Spotlight on Gerald and the Wee People, by Greta Burroughs
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Gerald and the Wee People by Greta Burroughs
Genre
MG/YA fantasy
One Sentence Synopsis
Two boys fall into a strange new
world and discover they can accomplish the impossible with a little help from
their friends.
Description
Gerald and his best friend, Vernon discover a
mysterious spot in the woods where Gerald visualizes a miniature village
complete with wee inhabitants. He enjoys going back to that spot and watching
the day to day activities until trouble starts in the village and he tries to
convince Vernon
that the "visions" are real and the wee people need help.
While trying to prove that the
whole thing is just Gerald's wild imagination, the boys literally fall into the
new world and get caught up in a war. The boys come up with ways to keep
the invading force from entering the village but another solution has to be
found in order to put an end to the conflict.
Along with a few companions from
the village, Gerald and Vernon
embark on a quest to face down the deranged forest god who instigated the
mayhem. The dangerous path is laid out by an ancient prophecy, but not
everything goes as planned.
Excerpt
Why they had to hurry, Gerald did
not know but something in the back of his mind kept telling him that time was
running out. It took a few minutes, but all the boys were finally awake, a
little groggy but ready to move.
The problem was that everything
seemed to be happening in slow motion. The heat was almost unbearable. It was a
major effort to put one foot in front of the other. Gerald reminded the rest of
his team that it was Miach’s way of keeping them from reaching their
destination. But this time the illusion did not stop when he mentioned the
forest god being up to his old tricks.
This time it was no illusion. The
walls burned their hands, the hot air burned their throats. The floor was
sticky with some kind of hot substance that burned their feet through their
shoes. They began to hear a distant sound like the laughter they had heard
earlier.
Cian fell to his knees and cried
out in pain as the scalding liquid burned his skin. “I can’t go on, just leave
me here to die,” he screamed.
Tomas reached out to his brother
and tried to help him up. It was no use; he was too weak and exhausted. In a
very weak voice he said, “You all go on. I’ll stay with Cian. I can’t go
another step anyway.”
No one else said a word, the other
two boys were too tired to talk, too tired to walk, too tired to care.
This was not supposed to be
happening. Gerald did not remember this from his nightmares. Something was wrong.
He yelled to whoever was listening, “Did we take a wrong turn or something?
Stop it Miach, stop it. You want me, leave my friends alone.”
That just made matters worse. The
scampering, unseen creatures came out of nowhere. They did not just run past
this time but stayed and started pinching and biting the legs and arms of
Gerald’s companions. For some strange reason though, the creatures did not
bother him.
All four of his companions were
down, rolling around on the ground trying to fight off the shadowy figures. The
screams intensified from his friends as the burning liquid covered their bodies
and the creatures’ biting turned to gnawing. Gerald could hear pieces of flesh
being torn away as the other boys were being eaten alive. The laughter was all
around them now bouncing off the walls and echoing through Gerald’s head.
“Stop it, stop it now. Please, I’ll
do anything you want, Miach, just stop the noise, and stop torturing my
friends.”
Total silence fell. All the
gnawing, screaming and laughter were gone. Gerald did not know if the total
lack of sound was worse than all the noise. He noticed a light shining above
him. He looked around and realized he was all alone.
A voice spoke inside his mind and
said, “Anything I want, huh,” followed by a soft, haunting chuckle.
Links
(UK
Amazon) http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004JKMT0Q
Author’s Bio
Greta Burroughs
loves to read. No matter where she is, there is always a book close at hand.
Her love of reading began at an early age and blossomed over time to include
many different genres, her favorite now being fantasy.
As a preschool
and elementary school teacher, Greta tried to instill the joy of reading in the
children she worked with. Books were an important part of her classroom and
story time was the highlight of the day.
It has been a
while since Greta was in a classroom but she had lots of experience in reading
to children of various ages and remembers what they enjoyed listening to. She
tries to incorporate that knowledge into her work as an author and believes it
makes her a better writer of children's and young adult books.
She now resides
in SC with her husband, Robert and three dogs. Greta has six books published at
the present time; three children’s books in the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat
series, two MG/YA fantasy entitled Gerald and the Wee People and House on Bo-Kay Lane, and
a nonfiction account of her experiences with an autoimmune blood disorder
called ITP - Heartaches and Miracles.
For more information
on Greta's books visit http://booksbygretaburroughs.weebly.com/
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