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Veronica and the New World: Book Two of the Veronica Trilogy

by J. Hamilton

321 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1727; ISBN 1-4120-1349-6; US$26.50, C$31.00, EUR22.00, £15.50

In a place where magic is alive and well, Veronica, Billy and Sharon of the Mountain must defeat black magic as old as history and as new as the future.

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about the book      about the author      excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book Continuing their adventures, Veronica Wilde and Billy Swift Fox find themselves transported out of the Cave of the Wind onto a planet in a far away galaxy. It was for this very purpose that they were tested so severely back on Earth. Here, they discover a beautiful place they call N'weden but evil in the form of dark magic has landed there as well. With the aid of new friends, they set about to drive away the vampire mage Bra'thid who is seeking to conquer the universe. His magic is linked to his very advanced technology and the last piece he needs to complete his marriage of black magic and space age computers lies somewhere on N'weden. As an extra incentive to his dark mind, he finds a yellow-haired girl whose blood will forever free him from the need to drink every day.

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About the Author J. Hamilton has been a teacher of English as a Foreign Language for the past sixteen years, having worked in Texas, Saudi Arabia and Thailand during that time. In the 1970's, he wrote a weekly humor column for a small newspaper in central Texas where he grew up. He has written plays for, and directed and acted in community theaters for many years and insists that drama experiences has been as useful to his teaching ESL as his degree in English and Speech from Pan American University. This book is the sequel to his first novel Veronica and the Cave of the Wind.

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Excerpt

By noon, they had only traveled about one third of the distance across the meadows, sparsely dotted with small copses of ra-ken not large enough to provide shade for any of Bra'thid's dark shadows. They were hungry then and looked for a place to rest when Briarson spotted the remains of a village, abandoned by its once peaceful people.

"Look! There were people living here when Tendil and I came through before! Now look at it! It's all overgrown with wild plants and the houses are falling apart!" he exclaimed.

He and Tendil were about to break and run for the village when Veronica stopped them.

"Wait!" she said, "Those houses could still provide shelter for the shadows. It may be dangerous to go rushing in there."

Both Briarson and Tendil turned pale, feeling stupid that they hadn*t thought of the danger.

"There's something there," Sharon said, "I can feel it."

Just as she said that, the walls of one of the thatch houses moved slightly as though something were rubbing against it. They all froze in place, waiting to see if anything or anyone would come out. For long tense moments they remained motionless. Veronica tried to see with her magic, but the inside of the house was too dark to make out anything more than the shadow of something quite large moving about, occasionally brushing against the walls, making the house shudder.

"What do you suggest?" she whispered to Billy Swift Fox.

"I could shape-change and go inside," he said.

"No, that might be too dangerous. The shadows could attack you in whatever shape you assumed," Veronica replied.

"We could set fire to the house, but I fear that every house in the village would go up in flames if we did that. This place has been abandoned for quite some time and the thatching is dry," Billy said.

"I agree. We need to think of something else," Veronica replied.

At that moment, something totally unexpected happened. A whirlwind gathered near the center of the small village and began to grow. As it did, it became more powerful, giving out a whining sound that chilled their blood.

Yet the wind did not move from the village center. It just became stronger and stronger until it encompassed the whole village, stopping its growth just short of where the group was now lying flat on the ground.

As the wind grew stronger, the thatch houses began to come apart, sending sticks and leaves flying through the air. Some of the largest branches landed dangerously close to the young adventurers and they were soon covered by a blanket of leaves.

The whine of the wind became a howl as it grew even mightier and suddenly every structure in the village collapsed or went flying through the air. And there, in plain view, was the threatening creature they had seen brushing against the walls of the thatched hut.

"A cow!" Billy shouted at Veronica over the volume of the wind.

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Catalogue Information

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