J.S. Frankel

Complex intergalactic conflict? Political intrigue? Deception and betrayal? If these things are your cup of tea, then Randor’s Moon is a must-read for you!
Randor, a young scientist – one of the last living scientists among his people – is tasked with the impossible: finding a cure to a virus found in a race of creatures he’s never met until that afternoon. And if he doesn’t? No big deal. The creatures of Falanar will just keep bombing his planet into extinction.
With the fate of his people hanging in the balance, Randor journeys with Minnara, the Crown Princess of this warring nation, to Falanar in order to run his tests and apply a cure, but things go terribly wrong when their navigation system forces their spacecraft into the tail of a passing comet. This freak accident (or was it an accident?) destroys their craft, marooning them on a moon inhabited by fearsome and horrific creatures.
If Randor and Minnara wish to survive, they will have to find some way to put aside their grievances and work together. Things only get increasingly complicated, however, when the sentient inhabitants of the planet become hostile, Minnara starts to show symptoms of the virus, and help is slow to arrive. If Randor’s wits and Minnara’s strength fail, it’s only a matter of time before they succumb to the terrors of this frightening world, and with their deaths will come the extinction of both of their peoples.
J. S. Frankel keeps you on your toes and guessing all the way to the end of this Young Adult Sci-Fi tale of self-resilience and survival!… (mehr)

Paul used to be normal. He used to play baseball, ride bicycles, and run like all the other kids his age, until a genetic heart condition ruined all that. At the age of twelve, he experienced his first heart episode--an episode of tachycardia that caused him to collapse. Ever since then, while the other kids continue with their normal lives, running, playing sports, planning for college, Paul just hopes he'll get to see tomorrow.

Now seventeen, Paul tries to make the most of it. Sure, he can't handle more than a simple walk around the neighborhood with the girl next door and his school has painted a parking space for an ambulance on his behalf they've come so frequent, but Paul continues life doing the things he's able to do. He studies a lot, watches movies, hangs out with his two friends--the only people in school who haven't written him off and moved on that is.

But when a stranger in the park asks Paul what he wants more than anything, he tells the truth: He'd like a do-over.

And so the stranger shoots him.

Really.

Paul wakes up in the hospital the next day, disoriented, but complaining about the random person who shot him in the chest. The doctors are baffled. There's no entry or exit wound, but radiological imagery shows a bullet lodged next to his heart. The thing is, though, the bullet is moving. Around and around it goes, circling his heart. And if that wasn't baffling enough, some of the images report it as being there then not, as if it's intangible.

Well, since Paul would never survive an operation due to his weakened heart, there's not much they can do about it. They'll just have to wait until Paul is dead to remove the thing. But that does not stop the CIA from circling like vultures. Sure, they do their part protecting Paul while they're there, which is especially lucky since a group of creepy, smelly aliens show up demanding whatever Paul has inside of him.

The chase is on as Paul, his girlfriend, and his CIA handlers race from one safe house to the next while the advanced alien race pursues them. With each encounter, they lose more and more of their numbers--including Paul's small circle of family and friends. Between the pursuing aliens, his weak heart, and the CIA's continued talk of basically 'disappearing' Paul, the teen is hard pressed, and it just might be time to take matters into his own hands.

I received this book for free as part of a review exchange. I had read Frankel's work before, but while I like the other book, I really like this one. Frankel's tone for Paul's voice was spot on, and I found myself caring and liking the protagonist pretty quick. I felt each loss, each pain. I felt the fear, the mystery, and the desire to just stay alive, even if by all logic, that's just not going to be possible.

The story was sci-fi, which is a genre I sometimes struggle with, but Frankel did a good job of holding his reader's hand throughout the story and taking them on this wild journey! It was a lot of fun and I'd recommend it for other readers.… (mehr)

Jake’s life has been challenging, growing up alone with his mother after his father died, and then dealing with having a brain tumor removal operation, which leads him with some speech and walking disabilities, but he has found some success writing and publishing a sci-fi novel as he is getting through high school. Now, as he is working on his next novel just weeks before summer vacation wraps up his junior year, he begins receiving messages from a contact named Miranda on his computer, only to eventually discover that Miranda is an AI program personality on the internet. After being directed to her creator, Dr. Schreiber, Jake is given the neural connection equipment to mentally enter the internet and virtually travel through it with Miranda. However, Schreiber’s former villainous employer, Marvin Throckmorton, and his cronies are after Jake and Miranda in order to take total control of the internet. This is a very imaginative YA cybernetic romance thriller told in the first person by Jake, with a few plot stretches, but generally enjoyable for the nerdier young romantics.… (mehr)

Such a fun read and well-written. This is the story of a teenage boy who early on is bullied and is a bit of a nerd in my opinion, and then he meets a beautiful girl from an alien planet and then the story really begins. The M/C, Vic, is so funny to me - quick witted, sarcastic and honest & genuine - and Iris was a strong female character that I really liked. The plot is fun and exciting, and I think this is a really good YA book if you're looking for something well written with a good plot and fun to read. I hope that we have more books about Vic and Iris as both were memorable characters.… (mehr)