
Ride The Universe
by Mark Rues
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Pub Date 6 Nov 2019 | Archive Date 30 Nov 2020
Description
A brother searches the cosmos for his dead sister. Love and Death have a story to tell.
In the Missouri-Kansas border of 1962, eleven-year-old Teddy’s older sister dies in a family outing.
Teddy dreams of otherworldly Moonlight lighting a dark path to reunite him with his sister. Teddy needs allies to find his way. He has a vision of a legendary ancient Chinese man, Fu Hsi, who encourages him to believe there is more to death than death.
Teddy’s best friend, Tem, shows him ancient Egyptian crystals that flash strange lights of blues, greens, and reds.
Fu Hsi teaches the boys, through dreams, the way of the ancients; how life transforms under the powers of the crystals.
The boys believe the crystals may hold powers to the mysteries of life. They have to decide if they should test Fu Hsi’s wisdom, to travel the path of darkness and light. But whatever they decide, that Moonlight beckons Teddy to find Jean.
Advance Praise
A young boy goes on a journey through the solar system searching for the spirit of his sister, discovers the basics of science and spirituality with the help of a mystic teacher and a super-powered cat.
Teddy DeXue’s ride around the universe begins in the summer of 1963, just as his amazing catch wins the Little League Championship for his team. But it doesn’t really start there. It really began the year before when Teddy’s sister Jean died, and his family fractured into broken, grieving pieces.
Teddy has a secret. He believes that his sister is out there, somewhere, and that the moon, the big, bright full moon that helped him make his game-winning catch, is going to help him find her. With training from a mysterious spiritual master, a bit of scientific knowledge gleaned from his dad, and guarded by Henry, his strange and slightly super-powered cat, how can he fail?
While his best friend, Tem, thinks that Teddy’s quest is nothing more than wishful thinking, he goes along for the ride - and what a ride it is!
As Teddy searches through the stars for his sister, his engineer father introduces him to scientific concepts about the nature of the universe; even the many ways that light can be refracted, reflected, and split. In his dreams, Master Fu-Hsi teaches him the spiritual side of what his father’s talking about. It’s up to Teddy to put that knowledge together to make his journey into the stars - and back.
The story and the way it proceeds is reminiscent of the way the best-selling novel, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder introduced young Sophie to the basic concepts and history of philosophy while pulling readers along for the fascinating journey.
There’s also an element of the classic YA SF novel, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle in Teddy’s search among the stars for his lost sister.
The combination of the two elements draws readers on Teddy’s journey as he finds his way to his sister and back. Along the way, he grows up and learns what it is to love, even as his family finds their way back from heartbreak.
Ride the Universe crosses genres of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Philosophy, as it uses those tropes and more than a bit of magical realism to tell its story.
Ride the Universe is a multi-genre novel with heart. Fasten your seatbelt! For those searching for something a bit more outside the box, look no further,
Ride the Universe is a magic Thunderbird of a ride - in an actual, honest-to-goodness, T-bird.
*** “Ride along with a boy in a magical T-bird across the universe, searching for his sister and his family's restoration among the stars.” - Chanticleer Reviews
Available Editions
ISBN | 9781733500012 |
PRICE | |
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