Ethan Weiss and the City Between Two Rivers

Book excerpt: This world is far, far from all there is. Ethan Weiss knows that. At the age of ten, Ethan enjoys imagining the endless possibilities of infinite parallel universes--worlds with one moon or maybe three moons instead of two, or worlds where dinosaurs survived the Great Plague of the Middle Ages and continue to roam the land. Even worlds where his father is still alive. Ethan lives on Jane Street with his mother and grandfather in a neighborhood called West Bohemia. In Ethan's world, people fondly recall the first woman president, Eleanor Roosevelt. Peafowl roam everywhere, causing a nuisance. Marvelous winged flying machines called pterosoars dock at the mast of the Empire State Building. And a rare and wondrous yellow-naped Amazon parrot named Churchill squawks an ominous phrase: "Enslave the city! Enslave the city!" Where did Churchill learn this, and what exactly does it mean? As darkness approaches and evil spreads through the streets, Ethan finds himself smack in the middle of a war nobody saw coming, and the liberation of his city ultimately rests with him. While history unfolds around him, Ethan slowly comes to terms with the death of his father. The journey he takes proves greater than his personal grief as he learns that, like all fatherless boys, he can grow beyond his own heartbreaking loss.