The Ghost of the Wicked Crow

Book excerpt: From grade school to junior year, Ian Wilder’s heart belongs to one person – his next-door neighbor and best friend Penelope Archer. To him, they match like the last two puzzle pieces across an infinite, jigsaw universe. Together, they spend every free moment in the outgrown treehouse adjoining their yards. There, under the dull glow of dying flashlights, Ian scribbles the words and Penelope paints the worlds from their imagination. From western shootouts with kooky outlaws or surviving a horde of alien zombies aboard a space station, their stories have always been more vivid than reality. But junior year hits harder. Their stories take a back seat to make out sessions under the sleeping bags of that old treehouse. And as these two puzzle pieces jostle closer to completing the universe, something changes. Tragedy strikes. Ian cracks and succumbs to a walking state of catatonia. When Ian finally returns to school, a strange substitute teacher tells Ian that infinite realities exist across a multiverse. Stranger yet, he needs Ian’s help to prevent a similar tragedy in an alternate reality filled with blood-thirsty pirates. The Ghost of the Wicked Crow is a story about a teenager using his overactive imagination to cope with trauma. Can you solve your problems with the multiverse at your fingertips? Or does it fracture your psyche and family even further?