The Neverland
Wars
Genre: YA Fantasy/
Fairytale Retelling
Release Date: May 9th
2016
Clean Teen
Publishing
Magic can do a lot—give you flight, show you mermaids, help you taste the stars, and… solve the budget crisis? That's what the grown-ups will do with it if they ever make it to Neverland to steal its magic and bring their children home.
However, Gwen doesn't know this. She's just a
sixteen-year-old girl with a place on the debate team and a powerful crush on
Jay, the soon-to-be homecoming king. She doesn't know her little sister could
actually run away with Peter Pan, or that she might have to chase after her to
bring her home safe. Gwen will find out though—and when she does, she'll
discover she's in the middle of a looming war between Neverland and reality.
She'll be out of place as a teenager in Neverland, but she
won't be the only one. Peter Pan's constant treks back to the mainland have
slowly aged him into adolescence as well. Soon, Gwen will have to decide
whether she's going to join impish, playful Peter in his fight for eternal
youth… or if she's going to scramble back to reality in time for the homecoming
dance.
Advance Praise:
"The author creates such a peaceful and serene place
that it felt likeescape just reading about it...Through this world, the author explores
the themes of what it means to grow up." (K.E. Carson, The Underground)
Help support The
Neverland Wars on the
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They landed and moved slowly through the jungle for the last
few hundred feet, giving Peter time to explain to Gwen as she walked at his
side.
“If you’ve never met a mermaid before, there are a few things
you should know about them.”
“Like what?”
“Like they are the most cunning and conniving creatures you
will ever cross paths with.”
“Really?” Gwen asked, astounded. “I would have thought
mermaids would be… I don’t know,
beautiful and sweet.”
“Sirens, all of them. They’ll do anything to get what they
want. Mermaids have no qualms about the means to the end, so long as it’s their
end they get to.”
“Well, what do they want?”
“It’s always some kind of trouble… not that they’ll ever tell you what they want.”
Peter barreled through a clump of vines, hanging low in his
way. Gwen followed after him, her curiosity compounding with every moment. “Are
they dangerous then?”
“Terribly,” Peter responded. “So there are three rules for
whenever you confront mermaids. First, don’t get too near to them; second,
don’t get too close to them; and third, don’t ever get in the water with them.”
“Alright. Easy enough,” Gwen said, wondering if there was a
working difference between the first and second rule.
“The best thing to remember,” Peter continued, “is that
mermaids will never tell you what they’re after, and it’s best to assume it’s
something dastardly. Whatever they want from you, whatever they want you to do,
just don’t.”
“Well, if they’re so terrible, why are we going to meet with
them?” Gwen asked, not seeing what good could come of the encounter.
“Because mermaids know things, and they can learn things you
and I couldn’t ever possibly learn, even if someone spent a hundred years
trying to teach us… and they have
information right now that I need.”
Peter
caught sight of a papaya tree and reached up
to pick its fruit. It seemed impossible
for Peter to pass up ripe fruit, so he beckoned to Gwen and filled her
satchel with a few. He found a mango tree, and tossed Gwen a few of those
fruits as well.
“Will the mermaids tell you?” Gwen asked. “If you’re so bent on thwarting them, what’s to stop
them from giving you misinformation to spite you?”
“They’re very easy to coerce,” Peter said, his mouth full of
mango, “and the one good thing about mermaids is they can’t lie.”
“They can’t?”
“Nope. Not even a tiny white lie. Mermaids don’t go against
their word, and they stick to the bargains they strike. But that makes them
even more dangerous, obviously.”
Gwen didn’t see how that was obvious at all. If anything, it
seemed like that would make them less of a threat, but there wasn’t time to press the conversation further. They broke
the tree line and found
themselves on the edge of a small cliff. Crude steps carved into the cliff's face led down to a rocky lagoon. Below, the beautiful bay of blue-green
water was so clear and still that it was easy to make out the silhouettes of
the slender, aquatic nymphs swimming beneath the surface.
Audrey Greathouse is a Seattle-based author of science-fiction
and fantasy. Raised in the suburbs, she became a writer after being introduced
to NaNoWriMo during her sophmore year of high school. Since then, she has
drafted more than a dozen books, 100 sonnets, and 800 other poems, and a
handful of short stories and one-act plays.
After dropping out of her university and beginning training as a circus performer on the aerial silks, she returned to school to study at Southern New Hampshire University College of Online and Continuing Education to earn her B.A. in English Language and Literature, with a minor in Computer Information Technologies.
Audrey Greathouse is a die-hard punk cabaret fan, and pianist of fourteen years. She's usually somewhere along the west coast, and she is always writing.
After dropping out of her university and beginning training as a circus performer on the aerial silks, she returned to school to study at Southern New Hampshire University College of Online and Continuing Education to earn her B.A. in English Language and Literature, with a minor in Computer Information Technologies.
Audrey Greathouse is a die-hard punk cabaret fan, and pianist of fourteen years. She's usually somewhere along the west coast, and she is always writing.
I'd go to Mermaids' Lagoon!
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