CHASING POWER Comes Out Today!

I am thrilled to announce the release of my new book, CHASING POWER!!!

CHASING POWER is a fantasy novel for young adults, published by Bloomsbury.  It's about Kayla, a sixteen-year-old girl who can move things with her mind, and Daniel, a boy who can teleport across continents and who lies as easily as he travels.  Together, they embark on an Indiana-Jones-style adventure to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother.  But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family, and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive... or survive.

The idea for this book came from one of those questions that you ask your friends late at night after you've finished dissecting everyone's personal lives, speculating on the future of various relationships, and musing over the awesomeness of avocados.  Namely: "If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?"

My answer for years has been telekinesis.  At a very formative age, I saw "Escape to Witch Mountain" and loved everything about it, including its cheesy special effects, overacting adults, and harmonica solos.  I also read (and reread and reread...) the wonderful book THE GIRL WITH THE SILVER EYES by Willo Davis Roberts.  So telekinesis has been on the list of awesome-things-I-want-to-write-about for a very long time.

But the novel wasn't truly born until I decided to give my girl very, very limited powers.  Kayla can't toss around cars or planes like Jean Grey.  She can't lift an X-wing fighter out of a swamp.  She can lift things about the size and weight of a credit card.  Maybe a pencil.  So she has to be clever and use her power creatively, if she's going to survive.

I had so much fun writing this book.  It was an adventure that took me around the world (not literally, of course -- in real life, I stayed nicely close to my refrigerator), up mountains and into catacombs and as close as I'll ever get to a lava lake.  Writing it felt like hanging out with very cool friends, the kind of friends who always make you laugh and who always share the salsa.  I hope you have fun reading it!

And if you're in the NYC area, I'll be signing copies of CHASING POWER this Friday (10/17/14) at 6pm at Books of Wonder.  I hope you'll come and say hi!

More about CHASING POWER, including the first two chapters, can be found here.