about the book
Since she was a baby, Sarah has been living in a series of research camps stationed around the world with her zoologist parents. Her mother dies unexpectedly, leaving Sarah in the care of her father and his research assistant, Theo. In order to secure a precious grant to continue his research, Sarah’s father agrees to lead a safari for a group of American and Canadian teens participating in a conservation exchange program.
The safari turns treacherous when Theo and her father leave the camp to pursue poachers and don’t return. Sarah, more comfortable interacting with animals than humans, is suddenly left in charge of the teens. Her father and Theo took off in the camp’s only vehicle.
Forced to leave their camp and trudge across the parched Kalahari, the teens see an unusual silver lion and discover that Theo has been murdered. More danger awaits as they search for her father. The group encounters a top-secret laboratory conspiring in illegal genetic research. The poachers pursued by her father are actually hired militia bent on protecting a deadly secret that could end life on earth.
about the book
Sometimes Jessica Khoury’s house gets messy. Piles of mail stack up, dirty dishes lay strewn around on counters, heaps of laundry appear to crawl out from the bedroom. That’s when her husband taps her shoulder and tells her it’s time to walk away from her computer for a while so they can clean. She can’t help it, sometimes she gets so engrossed in composing a story she barely looks up for six or seven hours. Her first novel Origins was written in one month. Therefore, she relies on her husband to bring her back to reality. “Which is a good thing, or I’d never notice the dirty dishes and laundry spilling out the doors and windows,” she says.
Jessica began writing when she was young—four years old. She wrote a sequel to Danny and the Dinosaur for her preschool class. Since then, she has kept on reading and writing. And reading and writing. Her best advice for young, aspiring writers is to emulate other writers that they admire. She started out by copying the style of Brian Jacques and T.A. Barron and eventually found her own voice.
She was at an eye appointment when she received the call about her first book being acquired by a publisher. Her optometrist—not her family—was the first to know!
Jessica writes best between the hours of 11 p.m. – 3 a.m. in her Greenville, South Carolina home. She wishes she could write during the day, but admits, “I write better when the world is asleep.” When she’s not writing, she plays video games and spends obscene amounts of time on Pinterest and choosing the perfect font for text and visual projects.
If you are an aspiring young fantasy fiction writer, check out her fantasy map-making tutorials on you tube. Get started creating your own kingdom!
Source:
Author website
Author blog
Author interview: BookPage
Author interview: USA Today
Author interview: Creative Kids
Author interview: Terri Bruce
Also by Jessica Khoury:
The Forbidden Wish. Razorbill. 2016.
Vitro. Razorbill. 2014.
Origin. Razorbill. 2012.
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