Rex
Cody B. Stewart, Mark Rogers, and Adam Rocke
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Common Deer Press
Date of Publication: October 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9959729-1-6
Number of pages: 320 pages
Cover Artist: Common Deer Press, Ellie Sipal
When eleven-year-old TJ finds a
weird looking egg in the Florida Everglades after a tropical
storm rips
through, naturally he takes it home for
identification. It could be the egg of
a mutant duck or something, which would be awesome.
Problem is, the egg doesn’t look
like it came from a mallard, even a mutated one—it’s too
big and heavy
and…strange. So he hides it away in
his closet and continues on with his life
as usual, doing his best to ignore the creepy men
constantly banging at his
front door and the significant rise in military helicopter
sightings in his
typically quiet neighborhood. Then one
day he comes home from school and it’s
as though a cyclone has gone through his bedroom.
Suddenly, TJ knows he’s dealing
with something a little more interesting—and a little
more deadly—than a duck.
Excerpt:
TJ and Sam stood silent and
still, too afraid to move or make a sound. “Wait a second,”
TJ finally said.
“Mess downstairs? We weren’t downstairs.”
Their
eyes met and they shared the same thought.
They darted into TJ’s room, emerging
a moment later, sufficiently rearmed with the slingshot and bat.
Then, they
snuck downstairs to assess the damage.
When
TJ saw the extent of the wreckage, he almost let
another marble rip. His heart
sank when he spotted the demolished cherry pie.
“Hell-o
Kitty,” Sam uttered, marveling at the mess.
“I think your house is haunted, TJ.
You have one of those polter-geese.”
“Geist,”
TJ corrected. “Poltergeist. Do you think a ghost
hatched out of that egg?”
“I
don’t know what it was that came out of that thing, but I
know it’s a huge pain
in my butt. Since you found it,
I’ve almost been eaten by an alligator, shot by
a swamp cowboy, and now I’m stuck cleaning up its mess.”
Sam
and TJ grumbled at each other, and ghosts, and the
whole world as they scrubbed
the floors, wiped the counters, and picked up bits of broken
plate and other
unidentifiable things. Once the kitchen
sparkled, Sam threw her dirty rag at
TJ.
“Not
that this wasn’t a fun night or anything, but I’m going
home before the ground
splits open and we get attacked by mole people.”
“You’re
leaving?” TJ shrieked. “While there’s still a possible
ghost goblin poltergeist
thingy stalking around my house?”
Sam
shrugged. “Ghost goblin poltergeist thingies got
nothing on my dad when I miss
curfew. Call me if something tries to eat you.”
***** ***** *****
Fatigue hit TJ hard. He yawned
and didn’t stop yawning
until he reached his bedroom door. His mind raced in
circles. He couldn’t focus on any one thing long enough to
even care about
poltergeists or alligators or whatever.
All he wanted to do was go to sleep
with the hope that he’d wake up in the morning with all
of his limbs still
attached.
Luckily,
TJ’s reflexes were working just fine despite his
mostly asleep brain. He opened
the door and ducked just in
time to avoid getting hit square in the face with a
flying sneaker. He dropped to the floor and covered his head
with his arms. He
peeked up when he was sure the other
sneaker wasn’t going to follow. He
instantly wished he had his helmet—and the swamp cowboy
—because standing on his
bed was the thing that had destroyed his room and the kitchen…
A one-foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex.
was born in the Adirondacks, in Upstate New York. His love of stories began in those mountains as he vanquished trolls, fought in the American Revolution and discovered his latent mutant powers. Stories have continued to consume his life, but he now plucks them out of his head and puts them down on paper in the
form of novels and comic books. He left the Adirondacks to grow into a man, did so, and has since returned with a wonderfully supportive wife and two sons.
screenplays. Mark’s won multiple awards for his travel writing, including an award for his Hurricane Ivan coverage in Jamaica. His work regularly appears in USA Today and other media outlets. Mark lives in Baja California with his Sinaloa-born wife, Sophy, where they recently built a rock house overlooking
the sea.
him.
1 comment:
Thanks so much for hosting REX! REX is also on sale on the Common Deer Press website, https://www.commondeerpress.com/product-page/rex
Have a great day!
Jenn @ Common Deer Press
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