (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Big Sesh Studios
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 –
Book Description
The Final Battle
Ever since Corgan escaped his mortal enemy, Brigand, by fleeing the Florida domed city, he’s felt haunted. He’s haunted by the fact that Brigand is still in power in Florida, torturing innocent citizens (including Corgan’s friend Thebos), but above all by the bitter memory that he ran away from Brigand rather than staying to fight. Corgan believes he made the right choice at the time, but now he wants to face Brigand in one final battle.
His passengers in the stolen zero-gravity spaceship-Sharla, Ananda, and Cyborg-have different ideas. Tired of arguing, Corgan chooses to land the ship in the only place he has ever been happy. But even there disaster follows him, until Sharla reveals a secret that gives him hope-hope that he can once again become the hero he was meant to be. This time, Corgan intends to stand up to Brigand, win or lose, in a fight to the death.
This thrilling sequel and conclusion to the Virtual War Chronologs has been eagerly awaited for by Gloria Skurzynski’s many fans.
Salem Witch Tryouts
By Kelly McClymer
Cover by Kirsten Ulve
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Prudence Stewart had it all at Beverly Hills High: straight A’s, the cutest crush, and a sweet gig as captain of the cheerleading squad. Then poof! Mom and Dad announce they’re moving to Salem, Massachusetts. Turns out, Pru comes from a long line of witches and it’s time for her to learn the craft. Buh-bye, Beverly Hills High — hello, Agatha’s Day School!
But Pru’s not about to trade in her spirit stick for a broomstick! She’s sure she can keep her kewl at her new school — until she discovers it’s all magic, all the time, and she’s failing Witchcraft 101. Worst of all, even the cheerleaders bring a special “spirit” to their routine. As in, triple-back-somersault-with-a-twist kind of spirit.
It’s time for Pru to cast a spell and prove she’s just as enchanting as the next girl — and somehow make cheering tryouts a flying S-U-C-C-E-S-S!
Fallen
By Thomas E. Sniegoski
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 16 and up
Grades: 10 and up
Description
Aaron Corbet isn’t a bad kid — he’s just a little different.
On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Aaron dreams of a darkly violent landscape. He can hear the sounds of weapons clanging, the screams of the stricken, and another sound he cannot quite decipher. But gazing upward at the sky, he suddenly understands. It is the sound of great wings, angels’ wings, beating the air unmercifully as hundreds of armored warriors descend on the battlefield.
Orphaned since birth, Aaron is suddenly discovering newfound — and sometimes supernatural — talents. But it’s not until he is approached by two men that he learns the truth about his destiny, and his role as a liaison between angels, mortals, and Powers both good and evil, some of whom are hell-bent on his destruction….
Everlost
By Neal Shusterman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
Description
Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident…
…but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to get either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no onger exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.
When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost kids, Nick feels like he he’s found a home, but allie isn’t satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the “Criminal Art” of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost.
In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between.
Rash
By Pete Hautman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: June 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Awards:
ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee
Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI)
Hal Clement Golden Duck Award
Keystone to Reading Book Award Master List (PA)
Minnesota Book Awards Finalist
New York Times Book Review Notable Books
Texas 2×2 Reading List
Texas Tayshas High School Reading List
Thumbs Up! Award Master List (MI)
Description
“Of course, without people like us Marstens, there wouldn’t be anybody to do the manual labor that makes this country run. Without penal workers, who would work the production lines, or pick the melons and peaches, or maintain the streets and parks and public lavatories? Our economy depends on prison labor. Without it everybody would have to work — whether they wanted to or not.”
In the late twenty-first century Bo Marsten is unjustly accused of a causing a rash that plagues his entire high school. He loses it, and as a result, he’s sentenced to work in the Canadian tundra, at a pizza factory that’s surrounded by hungry polar bears. Bo finds prison life to be both boring and dangerous, but it’s nothing compared to what happens when he starts playing on the factory’s highly illegal football team. In the meantime, Bork, an artificial intelligence that Bo created for a science project, tracks Bo down in prison. Bork has spun out of control and seems to be operating on his own. He offers to get Bo’s sentence shortened, but can Bo trust him? And now that Bo has been crushing skulls on the field, will he be able to go back to his old, highly regulated life?
Pete Hautman takes a satirical look at an antiseptic future in this darkly comic mystery/adventure.
Sharp North
By Patrick Cave
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: April 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up
Description
In a futuristic world, will everyone be replaceable?
Mira had always lived quietly until the day a stranger is shot and killed in front of her. The woman’s body is quickly removed, leaving bloodstained snow and a crumpled piece of paper on the ground as the only clues to her murder. Mira discovers that the paper contains a list of names, including her own — but why? Terrified, she begins to view everyone with suspicion, and attempts to follow the clues that the dead woman left behind, unaware of the danger she is stumbling into.
For Mira lives in an environmentally damaged and socially dangerous Great Britain that is ruled by the caste of the Great Families, forming a society where reproduction is strictly limited and where families keep illegal clones — or “spares” — of themselves, just in case a replacement is ever needed….
Fast paced and suspenseful, Sharp North is the story of Mira’s search for the truth about her own identity and her attempts to find goodness in her strange world.
Sign of the Raven
By Julie Hearn
Cover by Marc Yankus
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Mind the gap.
Something odd is going on in the basement of an old house in London. An inexplicable gap has formed, a gap in time that links the present to the past. And twelve-year-old Tom, who discovers the gap while on a visit to his grandmother, is torn between both worlds.
Lured by a mysterious voice, Tom leaps into the early eighteenth century, to a time when circus “freaks” like the Bendy Man and the Gorilla Woman appeared at Bartholomew Fair. The voice he hears belongs to Astra, a tiny changeling child, whose limbs are no bigger than a man’s thumb. She has called him into the past, because she is convinced that Tom is the only one who can help her and her friends from danger. Doctors are paying a high price for unusual bodies to dissect, and Astra and her friends are prime subjects.
But Tom is dealing with difficulties of his own. His mum has cancer and is constantly fighting with his gran. And then he discovers a dark secret in his family’s past…a secret that pulls the strands of time together and might just close the gap forever.
Apocalypse
By Tim Bowler
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: September 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up
Description
Kit and his parents are out sailing when things go horribly wrong. Fog rolls in; the compasses won’t work; weird cries come from the sea. Then squalls force their boat against a giant rock. They manage to get to shore, but the dismal, almost barren island they’re on provides no comfort. The only inhabitants are a brutal group of fundamentalists whose ancestors settled there long ago. For some reason they hate Kit the moment they see him.
But Kit has glimpsed someone else, a girl who seems to be wild. He’s also seen a strange man who looks just like him, only older, with the same birthmark on his face. Kit goes in search of the girl, looking for answers to the eerie goings-on. He returns to find his parents gone and their tents torn to shreds. Have the islanders killed them? Kit sets off in a desperate search for them as he struggles for his own survival. Will the girl help him? And will he be able to escape the islanders, who clearly want to kill him?
Journey on a startling voyage into the unknown, where an ordinary teenage boy faces a world filled with malice and a terrifying vision of the future, in this haunting thriller from award winner Tim Bowler.
Well, this is all from SimonSays for teens that is fairly current. Next time it’s on to the Pre-teens, and then on to the next publisher…
Life-and-death decision: James Marsden and Cameron Diaz star in the mystery.
I’m assuming, based on the trailer, that Dark Matter is one of those films that, like, say, Primer or Proof, wants to be extremely dense through the use to sciencespeak. As the title indicates, the film revolves around the study of dark matter, which is something with which most people are not too familiar. Focusing so heavily on something like dark matter allows the filmmakers to use it as a MacGuffin, because most people won’t have a clue about what the characters are discussing.
I am so filled with excitement that I can almost not type these words. Variety is reporting that David Fincher has signed on to direct the adaptation of Charles Burns’ incredible graphic novel Black Hole, which currently has a screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary*. Alex Aja had been attached, and while his take on the grotesque characters of the book (more on that in a moment) would have been fascinating, I am so psyched that Fincher is on board that I cannot explain.
Don’t tell Precious Moments, but that terrible angel wave crested and crashed on the beach of pop culture a long time ago. Don’t tell Paul Bettany either; he’s set to play the archangel Michael in Legion, the feature directorial debut of effects guy Scott Stewart. It’s a Screen Gems project so don’t get your hopes up too high, but the premise is entertaining.
William Gibson’s proto-cyberpunk novel Neuromancer is one of those books I have no real wish to see lifted to the screen. Not to preserve my own love for the book, which has finer points, but isn’t any significant favorite. Rather, like past efforts to make Gibson’s stuff come alive onscreen, it’s that a Neuromancer film seems likely to miss the point with such blatant glee that the deficiency would be obvious to any audience. Really, outside of Philip K Dick is any body of speculative fiction more likely to come out bland and homogenous?
You may have already heard 
For those who may be unfamiliar with the fantastic novel Neuromancer, (from 
Josh Tyler over at Cinema Blend initially picked up a scoop on the sequel, supposedly titled Son of the Starfighter, from an anonymous emailer, but wasn’t sure whether it was just a big rumor. The scooper reported that a production company called George Paige and Associates was already in pre-production on the film with shooting scheduled to begin next month. He also added that “it involves original director Nick Castle, writer Jonathan Betuel and actor Lance Guest. It’s your basic Son of the Starfighter storyline and actually sounds pretty cool.” Lance Guest did appear in the first movie as the teenager Alex Rogan, so it would make sense that they’d want him back, especially if they’re considering a story involving his son.
The script for 2012 is apparently so good, that the studios started a bidding war for distribution, with Sony ending up the winner. Now it’s heading into production for a 
Colin Brady is an immensely talented animation supervisor who has worked previously at Pixar, Rhythm and Hues, and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Brady was also a director of the animated film Everyone’s Hero and co-directed Toy Story 2. In our interview, he talks about his past career and introduction to AstroBoy, as well as a lot of what we can expect in the film from the story to what it’s likely to be rated – PG. Read on to hear what Colin says about the project below.
![Planet of the Apes - The Legacy Collection (Planet of the Apes [1968] / Beneath the / Escape from the / Conquest of the / Battle for the)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21AA7EP9M1L._AA115_.jpg)
