Books with author Mark A. Nicholas

Kirsten is just like any other 16 year old cadet at the Space Academy, except that she's an empath, and is bonded for life to an extra-terrestrial life form called a skeecat. School is tough enough, but when Kirsten's roommate and dorm mother disappear, Kirsten wants to know why, and she searches two solar systems to find some answers. First novel in a series written for young adult science fiction fans.

When a space ship enters a stargate, it can jump dozens of light-years in an eyeblink. But the stargates are few, and the ship has to go where the gate leads. What if they could be created? In the second volume of the Space Academy series, Kirsten tries to help a research physicist answer that question. But is there someone on campus who doesn't want them to succeed?

The ordinary life of a 14-year-old boy is shattered when he receives a strange letter from his Dad.Within days, Max Forber is forced to leave the safe world of school and friends and go on the run with his parents from an organisation which will seemingly stop at nothing to hunt them down. But why?Gradually the motive reveals itself, and it isn’t long before Max and his family are fleeing, fighting for their lives…Life for Max Forber will never be the same again. This fast-paced thriller from a brilliant new writer brings you action, intrigue and more.Number 3 in Kindle:Teen/Action/Adventure, July 2014

Reading Level: Ages 10 and up. Nick and Joey May, brothers, troublemakers, and adventurers... When older brother Nick accidentally hits a baseball into the yard of Miss Yaga, who everyone in the neighborhood knows is an evil witch who loves to turn little boys into creatures that are never to be seen again, the brothers find themselves on the quest of a lifetime. Joey's mouth, which never shuts, gets him in trouble, as the neighbor is older and more evil than the neighborhood children could have ever guessed! The May Boys must enter a maze to find a mysterious Blue Rose, which is the only object that can save Joey, who has been cursed by the evil Miss Yaga, who can only undo the curse if the brothers find the Blue Rose in time. Even if they find their prize, they may not survive the dangers of The Maze.

Do you need a field guide to vampires and shape-shifters? Do you really think zombies are just badly dressed vampires? Can you identify a potential werewolf before the moon starts to rise? Is she a vampire or just a girl with an "Emo"-thing? And even more important, do you know how to fight them off if you happen to cross paths with a hungry being of the furry kind or a walking corpse with blood on his breath? From a variety of folklore and pop culture traditions we've learned some of the warning signs of vampirism and lycanthropy—and some of the best methods of dispatching them back from whence they came when they are on the attack. They may not be real, but—just in case—you need to know what you may be dealing with!

Comical, insightful, disturbing, self-critical, oh-so-modern, “Wow! I thought only I felt that way!” Jarring, exciting, uplifting ... is Charles Ingram misguided, unstable, or inspired? Ten minutes with these beauties and I could free a million souls, even if their preference was to live as slaves. I hoisted the cutters and brought the handles together. The glittering blades clacked noisily as I approached a cable as thick as my arm. I held the metal close. The System was practically shrieking …Fifteen-year-old Charles Ingram is on the run from the FBI. Traveling from New York State to Boston and then on to Vermont, Charles is determined to hide out as long as possible in a lakeside cabin, a pricey vacation getaway owned and neglected by his equally workaholic parents’ friends. Aware that he will be captured, he decides to write his story and explain why he and his gang committed their crimes. No longer a gamer, bully, or highly medicated and spoiled teen, he’s convinced the “System” has brainwashed people and turned them into digital pawns.Fast-paced and thrilling, Third Brick from the Right is a profound and hilarious send-up of life in the digital age.About the AuthorNicholas Maes is a high school history teacher and teaches Classics part-time at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His previous young adult novels include Locksmith, Crescent Star, Laughing Wolf, Fortuna, and Transmigration, and he is currently writing a new novel for young adults, The Forever Road. He lives in Toronto.

Magic and spaceships combine in this coming-of-age science fiction adventure.Jenny Tripper will die an early death because of a family curse that has already claimed her mother. She lives and works in her aunt’s failing fortune-telling shop, and is haunted every moment by a medieval ghost.But then a mysterious package arrives on her doorstep: a holographic woman pleads for Jenny’s help in saving the Solar System from a powerful interstellar foe. She agrees and finds not only friends, doors to other universes, and the power to manipulate quantum waves, but an incredible destiny that’s been waiting for her … if Jenny can master her abilities without going insane.

Short-listed for the 2010 Saskatchewan Young Reader’s Choice Award - Snow Willow and for the 2010 Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award It is the year 2213. Fifteen-year-old Felix Taylor is the last person on Earth who can speak and read Latin. In a world where technology has defeated war, crime, poverty, and famine, and time travel exists as a distinct possibility, Felix’s language skills and knowledge seem out of place and irrelevant. But are they? A mysterious plague has broken out. Scientists can’t stop its advance, and humanity is suddenly poised on the brink of eradication. The only possible cure is Lupus Ridens, or Laughing Wolf, a flower once common in ancient Rome but extinct for more than 2,000 years. Felix must project back to Roman times circa 71 B.C. and retrieve the flower. But can he navigate through the dangers and challenges of the world of Spartacus, Pompey, and Cicero? And will he find the Laughing Wolf in time to save his family and everyone else from the Plague of Plagues?

Commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens, long-listed for the 2009 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award Twelve-year-old Lewis Castorman is a master locksmith: there is no lock on earth that he is unable to open. He is therefore flattered when world-renowned chemist Ernst K. Grumpel invites him to his office in New York City and offers him a lock-picking assignment. His confidence quickly turns to dismay, however, when he learns this job will take him to Yellow Swamp in northern Alberta, the scene of a disastrous chemical spill a year earlier. He is also horrified to discover that Grumpel is utterly ruthless and, through his chemical inventions, can alter the rules of nature at his will. But the assignment is one that Lewis can’t refuse. How is Grumpel able to create such miraculous transformations? What secrets has he locked away and why has he taken pains to store them in Alberta? Despite the strange discoveries Lewis will make at every turn in his adventures, nothing will prepare him for the final encounter that awaits him in Yellow Swamp.

Short-listed for the 2012 Coast Reads Avi Greenbaum is Jewish and lives in West Jerusalem. Moussa Shakir is Palestinian and lives in East Jerusalem. Both are 15 years old, live without their fathers, adore their older brothers, and belong to the same soccer club. Avi commemorates the Holocaust and celebrates Israeli independence, while Moussa mourns on Nakba Day, marking the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. Their lives are parallel lines: they have everything in common and nothing at all. Each is oblivious to the others existence. As Avi and Moussa go about their daily routines in the spring of 2006, they face reminders of the conflict that has dogged the region for the past three generations the security wall, suicide bombings, police operations, and the looming shadow of war. While navigating this legacy of suspicion and violence, they must decide what their own roles in the stalemate will be.