Whoooosh!
You pressed the button on your time-travel remote.
Suddenly, you’re plunged into darkness.
The inside of my ancient children’s library — where you were just a few minutes ago — disappears from view.
And … you start falling.
“AAAAAAGGHHHH!”
Your voice echoes through the emptiness as you tumble through an endless void.
Stars streak past you. In the distance you can dimly make out galaxies billions of light-years away.
“Why … did I join … The Stoomio … email liiiiiist …” you scream as you hurtle through space.
For what seems like eternity, you’re simply … falling.
And then, suddenly—
THUD!
You land on … sand?
Yep. It’s definitely sand.
Dusting yourself off, you stand up to find yourself standing on a beach.
In front of you is a vast expanse of ocean. You can’t see any signs of land anywhere else.
You turn and look around …
and what you see shocks you!
You’re standing on the shoreline of some remote island.
Thick forest lines the coast. And from somewhere inside it, you hear disturbing roars and screeches.
The hair on your arms stands up.
You’re not sure where you are … but something really doesn’t feel right.
You slowly turn to look the other way, when—
“Hey!“
A figure jumps out in front of you and startles the living daylights out of you.
“EEEEEEEEEEK!” you squeal. “Who are—”
A hand slams over your mouth.
Then you get a good look at who’s surprised you:
It’s … Eddy Hope again.
“What on EARTH are you doing outside the library?” I whisper. “I told you in the welcome email … It’s dangerous out here. And there’s no way off this island. If you want to live, come with me — quickly. And for goodness’ sake, DON’T scream like that again! They’ll hear!”
“Who’s … ‘they’?” you ask.
But you didn’t need to.
Suddenly, from behind us, something enormous bursts out of the forest … and snarls.
It’s some sort of hairy beast… and it’s MASSIVE!
Your eyes go wide.
“What … is … that … thing?” you stammer, lifting a finger.
I grit my teeth and scowl as I pull out a sword that’s so large it looks comical, and scream:
“It’s a BLARKNARK!! Now don’t just stand there … RUN!”
We start legging-it towards a gap in the forest … while the beast closes in in pursuit.
And then … two more of those hairy beasts slide out and join the chase.
“HEEEEEEELP!!!” you wail, trying to keep up with me.
Thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap!
My oversized sword keeps swinging away as we run.
Two of the beasts get hit and fall away — but one keeps coming.
“The library is just around that corner!” I scream.
I scramble to the door and hold it open.
“Come ON!” I shout. “Get in here!”
“I … can’t run … anymore …” you huff, stumbling toward the door.
But it’s clear you’re not going to make it.
The Blarknark leaps toward you.
You close your eyes and wait for the end—
THWACK!
The mega-beast goes flying sideways as an arrow smacks into its chest …
… and from somewhere you hear a cry:
“Holy sh…
Please don’t finish that sentence!
I reach forward, grab your arm, and pull you in the door — then slam it shut.
You stand there panting. “What just … happened?“
Suddenly, someone else joins us in the room.
It’s a young girl with light brown hair, armed with an inquisitive mind and … a bow.
“Meet the person who makes my remotes, my daughter Everly,” I say. “frequent story cameo, and… handy with a bow & arrow in this parallel world. And she just saved your bacon.”
Everly gives you a dirty look — as if to tell you to be more careful next time.
And then she turns and walks away, slinging her bow over her shoulder.
So anyway.
I hope you’re getting the idea of how this Welcome Sequence goes:
In your real-world email inbox, you get regular emails from ‘real’ Eddy Hope, every week.
But if you click the ‘time-travel remote links at the end of each email …
You can ‘jump forward’ in time to get your next email immediately.
(Which means that, yes — if you’re reading this, your next email is on its way to your inbox as we speak. Modern technology, eh?)
Think of it as turning a welcome series … into a Netflix-style bingeing experience.
But even more importantly …
Every time* you use the time-travel remote … you end up here. In this parallel dimension, on this remote bookish island of mine. Where, as you’ve just seen … Some weird things can happen.
*Okay, you won’t come here every time you use it. There are a few exceptions as you will see … but we will leave them as a surprise for now…
Just know that … if you click the links at the bottom of each email, you move the story forward, and get your next email immediately, without waiting.
It’ll make sense after you try it a few times.
And to get you on your way … I’ve just sent your next email in this series to your email inbox.
(UNLESS, of course, you copied the link for this page and pasted it, rather than actually clicking the time-travelling notebook button. If you did that, nothing on this page applies, and you will need to go back to your email and actually click it this time.)
Well, what are you waiting for?
Go check your inbox!
(Oh, and it’s possible that email might have landed somewhere outside your Primary inbox … like ‘Updates’ or ‘Promotions’. So drag it back into ‘Primary’ and give those geeks at Google a what-for, won’t you? I know, I almost NEVER do this when people ask me. Probably neither do you. But then again … you’ve never been on an email list like this one. Just trust me on this. You can always unsubscribe later if they aren’t to your liking …)
OK – So you were brave enough to press the button and put yourself in harm’s way and have completed the first part of your Pilgrimage… And just before you arrived I was able to obtain a list of the 20 top Middle Grade reads those beasts were guarding.
It’s yours now. A reward for surviving your first outing.
Congratulations. Get the list here.
