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The Good Ship
In the middle of the Atlantic, a doorway opens. Through this doorway is an island explored only by those still trapped here.
Thirteen-year-old Annabelle Cross has traveled this stretch of the ocean before. In her memories, there has never been an island here. Beyond the shore in the black woods, she will find a group of children who teach her everything the island offers to those chosen to stay...forever.
The children have important rules. First, no one is allowed to leave the treehouses at night because the moving shadows will take you to places unknown. Second, no one should ever wander into the woods alone because the paths have a strange way of changing behind you. These are two basic rules Annabelle can’t seem to follow.
There is the hope of escape for those eager to take it. A massive project is being built deep in the island, hidden away from those holding the children here. This insane plan will either get them killed or set them free, but this is the ultimate answer to find their way back home.
Thirteen-year-old Annabelle Cross has traveled this stretch of the ocean before. In her memories, there has never been an island here. Beyond the shore in the black woods, she will find a group of children who teach her everything the island offers to those chosen to stay...forever.
The children have important rules. First, no one is allowed to leave the treehouses at night because the moving shadows will take you to places unknown. Second, no one should ever wander into the woods alone because the paths have a strange way of changing behind you. These are two basic rules Annabelle can’t seem to follow.
There is the hope of escape for those eager to take it. A massive project is being built deep in the island, hidden away from those holding the children here. This insane plan will either get them killed or set them free, but this is the ultimate answer to find their way back home.
222 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2020
3 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy M. Wright
7 books44 followersI was born in 1974 in Omaha, NE. I have since uprooted my life there and have moved with my wife to the beautiful country hills of Arkansas.
I took a love of reading and telling stories at an early age.
I strongly believe in most of the writing advice I’ve learned from teachers and self-help writing books. Here is where I disagree. I've been told by many to "write what you know!'". That's all well and good if you know a lot. However, for some of us, our knowledge is running a very short race, probably with a mental "bad knee" that makes us run more in circles instead of a straight line. So I usually choose to write about what I don't know. How else do we learn new things if we never explore the dark unknown corners of existence?
I have also chosen to resist all urges to be pigeon-holed as a single genre writer. I love reading different types of novels just as I love writing them. How else can we evolve if we're typing away day after day about a private investigator who has a soft spot for pretty girls in short skirts, following his own rules, and dependency on whiskey? Fifty novels later has our protagonist really learned much? Grown? Or changed by any fascinating degree? Probably not.
So I explore because it's what we humans do best. I write in the range of mystery, fantasy, thrillers, dramas, sci-fi, action/adventure, comedy, mainstream, satire and anything else that might seem challenging enough. Basically, if the plot idea has strong legs, the characters a great purpose, then the idea deserves to be written. Although I will tell you to never expect a Danielle Steel or Nicolas Sparks type novels from me. I've got to draw a line somewhere!
So the rundown is simple if you're expecting to find my work nicely bundled up in one genre because it's the genre you're most comfortable traveling those pages, then I'm not likely an author for you. But, if you want to go on a fun road trip and see those odd side attractions everybody else misses because they're too busy catching the same old (yawn, yawn) attractions thirty million other people have seen, then I am an author for you.
If you like you can take my hand because I see a journey just up ahead and around that dark corner. You shouldn’t worry, not just yet, because I know the way. We'll probably make it through all right, with our sanity, just maybe.
I took a love of reading and telling stories at an early age.
I strongly believe in most of the writing advice I’ve learned from teachers and self-help writing books. Here is where I disagree. I've been told by many to "write what you know!'". That's all well and good if you know a lot. However, for some of us, our knowledge is running a very short race, probably with a mental "bad knee" that makes us run more in circles instead of a straight line. So I usually choose to write about what I don't know. How else do we learn new things if we never explore the dark unknown corners of existence?
I have also chosen to resist all urges to be pigeon-holed as a single genre writer. I love reading different types of novels just as I love writing them. How else can we evolve if we're typing away day after day about a private investigator who has a soft spot for pretty girls in short skirts, following his own rules, and dependency on whiskey? Fifty novels later has our protagonist really learned much? Grown? Or changed by any fascinating degree? Probably not.
So I explore because it's what we humans do best. I write in the range of mystery, fantasy, thrillers, dramas, sci-fi, action/adventure, comedy, mainstream, satire and anything else that might seem challenging enough. Basically, if the plot idea has strong legs, the characters a great purpose, then the idea deserves to be written. Although I will tell you to never expect a Danielle Steel or Nicolas Sparks type novels from me. I've got to draw a line somewhere!
So the rundown is simple if you're expecting to find my work nicely bundled up in one genre because it's the genre you're most comfortable traveling those pages, then I'm not likely an author for you. But, if you want to go on a fun road trip and see those odd side attractions everybody else misses because they're too busy catching the same old (yawn, yawn) attractions thirty million other people have seen, then I am an author for you.
If you like you can take my hand because I see a journey just up ahead and around that dark corner. You shouldn’t worry, not just yet, because I know the way. We'll probably make it through all right, with our sanity, just maybe.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 11, 2020
This is a good middle-grade young adult novel with an appealing fantasy setting and lots of originality. That being said, as a former writing teacher, here is what I think would make it a great novel;
1. Do more showing instead of telling at the start. Using concrete descriptive detail, paint a picture of what is happening. Avoid general terms and vague, unsupported generalizations.
2. Max, Naomi, Anica, Cody, Jacob, and Jasmine are all characters who walk on the stage, get named, and then disappear. Choose at least three of them to develop into important secondary characters. They need to do more in the plot, talk more to the main characters, reveal their own personalities and inner conflicts... They need full character development. I was disappointed when each of them exited the stage without learning more about them than their hair or eye color.
3. Weave more conflict into the beginning of the story. After the shipwreck in the first chapter we are basically on a conflict-free walking tour of the island until chapter 6. Work the villain and her minions into the beginning of the story and build them all up more. Conflict drives the plot.
I recommend this book. It is good the way it is. But it has the potential to be a lot more like Peter Pan, Gregor the Overlander, or The Swiss Family Robinson. In other words, it could be a children's classic.
1. Do more showing instead of telling at the start. Using concrete descriptive detail, paint a picture of what is happening. Avoid general terms and vague, unsupported generalizations.
2. Max, Naomi, Anica, Cody, Jacob, and Jasmine are all characters who walk on the stage, get named, and then disappear. Choose at least three of them to develop into important secondary characters. They need to do more in the plot, talk more to the main characters, reveal their own personalities and inner conflicts... They need full character development. I was disappointed when each of them exited the stage without learning more about them than their hair or eye color.
3. Weave more conflict into the beginning of the story. After the shipwreck in the first chapter we are basically on a conflict-free walking tour of the island until chapter 6. Work the villain and her minions into the beginning of the story and build them all up more. Conflict drives the plot.
I recommend this book. It is good the way it is. But it has the potential to be a lot more like Peter Pan, Gregor the Overlander, or The Swiss Family Robinson. In other words, it could be a children's classic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review