Cut from the soccer team, Albert’s dreams of playing soccer are over on Earth, that is! Join him and his alien teammates dribble, cross, and score in this interstellar adventure. Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Mary Amato’s Star Striker: Game On, which releases on September 7th 2021.
But first, here’s an introduction from the author herself:
As a theater geek, I’ve always brought what I know about the stage to my work as a fiction writer. I love to think about how each of my characters “enters” the story. Is the entrance dramatic?
My latest book Game On!, the first in my Star Striker series, is about Albert Kinney, a 7th grader, who is abducted by aliens. He’s terrified, of course, but eventually learns that he is being recruited to play Star Striker for their interplanetary soccer team. The first alien he meets is the pilot of the spacecraft sent to pick him up, an intelligent robot known as Unit B.
In my first draft, Albert simply opened his eyes after getting beamed aboard the alien spacecraft, and then Unit B began explaining the situation to him. Dull. When revising, I brainstormed how Unit B’s entrance could surprise my readers and add to the fear and confusion that Albert was experiencing. Take a look at this excerpt of the abduction scene to see what I came up with.
But before you take off, let me explain the unusual headings you’ll encounter. Earthling writers typically assign a new whole number for each chapter, such as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3. In the Star Striker world, I tell the story in scenes that are expressed as decimals. Scenes 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2, for example, are all scenes that occur on the first day. Scenes 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 are all scenes that occur on the second day, etc. In this excerpt you’ll see very end of scene 1.2 and then the whole of the abduction scene, which is scene 1.3.
As an added bonus, I’m throwing in scene 1.4, which is the entrance of Albert’s nemesis, the brilliant botmaker named Mehk. And now, ladies and gentlemen, on with the show!
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Open in new tab SYNOPSIS
The day that aliens abducted 13-year-old Albert Kinney was the day he was hoping to make the school soccer team. But that’s the way life works sometimes, especially for Albert.
Astonishingly the Zeenods, don’t want to harm Albert, they want him to play soccer. And so, Albert jumps at the chance to join the Zeenods. Yet just as he is introduced to the specifics of their game and all their high-tech gear, he faces a series of direct threats to his life. Does someone have a mysterious vendetta against Albert? Or does their first opponent, the ruthless team from Planet Tev, want to guarantee that they win?
Action-packed, yet filled with humor and heart, Game On! is the first book in a series that features thrilling play-by-play soccer scenes and an intergalactic plot with far-reaching consequences for the Zeenods–and Earth.
Excerpt from Star Striker: Game On! Text copyright © 2021 by Mary Amato. Reproduced by permission from Holiday House Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
