A Middle Grade Fantasy
(yet to be published)
“A thirteen-year-old boy’s attempt to save his settlement from a murderous telepath: act of bravery or a suicide mission?”
In ORION’S SWORD, thirteen-year-old Bariah struggles with his friend’s death after encountering a terrifying herbatrox in the jungle surrounding the Orion settlement. Bariah not only lost his friend, but his nerve in the jungle. He is desperate to move. Anywhere else.
Just when Bariah thinks things can’t get worse, psychotic telepath, Lazar Mallus, threatens Orion by attempting to steal their essential power cells and shuttle. When Bariah thwarts Mallus’s efforts by taking an ignition switch from the shuttle, Mallus telepathically turns Orion’s citizens against Bariah. He is then forced to flee with the switch into the dreaded jungle where he must face his fears in a battle with Mallus.
On the upside, Bariah has two friends along to help. On the downside, one is Teesha, Mallus’s niece, whose allegiance is questionable at best, and the other is Gizmo, who has fewer survival skills than a baby pit bunny. The mission to defeat Mallus finally leads them to Bariah’s greatest fear of all and a life-or-death struggle.