Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the tour.
Author Bio
Nick
Green lives in the UK. He is the author of seven fiction books to date,
including the middle-grade CAT KIN trilogy published by Strident. His other
books include THE STORM BOTTLE, a fantasy adventure about the dolphins of Bermuda , and most recently the FIREBIRD trilogy, a YA
science fiction epic.
Links
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1lsUNyt
Title: Project Firebird
Author: Nick
Green
Genre: Young
Adult Science Fiction
How do you save
the world when it’s already too late?
Don’t ask Leo
Lloyd-Jones. Ask him how to steal a car, or why he got excluded from every
school in Salford , but don’t come to him for
help. This whole thing must be a daft mistake – and if anyone finds out, he’s
done for.
Earth is on a
deadly collision course that nothing can prevent. The only real hope is Project
Firebird, deep inside a blast-proof bunker that shelters the brightest and
bravest young people. Leo has got mixed up with the likes of Rhys Carnarvon,
the celebrated teenage polar explorer, and other child prodigies chosen to keep
the flame of civilisation.
Among them is the
streetwise Paige Harris, a girl Leo likes a lot (but not in that way).
Paige is desperate to rescue her little sister from London
before the catastrophe strikes. But no-one is crazy enough to try that. Almost
no-one.
Leo is about to
find out why he’s here.
Excerpt:
Chris unlocked the door to a long, narrow hall. A
tall girl was there already, busy in one corner. At the far end stood three
man-shaped placards with ring targets over their chests.
Mason cheered. ‘A
firing range!’
‘Shooting range.’
Summer Dartington turned to face them. She didn’t smile, only flicked her brown
ponytail. Behind her stood a rack of slender pistols with yellow grips. Leo
itched to try one.
‘Hi, Summer.’ Paige was
being polite.
‘Hello. Hi.’ Even after
three weeks, Summer hadn’t learned all their names.
‘Summer will be your
firearms mentor,’ said Chris.
‘No.’ Andrew stood in
the doorway. ‘The judo stuff, I’m fine with that. But guns, no.’
‘Don’t get your
knickers in a twist.’ Summer stirred a tub of black pellets with her finger.
‘These are air pistols.’
‘You’ll become
proficient with these practice weapons first,’ said Chris. Leo swapped a grin
with Mason – it sounded as if proper guns would come later. Summer donned
wraparound orange glasses, then opened a pistol to tip in a caterpillar of lead
shot.
‘I’m not shooting a
gun,’ said Andrew. ‘My Pa would be mad if he ever knew.’
‘Understand this,
Andrew.’ Chris drew himself up, becoming every inch Major Bacchus. ‘If people
threaten you, they threaten the Project. And the Project is about saving
humanity. So anyone who threatens it is an enemy
of humanity. So you stop them.’
As if on cue, Summer
raised her pistol and fired four times, recocking rapidly between each shot.
The noise was like two sets of popping balloons at either end of the hall. The
centre target, shaped like a man wielding a knife, wobbled on its hanger.
Andrew’s eyebrows switched his face to sad.
‘Count me out.’
‘Okay.’ Chris let it go, easy as that.
‘That’s all right, then, isn’t it?’ said Summer.
‘Anyone can say they won’t fire a gun when they know someone else will do it
for them.’
‘Enough.’ Chris glanced at her. ‘No problem, Andrew.
It’s your decision. Go and join Maddison. She’ll be at the Seed Banks. You can
help her lead tomorrow’s farming class.’
‘Thanks, Chris.’ Andrew left them, smiling in relief.
Summer watched him go with an odd twinkle in her eyes. Amusement, scorn, or
some secret thought? It passed too quickly for Leo to decide, and he might have
forgotten ever seeing it.
