Gina Rae Mitchell

One Giant Leap by Ben Gartner | Spotlight ~ Excerpt ~ $25 Gift Card ~ Author Guest Post

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

One Giant Leap by Ben Gartner
Published by Crescent Vista Press on 02/21/2023
Genres: Action & Adventure, Middle-Grade, Science Fiction
Format: eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 303

"I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half."

Blast off with the four winners of the StellarKid Project on a trip to the International Space Station and then the Gateway outpost orbiting the Moon! It’s a dream come true until space junk collides with the ISS, turning their epic trip into a nightmare of survival.

Alone aboard the Aether starship, the kids have to work as a team to save the adults before the ISS is destroyed.

Suit up, cadet, and launch into adventure with One Giant Leap!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt from One Giant Leap

I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.

The frayed end of my tether whips around like a lasso as I flip front over back and sideways.

I see the long blue smear of Earth hurtling past. The silver hull of my ship, the Aether, whizzes by in a blur before I gasp at the once-glorious International Space Station. Now, just wreckage. The ISS spits pieces that twinkle in the sunlight. Sparks sizzle and blink against the black backdrop of the endless universe.

My spin continues until all I can see is the void of deep space, punctured by bright pinpricks of gaseous stars millions of light-years away.

The horizon of Earth again, with its clouds and land and water. Home.

The shiny tube of my ship, the Aether. It’s. So. Close. And yet, it can’t save me.

The ISS, Earth, the Aether, and here we go again on this terrible merry-go-round— You get the picture. It’s not good. I close my eyes.

I’m tumbling, and I think I’m squirting oxygen from my life-support backpack, which isn’t helping my somersaults. My suit is losing pressure. At least that’s what I guess is causing the fuzz in my brain. It’s hard to think. My vision is narrowing, dimming, like I’m about to wink away.

And the thing that I think is actually going to kill me? Water is leaking from somewhere inside my suit. Quickly it builds up and clings to my face like a wet rag. It’s a film over my eyes, it plugs my nose, and it slides into my mouth like alien slime whenever I try to cough. I shake my head violently to jiggle the liquid free, so hard that a nerve cries out in my neck. The head-whip kinda works, and I’m able to suck in a tiny breath. I choke down some water and, though the idea sounds ludicrous, I think, Am I going to drown . . . in space?

At this point, you might be asking, “What is a twelve-year-old doing in space?”

And I’d say, “That’s what you’re worried about? Not that I’m going to die?!”

It’s cool. Let me answer both questions. Why I’m one of the first kids in space, and how I ended up in this mess, adrift from my craft and about to become a permanent orbiting satellite. If I don’t plunge into the atmosphere and burn up first.

I’ll pause my death scene to explain a bit about how I got here. Because that’s a thing, right? Aren’t you curious how I got into this impossible quagmire? It’s a pretty amazing story. And 100 percent true.

The books I tend to enjoy reading are about kids being brave, or learning how to be, and I’d like to tell you this is one of those. But I’m not feeling it right now.

To be fair, in those books the kids are fighting fantasy monsters that disappear into dust when you stab them, or they’re in a simulation, or a video game, or you kind of know everything’s going to be all right, right? It’s fake danger.

This story is different. This one’s real. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive this. Adrift in space with my oxygen running low, all alone, spinning uncontrollably, a water leak in my suit threatening to drown me.

It all started innocently enough when a harmless package arrived in the mail . . .

Excerpt provided by the author/publisher for use in this post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Purchase Links for One Giant Leap

Amazon – OneLink for every country   

Bookshop     AppleBooks

BN    Elsewhere

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love my Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. So many books, so little time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guest Post by Ben Gartner, author of One Giant Leap

Why Middle Grade?

Why would anyone with writer-ly ambition choose to write for kids? That is the thought I can see roll behind some people’s eyes when I tell them of my books. When you tell them you are a writer, they perk up and seem interested. Inevitably, they ask about your books. You tell them. Then, “Oh.” Or you get a “That’s cool.” And it sort of dies there. You can see the respect level wane.

This is not all people. In fact, when you talk to teachers and educators and tell them this, they immediately brighten up and see a comrade-in-arms standing in front of them instead of a regular civilian. Those are my favorite reactions. 

But this article is about those others that just don’t seem to grok “Why Middle Grade?” The answer is both shallow and deep. On the surface, it’s FUN. Don’t you remember reading stories as a kid that swept you most completely off your feet and into another world? The power of imagination in a child is at its height. And this ties into the deeper reason: The middle grade era of our growth is underscored by an explosion in cerebral development.

We’ve mastered the basics of life by then—walking and chewing gum at the same time, basic math and reading, etc—and now our brains start to consider esoteric and brain-expanding concepts such as Self and the Universe and big BIG questions like that. It can be daunting. And exhilarating. And there is literally no limit to what a child can imagine might be. They are not yet fully indoctrinated to believe things as they are is how they should be.

And so yes, writing for kids is fun. And it is also monumentally importantly influential. Just like we should be careful to make sure our kids are eating healthy (with an occasional treat, come on), we should do the same for their brains with a relentless infusion of good books ranging on every topic there is. The old adage of kids as sponges is true, or as fertile soil in which books and ideas as seeds are planted. What an honor it is to be providing some fertilizer for that growth!

Now think: What is a book that made an impact on you as a child? Everyone can name at least one. Is there any book in all your life, including from adulthood, that can match the wonder and memory of that book? Maybe. But that book you read when you were twelve holds an immutable, special place.

I don’t imagine I’m in such a high-falutin’ position as to be remembered forever, but if I have a positive impact on the next generation, maybe I’ll have done some good with my limited time here.

Yeah, like I said: shallow and deep. Fun and world-changing. Ha!

======

Thank you for having me on your blog! If people want to learn more about my books, they can find me at the links listed under my author profile above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Purchase One Giant Leap online from a local bookstore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amazon – OneLink for every country   

If the above link does not take you to your country, here are a few more:

Amazon – Canada

Amazon – France

Amazon – Germany

Amazon – United Kingdom

Please send me a note if your country isn’t listed and you would like to purchase using my links. Using my link does not change the price you pay. Amazon pays me a minimal amount out of their share. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway!

Ben Gartner will award a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Visit more stops on this Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!

Official Tour Page for One Giant Leap

Full Tour Schedule:

February 13: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
February 14: Literary Gold
February 15: Sandra’s Book Club
February 16: All the Ups and Downs
February 17: Fabulous and Brunette
February 20: Sybrina’s Book Blog
February 21: Rogue’s Angels
February 21: Long and Short Reviews
February 22: Gina Rae Mitchell
February 23: Kit ‘N Kabookle – review only
February 23: Westveil Publishing
February 24: The Avid Reader

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shared on:

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram

If you would like to review books for Goddess Fish Promotions, please click the link below:

Goddess Fish Virtual Book Tour Host