Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Speculative
Published Date: 8/1/20
Publisher: INtense Publications LLC
Kevin shouldn’t be writing this. And you shouldn’t be reading
it. After all, reading is now a crime–and for good reason. After the Coma
Outbreak, everyone knows what happens to people who read. Their eyes slam
shut. And they never get out of their desks again.
EXCERPT
I Shouldn’t Be Writing This
If anyone catches me, they’ll report me to the proper authorities.
After that, who knows what will happen to me.
Juvie? Jail?
After all, writing is now a criminal offense.
The people who report me will think they’re doing me a favor.
They’ll think they’re doing all of us a favor.
Well, all of us who aren’t in a coma. Yet.
In my school, Spaulding Middle, there aren’t many of us left.
“It’s for your own good, Kevin,” they’ll say to me, pointing to all the comatose students
slumped over their desks. “Do you want to become one of them?”
“The more you write,” they’ll say, “the more likely you or someone else—someone you care about—will read what you write.”
And everyone knows what happens when you read.
Your brain stops working.
And you never get out of your desk again.
About the Author
Patrick Hueller is the author of several award-winning books for young
readers, sometimes under the pen name “Paul Hoblin.” Foul, a
horror book, was a YALSA Quick Pick and was described by Booklist as
“unbearably tense.” The Beast was a School Library Journal
selection. Archenemy made the ALA’s Rainbow Book List. Wolf High and
The Wish were on SLJ’s list for “Accessible Reads for Struggling
Reluctant Readers.” He is also the author of the middle grade series
Stu Stories, which Geoff Herbach (author of Stupid Fast and Hooper) said
“hit[s] on pretty much every topic I cared about when I was a kid
(love, Jedis, severed legs, etc.). His most recent book is Kirsten
Howard’s Biggest Fan, a YA book published by INtense Publications that
National Book Award finalist Charles Baxter called “beautifully
written, with a concert-hall perfect pitch for speech and idiom and ways of
feeling.”
Contact Links
Twitter: @PatrickHueller
Purchase Links
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