Title: Chase Across Time: Search for the Ice Castle of Fire
Author: Z. Altug and Tracy Gensler
Genre: Fiction
Book Blurb:
Danny is a 10-year-old boy with no special powers. He travels on an airship between Earth and a distant civilization and is frustrated with being dismissed as an outcast in both worlds. While on an exploratory mission, a wicked emperor attacks the airship and kidnaps Danny's parents. Danny must join forces with his friends across seven continents in a desperate chase across space and time to save his family. They try to fend off the angry robots, ghastly warriors, and bent-nose mobsters as they unravel clues to find the portal to the sorcerer's ice castle of fire.
Excerpt:
Danny explained that he was born in Antarctica. He said they had crash-landed in Antarctica an hour ago when an evil emperor overpowered them during a robot airship attack. Danny noted the emperor destroyed his home built on Taloshian trees in Antarctica and kidnapped his parents to gain control of the Ancient Book of Spells and the Exploricus.
As Danny looked around carefully for clues, he told Pen that the emperor couldn’t steal the book or airship because they were protected by a ten-day spell.
“What happens after ten days?”
“We would have to return to Patalosh without rescuing my parents,” Danny explained. He continued to tell Pen that when his parents were kidnapped, he automatically became the Ancient Book of Spells's guardian. Since Danny was a Non, he couldn’t cast spells to open and use the book's powerful magic. He explained that to battle Emperor Daaggerd and rescue his parents, he needed to find special keys on each continent to open the ancient book. Thinking about Daaggerd made Danny feel creepy all over. The Emperor had no face—only red eyes peering out from the darkness. Ever since Danny could remember, all Emperor Daaggerd wanted was the Ancient Book of Spells to control the universe from his hideout at the Ice Castle of Fire.
“That doesn’t seem too hard,” said Pen.
“I’m just a regular kid with no powers, and Sir K told me the Taloshians on the airship are not allowed to help me while I’m searching for clues on Earth.” Then Danny told Pen that they also needed to search the Earth for a time-travel portal into Emperor Daaggerd's universe to locate his Ice Castle of Fire. He said no one knew where his castle was, and it was the most likely place the emperor had taken his parents. Danny told Pen that the crew of the Exploricus thought the gateway to the emperor’s castle was through a time-travel portal found in some volcano on Earth.
Buy Links (including Goodreads):
If you could dress up as anything or anyone this Halloween, what or who would it be and why?
If I could dress up for Halloween, I would probably go as a friendly robot. I like robots since they are so versatile and play a big role in our culture.
Explain why your featured book is a treat to read:
The story is multicultural and features middle grade girls and boys from around the globe. It gives the reader a character they can hopefully root for in the story.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US or Canada) gift card.
Open internationally. You must have an active Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to be eligible.
Runs October 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on November 1.
Author Biography:
Z Altug is a licensed physical therapist and wellness consultant in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Integrative Healing and coauthor of the 2012 Healthy Lifestyle Wall Calendar, The Anti-Aging Fitness Prescription,and the Manual of Clinical Exercise Testing, Prescription and Rehabilitation. Z enjoys writing, playing sports, and learning about astronomy.
Tracy Gensler is a registered dietitian in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She is the author of Probiotic and Prebiotic Recipes for Health and coauthor of The Anti-Aging Fitness Prescription. She has collaborated on over a dozen books and has written for the Good Housekeeping website and magazines. A children’s music group, The Imagination Movers, contacted Tracy to say that one of her articles inspired one of their songs, “Healthy Snacks.” Her kids thought that was pretty cool.
Social Media Links:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/chaseacrosstime