Straight Reading from the Library: The Wishing Stone by Tegon Maus

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READ THE BLURB

The last time we used it was at the hospital the morning she died.

On that day, all three of us made a silent wish, certain the others had wished the same. Kate died that afternoon and I never thought about it again. It was the last time I believed in magic, in love or... in the existence of God... and then, after three miserable, lonely years... the unthinkable, a second chance... Warwick.

READ THE REVIEW

This book is the second in the Eve series by Tegon Maus and, technically, can be read on its own - I did and I had no trouble following the plot. However, I think I would have had a better grasp on the characters had I read the first book, Machines of the Little People, because the feel of the book is that you are expected to know who the characters are. The author does a good job at letting you know who they are, but I'm thinking if you have already spent time with them, the experience reading this one will be greater.

The story is told from Ben's point of view and, as such, we learn about what's going on as he does. The science portion of this SF story is explained in such a way that it's possibly plausible. Without giving away too much, Peter has developed something so new and startling it could potentially change humanity.

The characters though are the best part of the book--they are interesting to say the least. I wish the book were a bit longer so we could have spent more time with some of them, particularly Marcie. She was a hoot. There was a lot of quirkiness with the people involved at Warwick, where Ben and Peter have come so Ben's condition can be studied--at least, that's what Ben thinks.

I like the author's writing style and am going to grab not only the first book, but some of his other books as well. Kudos, Mr. Maus. 4 stars.

READ AN EXCERPT

We walked in silence back to the front door and outside where the car waited. The driver opened the door for her and Williams slid over out of the way; the desire to get in with her pulled at me as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Be good," I said as we kissed. "If you can't be good... be funny."

"Three days, Ben... I'll be back... and we'll go home. Three days," she said, kissing me again.

"Three days," I repeated and almost before I realized it she had slipped into the vehicle, the door had closed and she was gone.

I watched the car for as long as I could before it finally faded from view.

The others had returned inside, all except Director Meadows.

"Ready?" she asked, rubbing her arms, warming them in the cold air.

"So ready I'm first in line," I joked. The tug of Audrey and homesick hit me all at once.

She slipped a warm arm around my shoulder, guiding me back inside.

As we reentered Roger and the others had disappeared. We were greeted by two people, a man and a woman, both in white coats.

"Mr. Harris, this is Doctor Richard Prout and his wife, Doctor Joan Prout. They will be your -"

"Guides," the woman interrupted, leaning forward a little.

"Yes, I like that... guides... for the next few days," she continued with an odd smile. "They will help you get to the bottom of your... situation."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking each of their hands in turn.

Meadows went about her way leaving me with my two new companions.

MEED THE AUTHOR

I was raised pretty much the same as everyone else... devoted mother, strict father and all the imaginary friends I could conjure. Not that I wasn't friendly, I just wasn't "people orientated". Maybe I lived in my head way more than I should have, maybe not. I liked machines more than people, at least I did until I met my wife.


The first thing I can remember writing was for her. For the life of me I can't remember what it was about... something about dust bunnies under the bed and monsters in my closet. It must have been pretty good because she married me shortly after that. I spent a good number of years after inventing games and prototypes for a variety of ideas before I got back to writing.


It wasn't a deliberate conscious thought it was more of a stepping stone. My wife and I had joined a dream interpret group and we were encouraged to write down our dreams as they occurred. "Be as detailed as you can," we were told.


I was thrilled. If there is one thing I enjoy it's making people believe me and I like to exaggerate. Not a big exaggeration or an outright lie mine you, just a little step out of sync, just enough so you couldn't be sure if it were true or not. When I write, I always write with the effort of "it could happen" very much in mind and nothing, I guarantee you, nothing, makes me happier.

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