Book Details
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Great Plains Teen Fiction (September 1, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1927855098
- ISBN-13: 978-1927855096
For seventeen-year-old Maggie Johnson, transitioning the dead isn’t hard. What’s tough is surviving the insults and pranks of Serge Popov, high school thug and the dumbest jock to ever set foot in Dead Falls, Alberta. When she finds him dead from alcohol poisoning and later discovers his spirit trapped in her room, she figures it’s a case of divine justice. Let the jerk rot. But someone—or something—has a different agenda. If Maggie doesn’t help Serge cross over, she’ll die at the hands of the otherworldly entity that’s taken an interest in the deceased bully. As she digs into the circumstances of Serge’s death, now classified a murder, she’ll uncover the secrets hidden by the world of the living and the wonders revealed by cities of the dead—if her investigation doesn’t kill her, first.
Natasha Deen graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.A. in psychology. With 15 years experience as a presenter and workshop facilitator with schools, Natasha is also an advocate for vulnerable groups and has worked with the provincial government as well as school boards, libraries, writing camps, and non-profit agencies.
She is published in a variety of genres—from creative non-fiction through to YA and adult—and is an author with Orca Books, The Wild Rose Press, Summit Studios, and Great Plains Publications. Her novel, Ethan’s Chase, was nominated for a 2008 CAPA Award for excellence in romance and her novella, What Happens in Vegas won the 2012 International Digital Book Award. She was the inaugural 2013 Regional Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Library Federation, serving Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, & Fort Saskatchewan.
Excerpt:
The Book Trailer
Excerpt:
Never. It’s such a great word. Decisive.
Non-negotiable.
“Would you kill someone?”
“Never.”
Ask the right question to a kid,
and you get the emphatic never:
“Would you eat liver?”
“Eww! Never!”
I like “never.” It’s a brave word.
I see it used all the time with the people around me. Get them talking about a
subject they’re passionate about and inevitably “never” enters the equation. It
speaks to the action, the mindset, the moral or value they wouldn't betray.
“I would never harm an animal.”
“I would never hurt a child.”
“I’ll never drink and drive.”
In the real world, we get to have
these absolutes, these lines we’d never cross.
In the fiction world, however, life
is all about figuring out what your character would NEVER, NEVER-EVER do…then
making them do precisely that thing. Or at the very least, putting them into a
situation where they’re sorely tempted to do that thing they thought they’d
never do.
Take Maggie from Guardian. She’s an
easy-going kid. Wants good marks. Loves her family and friends. Drools over her
crush. Her big problem in life is Serge, the resident school bully. But no
matter. It’s the final year of high school and she’ll be rid of him, soon
enough.
She’d never become friends with
Serge.
She’d never put her friends’ lives
in danger.
She’d never cross the law.
Her nemesis Serge, well, he’s not
so easy-going. He’s trapped in a town he hates. Forced to live with his father
who he despises, all to protect his mother who is the only person he loves. He
can’t stand Maggie. Sees nothing in her to connect with.
He’ll never have anything but
contempt for Maggie.
He’ll never be weak.
He’ll never submit to anyone or
anything.
As a writer, as their writer, it’s my job to twist them
around. Make them spin on their nevers and see what happens.
So, how do I do that?
Well, first I have to get them
into a situation where they can’t escape each other. They’re teens so, sure, I
could make them work on some kind of school project together. Or create some type of lockdown scenario and
trap them in a computer lab.
The only problem with that is at
some point, one of them can walk away from the other. Great for them. Not so
great for me, the reader, or the questions I want to explore about
consequences, forgiveness, and redemption.
There was only one way out of it
for me.
Kill Serge, turn him into a
ghost, and have him haunt Maggie.
Perfect. Now the bully must rely
on his victim. Now the victim must face her tormentor.
Someone has murdered Serge. And
the only way for him to cross-over, the only way for him to stop haunting
Maggie, is for he and Maggie to face each other, deal with each other, work as
a team, and survive whomever has killed him and is now coming after Maggie.
And the question of the book is
whether they’ll be able to do any of that.
I sighed. I was tired and exhausted and heartbroken. “What did you do?”
Serge looked at me.
“To get your dad to let you back on the team?”
He grinned. “We had a heart to heart.”
“Now who’s being a hosebeast?”
He exhaled, impatient. “Look, I just pointed out that if I was on the
team, I couldn’t be at home. He liked that.”
I glanced at him. “You guys really had a sucky relationship, didn’t you?”
“With detective skills like that, you should go into policing. Think of
how much the crime rate would drop.”
“Don’t be a jerk.” I slowed the car as the light in front of me turned
yellow.
“I only meant that most kids complain about their parents and vice-versa,
but they love each other.”
His face tightened at the word “love.”
“You really hated him and he couldn’t stand you.”
“In a nutshell.”
I stepped on the accelerator. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Because it’s not natural for parent and kids to actually hate each other.”
“Maybe not in your perfect little world, but not everybody’s dad is
their best friend.”
“Maybe, but he must have done something to you.”
His face hardened, a rough slab of flesh and bone. “He didn’t do anything
to me.”
“That night, at the pool,” I said, “I saw the way you were standing in
front of your mom—”
“Lay off it, Deadhead.”
“I’m just saying—”
“And I’m just telling you to shut up!” His voice rose, anger made it
raw. Serge’s body sparked, flashed white.
The light blinded me and I lost sight of the road. I hit the brake, but
turned the wheel at the same time. A big rig’s horn blared in my ears. I blinked,
trying to see past the flash.
The horn sounded again.
That’s when I realized the light blinding me wasn’t Serge.
It was the semi’s headlights, bearing down on me.
Find out more about Serge and
Maggie:
The Book Trailer
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