about the book
Best prank ever! Well, maybe fourth best! In any case, Principal Gomez is going to go ape after this one. Since my North Dakota hick town is THE MOST BORING PLACE ON THE PLANET, I’ve got to do something for fun, right?
I’m in the parking lot just minutes before the 3:00 dismissal bell ready to signal the start of this epic prank when a terrified man in a black suit runs up to me. Sucking air and sweating buckets, he desperately shoves a brown wrapped shoe box into my hands and says something like Hey kid, get this to Mr. Jensen, and whatever you do, don’t open it! When I glance back at him, he’s already across the street being shoved by two guys into a black sedan? What gives?
Moments later the bell rings and I signal. Hundreds of fainting goats head toward the school’s front door. Pandemonium (or should I say goatemonium?) ensues: students screaming, teachers panicking, goats bleating and fainting. Absolutely perfect! Just the distraction we need to superglue down everything in the school…every door, every computer mouse, every paper on every desk, especially Principal Gomez’s…everything! Did I mention that the school’s mascot is Gordy, the Fighting Billy Goat. Like I said, The Perfect Prank.
Principal Gomez nails me. No sweat, just a little detention time. In the meantime, I got this brown paper package. Don’t open it? Are you kidding me?
Of course I opened the box! And since I am “an unauthorized non-agency user”, an automated voice warns me every 15 minutes that the self-destruct bomb is going to blow! I’ve got 48 hours to find the right Mr. Jensen!
But wait! It gets even better! A super-secret spy agency right here in nowheresville has sucked me into being a bodyguard for some weird foreign transfer kid. Did I mention I like weird? Someone is after this Olek dude and he’s really important; like end of world peace important—and I can’t even tell my pals! This is going to be good!
My name is Carson Fender; the agency’s’ newest recruit. Just call me by my codename—Zero!
about the author
Chris Rylander was born and raised in North Dakota. Although he thought it would be nice to be an author, it was something he planned to do when he was old, around about 50 or so, and had lots of time.
But then, when he was 23, he decided to give it a try. He wrote sample chapters on the bizarre history of divorce in America and agents seemed to love the concept…but they thought his writing was boring! Feeling that the honest criticism was good, he wrote his next novel about a talking mustache, a pack-rat wolf, and a mannequin who fishes. No one bought the book, but not a single agent said his writing was boring!
His advice to new writers? Let go of your filters. “Be weird, Be crazy. Have fun.”
Chris works a day job (claims all he does is sit in a cubicle) and writes 90% of his books during his lunch break. He hopes one day to be a writer full time. Then again, he also hopes to retire by the time he is 32!
The Fourth Stall may be a little inspired by a strange and very macabre incident that happened to his brother and himself. Not going into details, he said it involved “a battle ax and a kid who threw steak knives with deadly precision”!
Married to Amanda, the girl he met when he was seventeen, Chris has a cat and a bald dog. He also has a beard which he calls “Billiam.”
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Alison’s Book Marks
Author interview: Word Spelunking
Also by Chris Rylander:
Crisis Zero (Codename Conspiracy, Book 3). Walden Pond Press. 2016.
Countdown Zero (Codename Conspiracy, Book 2). Walden Pond Press. 2015.
The Fourth Stall : Part III. Walden Pond Press. 2013.
The Fourth Stall : Part II. Walden Pond Press. 2012.
The Fourth Stall. Walden Pond Press. 2011.
read more!
Countdown Zero (Codename Conspiracy, Book 2) by Chris Rylander
Life is back to its boring normal for Carson after he worked for a spy organization right in his hick town. When a deadly virus falls into enemy hands, Agent Nineteen’s life is danger. Carson, ex-spy Zero, is called back on duty, this time to participate in a class field trip to Mount Rushmore…and break into a super secret lab inside the monument!
Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, Book 1) by Gail Carriger
In an alternate England of 1851, spirited Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where, she is surprised to learn, lessons include not only the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, espionage, and killing.
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls, Book 1) by Ally Carter
At the Gallagher Academy, classes include advanced martial arts, chemical warfare, and CIA code-breaking. Cammie can kill a man in seven ways, but when she meets an ordinary boy who doesn’t suspect she is anything but an ordinary girl, she suddenly has to learn how to be a real girlfriend. Turns out, the trickiest part is just being a girl!