Instead, I would like to hear from you as to what other
type of puzzle you'd be interested in...trivia questions,
perhaps? Use the "contact the author" link, and send me
your ideas. Winner gets a prize!
How would you like to have a little fun and maybe win a prize by doing so? Introducing "VIRTUALGRAMS!" Each week, a cryptogram will be posted for your solving fun. The sentence(s) in code will be from somewhere within "Virtually Incredible," and I'll "hint" you with the page number, just to make it a little easier. Email me your solution by using the "Contact the Author" link, being sure to include your email address. All correct solutions of each week's crypto will be tossed in a hat (or some other worthwhile receptacle). At the end of the month, I'll draw a name, and the winner will receive a prize, to include things like a personally autographed copy of "Virtually Incredible," a VI t-shirt, and other goodies!
"Virtually Incredible" is the first book of a trilogy! It will eventually be followed by "Virtually Bewildering" and "Virtually Amazing," which will serve to continue the adventures of Jim Sanderson, Darcy Gordon, Samantha "Sammi" Twitchell, and Frederick "Frito" Bowles.
"Virtually Incredible" introduces the four twelve-year-olds, their home town of Hightown, their families, and the kids' likes and dislikes. Their main focus is a construction going on in town, wherein an old, abandoned warehouse is being converted into a virtual reality gaming place. It is interest in this construction that brings the four together. Since they are individually so different, without a common interest in the warehouse, they might never have met at all.
Jim Sanderson is a good looking kid with a keen interest in computers. He has workaholic parents and three older sisters, two of whom torment him incessantly. Jim tends to have a bit of a problem controlling his temper sometimes. Sammi Twitchell has a mild-mannered dad and a significantly overweight mother. Sammi finds she is ashamed of her mom, and unknowingly makes rather drastic adjustments to her own eating habits because of this. She has a fear of deep water, and has an older brother, Jared, a teenager who is going through an identity crisis.
Darcy Gordon is a "nature lover extraordinaire!" She has a little brother with a disability, a single mom, and delights in foraging the wooded areas of the local park, looking for new and interesting plant growth while trying to spot a raccoon, hedgehog, or unusual specie of bird. Her wandering tends to be a bit curtailed by an extreme fear of heights: she won't climb a tree or stand at the edge of a dropoff to save her life.
And Frederick "Frito" Bowles is an only child who is about as hyper and impulsive as a kid can be. His tangled brown hair, freckles, and reckless ways end up being both endearing and endlessly frustrating to his new friends. He can run like the wind, which comes in handy when he's faced with HIS worst fear: cats.
When the virtual reality gaming place - called "Virtually Incredible" - finally opens, these four discover something beyond the computerized games offered there: four glowing doors in a lonely, deserted corridor far within the warehouse. What they find inside is...well, virtually incredible!
The adventures of Frito, Jim, Darcy and Sammi continue in "Virtually Bewildering." Starting middle school seems to be challenge enough for Jim and the girls, but Frito misses the adventures he had in the now-closed warehouse. He finds himself hanging around the old site, poking in piles of trash and moping. Ultimately, he finds a way back to the adventure he craves...but now Jim, Sammi, Darcy - and a new character named Katy - have to go rescue him.
Book three, "Virtually Amazing," continues and concludes the kids' adventures. The five of them interact with fantastic beings like a giant cat and a shape-changing entity who can switch from one form to another - or a conglomeration of several forms - in the blink of an eye. Add to this a dragon named Rosso and a couple of magical snow leopards, and the action never stops!
What happens when virtual reality becomes reality?
Frito Bowles, Darcy Gordon, Jim Sanderson, and Sammi Twitchell are four middle school kids who are looking for adventure! The construction of a new virtual reality gaming facility in an abandoned warehouse provides a common interest to forge an unusual friendship between them.
What happens when virtual reality becomes reality?
Frito Bowles, Darcy Gordon, Jim Sanderson, and Sammi Twitchell are four middle school kids who are looking for adventure! The construction of a new virtual reality gaming facility in an abandoned warehouse provides a common interest to forge an unusual friendship between them.
What happens when virtual reality becomes reality?
Frito Bowles, Darcy Gordon, Jim Sanderson, and Sammi Twitchell are four middle school kids who are looking for adventure! The construction of a new virtual reality gaming facility in an abandoned warehouse provides a common interest to forge an unusual friendship between them.
Frito, an impulsive bundle of energy, Darcy, a nature lover, Jim, an intellectual with a bit of a temper, and Sammi, a slender tomboy, somehow manage to get along despite a rather rocky beginning. It seems to take forever until the gaming place, Virtually Incredible, finally opens for business with Frito and friends first in line to experience the adventures. But the computerized games are nothing compared to what they find deep within the old warehouse!