Willa Snap and the Clockwerk Boy: An Idiot Genius Novelby Richard Due

“What an absolutely mind-blowing, flame-throwing, steampunking adventure!!” –T. Crum

National Indie Excellence Award ~ Winner for Juvenile Fiction / Independent Publisher Book Award ~ Medalist / International Rubery Book Award ~ Shortlist

Ever wonder why some crazy scientist hasn’t blown up the world? I used to wonder about it all the time. Actually, I was pretty sure my mom would be the one to do it.
But now I know better. It turns out there’s a force working hard to keep the world from going KABLOOEY.
Who are these people? Wait for it:
Idiots. Yep, you heard me right.
How do I know? Well, apparently, I’m an Idiot. At least, according to the Geniuses I am. Confused? I’m not surprised. You’re probably an Idiot too. Offended? You shouldn’t be–I called you an Idiot, not an idiot. There’s a difference, just as there’s a difference between a Genius and a genius. Confused and offended? It gets worse. There’s a third category: Idiot Genius. Those are the ones you really have to look out for. You see, Idiot Geniuses–for some unaccountable reason–are completely obsessed with “improving” the world. Maybe it’s encoded in their DNA. I don’t know. I didn’t get those genes. I have Idiot genes, which means that for an equally unaccountable reason, I’m obsessed with saving the world–usually from them.
I must warn you, my story isn’t a pretty one: abductions, time-traveling dragons, the Order of the Black Fez, highly verbal cats, a secret invisible city, condescending robots (condescending means they talk to you like you’re an Idiot; wait, is it condescending of me to explain what condescending means?), and that’s just for starters. –Willa Snap

Perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society, Percy Jackson, Neil Gaiman, and the Artemis Fowl series, this action-packed adventure will take you to places you’ve never imagined, but always wanted to visit.

“It’s unusual to see such sci-fi depth and detail in a title directed to young adults, but this is precisely what makes Idiot Genius: Willa Snap and the Clockwerk Boy such an appealing production: the characterization is solid while its fantastic setting will intrigue ages well beyond its intended 9-12-year-old audience. Highly recommended for young adults seeking something compellingly different.” -D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Clockers: A Novelby Richard Price

The New York Times–bestselling author’s “harrowing” novel about a cop and a crack dealer–the basis for the acclaimed Spike Lee film (The New York Times).

Rocco Klein, a veteran homicide detective in a New Jersey city just outside Manhattan, has lost his appetite for the wild drama of the street. When a warm June night brings yet another drug murder, Klein has no sense that the case is anything special. A black twenty-year-old steps forward to confess, but a little digging reveals that he’s never been in any kind of trouble, whereas his brother runs a crew of street-corner cocaine dealers–clockers–in a nearby housing project.

Soon Klein is sure that Victor Dunham is innocent, sure that his brother, Strike, is the real killer. And suddenly Rocco’s hunger for the job is back.

At once an explosive murder mystery and a riveting portrait of two lives on a collision course, Clockers is a gritty tale of suspense from the award-winning screenwriter for HBO’s The Wire, a New York Times–bestselling novelist who “gets so deep under the skin of both the cops and the clockers that it’s hard to believe he himself has never been either” (People).

Bell Hammersby Lancelot Schaubert

PRANKS. OIL. PROTEST. JOKES BETWEEN NEWLYWEDS. AND ONE HILARIOUS SIEGE OF A MAJOR CORPORATION.

Remmy grows up with Beth in Bellhammer, Illinois as oil and coal companies rob the land of everything that made it paradise. Under his Grandad, he learns how to properly prank his neighbors, friends, and foes. Beth tries to fix Remmy by taking him to church. Under his Daddy, Remmy starts the Bell Hammer Construction Company, which depends on contracts from Texarco Oil. And Beth argues with him about how to build a better business. Together, Remmy and Beth start to build a great neighborhood of “merry men” carpenters: a paradise of s’mores, porch furniture, newborn babies, and summer trips to Branson where their boys pop the tops of off the neighborhood’s two hundred soda bottles. Their witty banter builds a kind of castle among a growing nostalgia.

Then one of Jim Johnstone’s faulty Texarco oil derricks falls down on their house and poisons their neighborhood’s well.

Poisoned wells escalate to torched dog houses. Torched dog houses escalate to stolen carpentry tools and cancelled contracts. Cancelled contracts escalate to eminent domain. Sick of the attacks from Texaco Oil on his neighborhood, Remmy assembles his merry men:

“We need the world’s greatest prank. One grand glorious jest that’ll bloody the nose of that tyrant. Besides, pranks and jokes don’t got no consequences, right?”

:: PRAISE FOR LANCELOT SCHAUBERT AND BELL HAMMERS ::

“Schaubert recounts a mischievous man’s eight decades in Illinois’s Little Egypt region in his picaresque debut. Remmy’s life of constant schemes and pranks and a lifelong feud with classmate Jim Johnstone and the local oil drilling company proves consequential. This is a hoot.”

— Publisher’s Weekly

“BELL HAMMERS is written in a style not unworthy of John Kennedy Toole and William Faulkner – the vivid characterization of Southern ethnography commingled with stark, episodic spectacle breathes with the spirit of quintessential Americana. It is a text I would happily assign in an American Novel class and would expect it to yield satisfying discourse alongside works in the canon, whether beside the sardonic prose of Mark Twain or the energetically painful narratives of Toni Morrison.”

— Dr. Anthony Cirilla

Dirty Deeds 2by Armand Rosamilia

Everything was going smoothly until my past caught up with me.

Now I’m being taunted by a madman who knows more about me than I do.

He’s kidnapped the closest person in my life, and he is using it to get my attention.

Trust me… he has it. Now I just need to figure out where he is and when he’ll strike again.

Things were easier when I was only kidnapping children.