BOOKS

Mr. Swensen has three completed novels for which he is actively seeking a publisher. All three books, listed below, are intended for the young adult science fiction market. He also has three other novels in some stage of completion and he is writing short stories for the science fiction market.

Mr. Swensen also blogs for the Think Good Thoughts website, indulging in an ultra-liberal character created for the Internet in 1985.

TITLE: THE PROMISE OF ORDANA: (sample)
STATUS: Complete, 3rd edit cycle
AUDIENCE: Young Adults/Mid readers
LENGTH: 50,000 words

The young Jasper Crane finds himself trapped on the planet Ordana after the goth-like Goran pirates shot down his ship. Having been born in space, he is ill-equipped for the trials he must face. Overcoming his weaknesses, he begins a journey to find the wreckage of his ship, The Noble Ray.

Jasper's biggest challenge comes when he discovers, too late, that his once kidnapped father had been rescued, and had actually been aboard only moments before Jasper ejected from the ship. As if that weren't enough, he discovers that his dad had kept secret the fact that the man Jasper despised the most, the tyrannical captain of The Noble Ray, was actually his uncle. Jasper is forced to accept his place in the family, and to come to terms with the noble qualities of his uncle.

Despite pirates, space battles and alien creatures and emotional as well as physical pitfalls, Jasper Crane finds his niche in a world that once had no place for him. His survival rests in the hands of a broken-down robot, the pressure suit that his dad bought for him and the residents of the peaceful planet Ordana who consider him to be a criminal. Ordana will keep its promise if Jasper learns its lessons.

TITLE: THE PROPHECY OF GORAH: (sample)
STATUS: Complete, 3rd edit cycle
AUDIENCE: Young Adults/Mid readers
LENGTH: 75,000 words

In this sequel to THE PROMISE OF ORDANA, Jasper Crane finds himself once again being thrust into the captain's seat by circumstance, and receives a mysterious secret message from his long-lost father. He discovers that his father has joined the Goran pirates and become their leader, but a forgotten prophecy foretells of Jasper becoming the pirate king to lead the Gorans back to their home world. Jasper must accept his role, because the alternative means certain interplanetary war.

THE PROPHECY OF GORAH uses relevant themes, like ecology and family, to demonstrate the doing the right thing is not always the easiest path and that heroes can be found in the most unlikely of places.

TITLE: CARBON RIOTS: (sample)
STATUS: complete. 2nd editing cycle
AUDIENCE: Young Adults/Mid readers
LENGTH: 50,000 words

CARBON RIOTS touches on common teen issues, such as a first love and making difficult decisions, against a war-torn urban backdrop. Set in a future world where global warming is government's highest priority, CARBON RIOTS is keenly aware of our current war of ideals: economy versus ecology.

CARBON RIOTS supposes a world that has finally adopted a universal carbon-based currency, and where carbon credits are used to offset everything from food to cars. But for some, especially Claude Terry who lost his family's wealth to the new economy, only revolution will restore the natural order of the dollar. That's when Thomas Hargrove, a high school senior, gets drawn unwillingly into Terry's war by simply being in the wrong place at the right time.

Thom's only hope of surviving is to team up with a group of misfits who have built a community among the abandoned buildings that society has deemed too carbon-costly to reclaim. Claude Terry has co-opted these families and turned them into terrorists. Thom is trapped and finds himself fighting for a cause that he doesn't believe in.

CARBON RIOTS is an urban tale that pits a boy against his own beliefs. In the process he finds the importance of family and of true love, and discovers what it means to make a sacrifice for good. Set against a backdrop of terrible battles, secret missions, computer hacking, greed and treachery, CARBON RIOTS shows us that even the worst of us can find redemption.