A Hartland Vermont author, S.S. TAYLOR has a well received book coming out next week titled The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon. It looks like an interesting YA speculative fiction novel, and it’s something that we’re going to keep our eyes out for it when it is released next month on December 11th.

Here’s the plot:

Computers have failed, electricity is extinct, and the race to discover new lands is underway! Brilliant explorer Alexander West has just died under mysterious circumstances, but not before smuggling half of a strange map to his intrepid children—Kit the brain, M.K. the tinkerer, and Zander the brave. Why are so many government agents trying to steal the half-map? (And where is the other half?) It’s up to Alexander’s children—the Expeditioners—to get to the bottom of these questions, and fast.

Publishers Weekly described the story as filled with “retro-futuristic technology, never-before-seen sights, and danger provide plenty of fodder for Roy’s playful illustrations, which have an adventurous, Jonny Quest flair,” while Kirkus Reviews noted that the book “is an intriguing one. Full of kid power, clues, codes and maps, this will appeal to sophisticated readers who appreciate their adventure served with heaping helpings of cleverness.”

In addition to S.S. Taylor’s prose, the book is illustrated by Katherine Roy, a Center for Cartoon Studies alum. Want to meet the author/artist? They’re going on touch in Vermont and New York this month and next:

• November 17. 2-4 p.m. — Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT
• November 23, 11 a.m. — Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT
• December 7, 5 – 8 p.m. The Center for Cartoon Studies Holiday Open House, White River Junction, VT
• December 8 — 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. — Book Revue, Huntington, NY
• December 9 — 2 — 4 p.m. — Misty Valley Books, Chester, VT