EXCERPT
Night of the Purple Moon
Night of the Purple Moon
(The Toucan Trilogy Book 1)
by Scott
Cramer
Night of the Purple Moon is the first book in Scott Cramer's The Toucan Trilogy. Also available: Colony East.
Description
Description
Abby awakens to
banging on the door, sees a truck crashed, and finds her baby sister crying out
for breakfast. She soon discovers why Dad hasn't fed her.
Astronomers
predicted that Earth would pass through a comet's tail, turning the moon
purple. But nobody predicted that bacteria from the comet would attack the
hormones responsible for puberty. Adults died within hours.
Abby struggles to
care for her siblings while quarantined scientists race to find a cure. The
time bomb of puberty ticks louder the older Abby gets.
Compelling science
fiction, a young adult dystopian with heart.
Excerpt
DAY 1 – THE COMET
Thick fog
rolled in and swallowed Abby whole. Unable to see her outstretched hand, she
clenched her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering. Homichlophobia — fear of
fog. Millions had the phobia, but how many of them lived in the fog capital of
the universe?
“Abby.”
Her father’s voice sounded far away. He’d been next to her a
moment ago. She reached for him and grabbed damp air. A chill rippled through
her and she started flailing her arms.
A hand pressed down on her
shoulder. “Hey, sleepy.”
Abby opened her eyes and blinked at
the silhouette, tall and lean with a curly mop of brown hair. “Dad!”
“Swimming somewhere?”
“Yeah, Cambridge.” Abby always
found a way to let her dad know how she felt about moving from the city in
Massachusetts where she had grown up—where her friends still lived—to a small
island twenty miles off the coast of Maine. Her mom also shared part of the
blame for going along with his crazy idea to move here.
“Tonight’s the night!” he said with
a gleam in his eye and headed off to wake up her twelve-year-old brother
Jordan.
“A purple moon?” she called out.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Abby sat up in bed, still shaken by
her dream. Just then the long blast of a horn signaled the 7 a.m. ferry
arriving from the mainland. She had to hurry to get in the shower first.
She entered the hallway at the same
time as Jordan, and together they raced for the bathroom. She ducked inside
first, but he blocked the door from closing. Each pushed for all they were
worth. Abby, a year older and stronger than her brother, slammed the gap shut
and locked the door.
“Come on,” he said, banging. “I
need to take a shower.”
“Me, too!”
“Save some hot water!”
“Can you say please?”
He banged again.
Abby kicked
aside Jordan’s dirty socks and underwear he’d left on the floor and turned on
the shower. She stepped into the warm spray and sighed. Sunday, two days from
now, could not come fast enough. Abby would spend spring break with her mother
in Cambridge. For the first time since moving to Castine Island three months
ago, she would hang out with her best friend, Mel.
When Abby
stepped out of the bathroom, she found Jordan camped in the hall. He pushed his
way past her. “Jerk,” he said. “There better be hot water.”
“Grow up!” she fired back. “And get
your dirty stuff off the floor!”
Later, Abby placed her backpack on
the kitchen floor, ready for breakfast. Her two-year-old sister, Toucan, sat in
her highchair eating Cheerios, grinning, and babbling. “Abby, Comet, Cheeries.”
Abby planted a kiss on her face.
“Morning, Touk.”
Dad was washing dishes piled high
in the sink—Power cleaning, he called
it. Preparing for Mom’s arrival on Saturday, he always started picking up the
house the day before.
Abby poured a bowl of cereal and
studied the newspaper. The front page had a big picture of the comet Rudenko-Kasparov, named for the two
amateur comet hunters who first spotted the fuzzy blob in the Andromeda
constellation. The headline declared: GET YOUR BROOMS READY. That was a joke —
nobody would be sweeping up space dust, but when Earth entered the comet’s tail
for the first time tonight, astronomers predicted weeks of colorful sunsets and
sunrises and, best of all, a purple moon.
Not everyone was looking forward to
the comet. One cult believed it signaled the end of the world and were hiding
out in a cave, as if a hole in the ground might offer some type of protection.
Abby didn’t worry about the world
coming to an end, though she was quite curious what space dust smelled like.
Review
By David Roys
I was delighted to
get a free download of this book. I'm over 40, so I definitely don't fall into
the typical YA target audience, but I do like a good story and Night of the
Purple Moon is a great story that is told by a very talented author.
There were parts of
this book that I considered so good, I read them to my wife. Things like
"While his words sounded rehearsed, his blushing seemed spontaneous."
There are a number of little gems like this throughout the book. I enjoyed
Scott's easy style and would definitely read other books by him.
I don't want to
sound overzealous, but this book reminded me of the books I read at school,
such as Swallows and Amazons, Lord of the Flies, or Charlotte's Web. It has
that "modern classic" feel about it. It's a gripping tale of kids
surviving in the worst of circumstances, and Scott deals with the many deaths
in a sensitive, yet emotionally stirring way.
I found a few minor
typos in the book which didn't put me off. I'll see if I can pass these on to
Scott so he can fix them up for future readers.
Overall this is a
wonderful book which I highly recommend for anyone over a certain age. I'm not
sure how old your child should be to read this book, but if they're likely to
have nightmares after reading about the death of nearly the entire adult
population, they should probably wait a few years.
About the Author
Scott Cramer and his wife reside outside Boston in an empty
nest/zoo/suburban farm/art studio with too many surfboards in the garage. Night of the Purple Moon is Scott's debut novel. It is Book 1 in The Toucan Trilogy. Colony East, Book 2 in The Toucan
Trilogy, was released December 2013.
Links
