BooksChatter: ☀☄ Behind The Fun Zone: The Age of Amy [4]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Behind The Fun Zone, a Young Adult Fiction novel by Bruce Edwards (1 August 2015, Lambert Hill, 216 pages).

This is the fourth book in the The Age of Amy series.

"Amy just expects more out of life. She looks at the world with all of its problems and asks, 'is this the best you can do?'" —Bruce Edwards

PREVIEW: Read various excerpts with Amazon Look Inside.

Check out the book's trailers, synopsis and excerpt below, and then find out about the whole series. Also don't miss our Q&A with author Bruce Edwards.

Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ) and reviews (✍).

Trailer 1 | Synopsis | Trailer 2 | Teaser | The Series | Author Q&A | About the Author | Tour Stops

Synopsis

Are you a Jimmiehead, or are you still using one of those old-fashioned smartphones? Jimmies are tiny microchips, that when painlessly implanted into your brain, magically transform your eyes and ears into the ultimate hands-free device. No more fumbling with fragile phones, loose earbuds, or clumsy controllers. Watch movies without looking at a screen. Take photos through your eyes. Text with your brain waves.

Everyone wants a Jimmie—except 16-year-old Amy, who detests technology in any form. But when thousands of teenage Jimmieheads mysteriously vanish, only she can save them. Immune to Jimmie's influence, Amy embarks on a quest to find the missing teens, ultimately revealing an ominous connection to a spooky, old amusement park that's been dark for 50 years!

Teaser: Excerpt

Chapter 3

CRUSH

For months I was finding love letters in my school locker, each one neatly folded before being stuffed through the locker’s air vent. “To my beloved Amy,” they began. “My heart aches for you,” and “I long for your affection” were commonly-used phrases. As much as I hoped that Fred was the anonymous author, I discovered they were being written by a different boy. My bold admirer tried his best to keep his identity a secret, but after catching him following me around campus, the pieces fell into place pretty quickly. He once wrote that he “admired me from afar,” which was funny, because his locker was right next to mine.

His name was Zachary Smithers. He was a full foot shorter than me, and skinny as a hockey stick. His prying eyes followed me through large horn rimmed glasses. His eavesdropping ears were somewhere under his long hair, that flipped up at the ends around his narrow shoulders. He never socialized with other students. Instead, he would be off in a corner talking on his flip phone, the kind with the little antenna you had to extend to get a signal.

Peculiarities aside, having a secret Romeo is kind of flattering. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy being put on a pedestal? For a lot of girls, dealing with schoolboy crushes is a normal part of high school life. None of this would have bothered me, except that this schoolboy was a freshman!

Another note fell into my hands as I opened my locker. Zac watched me from behind his own locker door, as if he thought I wouldn’t notice him.

“Another letter?” I said to Zac.

A sad eye peeked around the locker door and stared at me. “You’re not mad, are you?” he said bashfully.

I looked down on him like a scolding mother. “Don’t you think this has gone on long enough?”

I closed my locker door and headed down the crowded corridor to my next class. I heard Zac’s locker close a moment later, and I didn’t need to turn around to know he was following one step behind me.

Behind The Fun Zone - available NOW!

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US:

The Series: The Age of Amy

Amy's core values don't quite align with today's youth culture. She has neither a Facebook page nor a Twitter handle. She avoids books that involve characters hooking up with the supernatural. Amy is an independent spirit, and for that she is labeled a rebellious trouble-maker. Nonetheless, she feels duty-bound to express her unpopular, albeit well-intentioned point of view.

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

Bonehead Bootcamp [1]

Amy is uprooted from the city she loves to the Midwest -- and she's pissed! The 16-year-old blasts her parents for destroying her happiness. But when her verbal attacks turn physical, she is sent away to a boot camp for troubled teens. Expecting Bonehead Bootcamp to be a laid-back country retreat, Amy instead enters a frightening fantasy world where a mutant farm animal manipulates time and space. Together with three other unruly teenagers, she must summon all her courage and ingenuity to get back home.

A diehard city girl, Amy is uprooted to the Midwest against her will. Miserable in her new home and unpopular at school, the 16-year-old blasts her parents for destroying her happiness. But when Amy's verbal attacks turn physical, she is sent away to a reformatory to learn some manners.

Bonehead Bootcamp plays host to Amy and three other unruly—and very competitive—teenagers. The motley group is forced to navigate an obstacle course like those used for military training. The similarity ends, however, when climbing over a wall lands them in a frightening fantasy world of confusion, deception, and time-travel. The juvenile adversaries must now join forces as they search for a way back to reality. On their journey, they confront their individual character flaws through a series of freakish encounters, unveiling the hidden truths behind their rebellious natures. [Published 1 June 2012, 173 pages]

The Thumper Amendment [2]

It's an election year, and Congress has lowered the voting age to 14. Not one to refuse political involvement, 16-year-old Amy joins a campaign to elect the next President of the United States.

Amy's intention isn't just to see her chosen candidate win the White House, but to prevent his rival, an arrogant, profiteering sleazeball, from ever stepping foot inside the Oval Office. Her real reason for participating, however, is much more personal: the opposing candidate's son bullied her when she was a 3rd grader. Foiling his father's bid for the presidency would be the perfect way to get even with him!

In Washington, campaign reform laws have turned the "race" for the White House into just that: A congressional mandate requires all candidates to face-off on a TV reality show, The Race For White House, USA! So begins a thrilling, cross-country race -- not with formula race cars, but using the candidate's own campaign busses.

In typical reality show fashion, the competitors must face absurd challenges along the way. But the real-world situations they find themselves in are decidedly unreal, as they are confronted by half-human creatures, haunted by dead presidents, and launched into a future of economic decay -- all viewed live by a worldwide television audience.

Amy's devotion to her candidate-of-choice wins her a seat on his campaign bus. Her grade school nemesis also joins the race, tagging along on his father's bus. Now Amy has plenty of opportunity to confront him. But there's a problem: her offender has changed in the last seven years. Instead of a vicious bully, he has become thoughtful and compassionate (and cute), which makes it increasingly difficult for Amy to dislike him. If fact, her vengeance towards him turns to feelings of admiration and affection. Is she falling in love? [Published 1 April 2014, 216 pages]

Channel '63 [3]

You enter a dark room with only the glow of a retro swag lamp to light the way. Sitting on a plaid couch under a sunburst clock, you turn on a vintage TV that only gets one station: Channel ‘63. No, you haven’t time-traveled back to the 1960s. You are in a theme park attraction where visitors can watch, and even interact with the people of that turbulent decade!

16-year-old Amy spends a lot of time in the Used-To-Be TV pavilion. Postwar America has always held a special fascination for her. It was a simple time of TV dinners and white picket fences, with no hackers, frackers, or terrorists to intrude on one’s happiness. Dysfunctional families were few, unlike Amy’s, which is on the verge of collapse. She has petitioned the courts to be "emancipated" from her parents -- a legal procedure that allows minors to be released from parental custody. Her only problem is, she has nowhere else to go.

The time warp attraction provides Amy with little more than a part-time escape from this family crisis. She is hopelessly depressed, until she meets a tenderhearted boy on the black and white TV. The understanding teenager offers Amy the solace she desperately needs, and she immediately bonds with his loving family -- the kind she wishes she had.

A personal relationship quickly develops between the two teens that is plagued with severe limitations. Not only are they separated by 50 years of time and space, but computers constantly bleep any language that might impact future events, making intimate conversation nearly impossible. Fortunately, Amy finds a workaround when she visits an eccentric, old magician. He has invented a “magic clicker” that will silence the annoying restriction. He offers it to Amy, but only after this stern warning: Watch what you say! One wrong word and history as we know it will be changed forever. [Published 1 November 2014, 217 pages]

About the Author

Bruce Edwards writes young-adult fiction on subjects most YA authors shy away from. His award-winning The Age of Amy series explores unconventional topics—from the trappings of modern technology to the absurdity of Washington politics. Through fantasy and imagination, Bruce addresses real-world issues, as young readers enjoy a fun read.

Bruce Edwards grew up in suburban San Francisco, and caught the creative energy of that city at an early age. Majoring in Architecture in college, Bruce switched to Music to join the burgeoning Bay Area music scene. He wrote rock tunes and radio jingles, while touring as a pop music artist. Tinkering with early computer animation led to a successful career as a feature film character animator. Bruce’s notable film credits include The Iron Giant for Warner Bros. and Anastasia for 20th Century Fox.

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