Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Donna Galanti
Stay away from the window,
don’t go outside when it’s storming and whatever you do, do not touch the orb.
Twelve-year-old Joshua
Cooper’s grandpa has always warned him about the dangers of lightning. But
Joshua never put much stock in his grandpa’s rumblings as anything more than
the ravings of an old man with a vast imagination. Then one night, when Joshua
and his best friend are home alone during a frightful storm, Joshua learns his
grandpa was right. A bolt of lightning strikes his house and whisks away his
best friend—possibly forever.
To get him back, Joshua must
travel the Lightning Road to a dark place that steals children for energy. But
getting back home and saving his friend won’t be easy, as Joshua must face the
terrifying Child Collector and fend off ferocious and unnatural beasts intent
on destroying him.
In this world, Joshua
possesses powers he never knew he had, and soon, Joshua’s mission becomes more
than a search for his friend. He means to send all the stolen children home—and
doing so becomes the battle of his life.
The
trees crowded around us, the deafening quiet of the woods pounding in
my ears. Sweat broke out on my lip and I wiped it away. The one beast
licked its lips in return, then curled its mouth in an awful grin,
exposing vampire dagger teeth.
The
beasts inched toward us. “We don’t want to hurt you.” Bluffing
still seemed the best idea.
“And
you won’t, my tasty morsels.” The leader panted hungrily.
The
lightning orb. I had to trust in Bo Chez’s story and believe all
its stormy, electric power could help us. But Sam had said the Greek
gods lost their powers. Let it do something! And if it breaks, I’m
sorry, Bo Chez!
Charlie
clung to my arm so tight it cramped. Fire flashed out of the leader’s
mouth, and a long flame roared toward us, cutting through the mist
like a fire sword. All three of us stumbled back.
The
beast pack leapt toward us like hairy dragons. The moss beneath our
feet snapped with fire and heat roasted my face and arms. Fire raced
up the wizard trees, and their wood shrieked in splitting agony.
“Run!”
Sam dragged Charlie and me back.
Red
eyes glared at me.
“Hi-yahh!”
I flung the orb hard.
Blue
light exploded into the space before us and knocked us all off our
feet. I slammed sideways into a tree and slid down to the ground. The
beasts were sprawled motionless before us on the blackened,
smoldering moss. Trees smoked as flames flickered up them. Charlie
and Sam lay a few feet away.
Donna is the
author of the Joshua and The Lightning Road series and the Element Trilogy. She
is a contributing editor to International Thriller Writers the Big Thrill
magazine and blogs at www.project-middle-grade- mayhem.blogs..., a cooperative of
published middle grade authors. Visit her at www.donnagalanti.com and
www.ElementTrilogy.com. Donna wanted to be a writer ever since she wrote a
murder mystery screenplay at seven and acted it out with the neighborhood kids.
She attended an English school housed in a magical castle, where her wild
imagination was held back only by her itchy uniform (bowler hat and tie
included!). There she fell in love with the worlds of C.S. Lewis and Roald
Dahl, and wrote her first fantasy about Dodo birds, wizards, and a flying ship
(and has been writing fantasy ever since). She’s lived in other exotic
locations, including her family-owned campground in New Hampshire and in Hawaii
where she served as a U.S. Navy photographer. She now lives with her family and
two crazy cats in an old farmhouse and dreams of returning one day to a castle.
Giveaway
Information:
Winner
will be drawn June 19, 2015
Five
(5) winners will receive a digital copy
of
Joshua
and the Lightning Road by Donna Galanti (INT)