by Bill Bush
“We’ll run tests on you, take samples, probably cut you open and explore.” She gave a nasty grin.
Allison sunk to the floor. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Enjoy your meal.” President Charles shouted over her shoulder.
The door slammed shut leaving Allison alone.
Flipper, Allison, and Josh: Before Vetrix
The Prequel to Vetrix
Three friends—eleven adventures—one good time.
Before Flipper is kidnapped in front of Allison and Josh (details in the book Vetrix), the three best friends had a relatively normal life, though these short stories show that even ordinary kids doing everyday activities experience extraordinary moments.
What kind of fun lies inside these pages?
— Josh and Allison get kicked out of a field trip
— They each share their most embarrassing moment
— Flipper uses his best pick-up lines on a girl he has a crush on
— The kids play a prank on Christmas night
— Allison and Flipper help Josh deal with a bully
— An indoor activity sends one of them to the emergency room
— Flipper and Allison battle against a tarantula that is stalking them
— Flipper fights a goat
— Allison becomes a sleuth
… and more
Experience the trio's friendship as they have a good time together, no matter the circumstances.
Vetrix
Book One
Two alien species.
One threat to Earth.
But who is the real threat and who can be trusted?
Twelve-year-old Flipper didn't believe in aliens—until he was kidnapped by one.
When he wakes up one morning on the planet Vetrix he is trapped in the midst of an inter-planetary war. As Flipper struggles to survive and find a way back to Earth he discovers he may be a descendent of one of the warring species and that his intervening in the war may be his destiny, if destiny is decided by a computer program.
On Earth, Allison begins having dreams that turn out to be real experiences. When she watches a purple man disappear with her cousin, Flipper, no one believes her. Allison's best friend Josh agrees to help and together the two sixth-graders begin their own investigation that leads them to the truth behind the Roswell Incident of 1947 and current alien activity on Earth.
As they try to figure out how to expose the secret colony of aliens and their plans to destroy the human race, Allison attempts to use her dreams to locate and rescue Flipper.
Acknowledgements
After writing Vetrix, neither Blake nor I had any doubt we wanted more stories with Flipper, Allison, and Josh. We brainstormed the next adventure and decided the fight should come to our home planet.
I wrote the rough draft for Earth in the summer of 2014 as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. It was incomplete, and many revisions followed, off and on, over the next three years.
Once we got the story to our satisfaction, we sent it to E.J. Clarke at Silver Jay Editing. He did a wonderful job of analyzing the story and providing critique and guidance. I've already sent him another manuscript to edit and plan to send him more in the coming months.
In fact, I hope to have the third story of this series, Zentron, to E.J. Clarke by spring, 2018. Oh, did I just slip in an announcement in the middle of the acknowledgements? We'll see who actually reads these.
I want to thank my two beta readers, Mike Walton and Barbara Scheibmeir. Mike read the earliest version and Barbara read the final. Both of them found ways to improve the manuscript, and I am deeply grateful for their input.
I had three gifted people proofread the final manuscript. David Heffern once again graciously volunteered his time and love of grammar to improve Earth. My friend, Angel O'Neal, another lover of grammar and punctuation, enthusiastically proofread Earth. Finally, my dad, Bob Bush, gave the story a final read through. With those three efforts, I feel confident very few mistakes could have survived.
The awesome and creative cover was designed by my wonderful cousin, Deb McLain. Her help with my books has been a tremendous blessing to me.
Finally, I would like to thank Katharina Gerlach for formatting Earth. I am thrilled to be able to use her service time and time again.
About Bill Bush
Bill Bush grew up in Yates Center, Kansas, and is a graduate of Yates Center High School and Tabor College, where he earned a Master's degree in Accounting. He is a CPA and runner as well as a writer, is author of several collections of short stories, and has written a column in the Harvey County Independent since April, 2013.
His desire to write comes from his mom, Phyllis Roth Lewis, who was a published author and wrote numerous short stories, poems, and books.
Bill lives in Halstead, Kansas with his two teenage children, who are the inspiration behind many of his stories.
Learn more about Bill at billbushauthor.com or at snaderpublishing.com, his publishing company.
About Blake Bush
Blake Bush is a fifteen year old ninth grader in Halstead, Kansas.
Blake plays saxophone in a band and competes on the cross country, debate, and Scholar's Bowl teams. He loves video games and is a self-proclaimed Nintendo nerd. His next favorite activity is to annoy his older sister.
Copyright
© 2017 by Bill Bush
SNADER PUBLISHING COMPANY
www.snaderpublishing.com
Halstead, Kansas
Cover Design, Deb McLain
Earth, PIRO4D, Pixabay
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.
