MG Novel – Urban Fantasy
Only Champions Dare To Enter!
Thirteen-year-old Beth has been waiting for weeks to play in the championship of her favourite online game, Tordon. Now tribes of beastmen roar through her speakers. Game on! She plays to win, until her gaming nemesis Zane challenges her to a real-life risk that has them sucked into a strange world. Here they must push their skills to the limit just to survive!
Faced with riddles, a multitude of dangerous creatures, exotic cultures and scientific impossibilities, Beth and Zane are forced to take on challenge after challenge if they’re ever to return home.
ISBNs: 9781925227147 (print) & 9781925227161 (ebook)
Audience: 8-14 years
Print: 256 pages – 129x198mm – RRP: AUD$17.99
Ebook RRP: AUD$4.99
Beth studied the screen, her heart pounding. This was it—the level she’d fought to reach for months. A horde of angry beastmen raced towards her avatar, yelping as they leapt over the mossy rocks and logs of Tordon’s forest. Spears were raised in their hands and saliva-dripping mutts bound beside them, barking and growling in frenzy. Beyond them, past towering tree columns, a hanging man swung from a gnarled old gumtree, his ropes creaking as he dangled over a square chasm. Beth’s palms grew sweaty. Whoever cut down the hanging man would end the game and score fifty extra points, which would be enough to win Beth the entire championship. The anniversary championship.
Reviews
“This is an impressive debut… The narrative doesn’t falter, and middle-grade readers will delight at how quickly they are thrown into the action of the story… Into Tordon is a pacy, exciting read that middle-grade readers will love getting sucked into.” Bec Kavanagh, Books+Publishing Review
“It’s like Harry Potter on steroids!” Susanne Gervay, author ‘I am Jack’
“Annabel devoured the book, loved it! Had to take it off her at 10pm that night and she finished it next morning. Well done!” Claire, Mum of Annabel
“Into Tordon is an exciting read. Fast-paced, fun and clever… But this book isn’t all action and adventure. The two teens begin with preconceived notions of each other and as they journey… They each find a strength to themselves they didn’t know they had… Into Tordon is a book perfect for middle grade readers looking for an adventure with no romance. It’s fun and exciting with readers never quite knowing what to expect next.” Kate, Fictional Thoughts
“A timely book aimed at a young audience reminding them that girls can be champions too… The story is fast-paced and exciting…” Verushka Byrow, The Children’s Book Council of Australia, Reading Time.
“Beginning with an adrenalin-pumping computer-gaming championship, Into Tordon throws its 13-year-old main characters into a real-life scenario that is as full of risk, riddles and threats as any computer game – or is it, in fact, a computer game? It takes Beth and her antagonistic rival Zane through a fascinating range of cultures and other-worldly scenarios as life-threatening situations and brain-teasing mysteries forge a bond of mutual dependency that grows gradually into Beth and Zane’s firm friendship… full of sudden twists and intriguing turns.” Katharine England, SA Weekend, Well Read.
“The action and adventure in this story keeps the reader on their toes. Surviving being eaten by a large snake being one obstacle to overcome. This is a great read for kids aged 9-14 years and will suit both boys and girls to match the two main characters… Enjoy this action packed adventure.” Melinda McNaughton, Creative Kids Tales.
Teachers’ Notes
Our teachers’ notes cover the key curriculum areas of: English, Arts, History, Computers/Technology, and Music. Its general capabilities are: literacy, creative and critical thinking, intercultural understanding, problem solving, ethical understanding. REASONS FOR STUDYING THIS BOOK:
• Provide a discussion point for issues around friendship, family, safe use of technology, moral dilemmas, environment, sustainability, and differences in culture and tradition.
• Examine speculative fiction writing.
• Encourage imaginative writing and worldbuilding.
• Examples of creative thinking, conflict resolution and problem solving.
• Analyse language use and how it can create different moods and tension.
If you haven’t received your teachers’ notes, please just get in contact.
Who is Z.F. Kingbolt?
Z.F. Kingbolt is actually the pseudonym for nine authors! We got together when Zena Shapter, the founder and leader of our writing group, the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group, suggested we compete in the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day challenge to raise money for The Kids’ Cancer Project. We had so much fun during the challenge, and won ‘National Best Book’ in the challenge too, that when she asked who wanted to do it again we all said, “yes!”
So on one long winter’s day, we all sat in a room and threw ideas about until the best ones stuck. We wanted to write for children, to write a science fantasy, and for the story to be relevant for kids’ today. There were some really crazy ideas as well as some really good ones, and eventually our ideas began to take shape.
Contributors:
Zena Shapter (Author, Editor, Editor-in-Chief), Zoya Nojin (Author, Editor), Leah Boonthanom (Author), Tracey Jackson (Author), Tony McFadden (Author), Liz Michell (Author), Mijmark (Author), Kristin Prescott (Author) and Kirsten Taylor (Author).
PICK UP A COPY!
Thanks to MidnightSun Publishing and Scholastic, Into Tordon should be available for sale in all good online and bricks & mortar bookstores, such as NewSouth Books and Booktopia.
