Release date: May 10, 2018
Subgenre: YA Horror, Adventure
About Beneath the Earth:
Laura and her classmates have been looking forward to their senior
camping trip for weeks. Three days on an island paradise, away from
school and their parents. What more could they ask for?
The camping trip starts out well enough. The island is scenic and just the kind of escape to nature that Laura had hoped for. However, cracks soon begin to appear in her plans. Her boyfriend ditches her to hang out with his friends. She has to share a room with one of the teachers. But those are the least of her worries.
A student disappears, and no one can find him. Soon, Laura and the other students realize that the camping trip is anything but a dream vacation. There’s something else on the island. Something large and frightening. Something that lurks unseen beneath the earth. Something that welcomes the presence of the students because they will satisfy its appetite.
The camping trip starts out well enough. The island is scenic and just the kind of escape to nature that Laura had hoped for. However, cracks soon begin to appear in her plans. Her boyfriend ditches her to hang out with his friends. She has to share a room with one of the teachers. But those are the least of her worries.
A student disappears, and no one can find him. Soon, Laura and the other students realize that the camping trip is anything but a dream vacation. There’s something else on the island. Something large and frightening. Something that lurks unseen beneath the earth. Something that welcomes the presence of the students because they will satisfy its appetite.
Excerpt:
All of the students and teachers started from the spot of Brandon’s
disappearance and spread out. We hoped that by covering every
direction that radiated from the origin point, there’d be no chance
of missing him.
Initially, the ground where we searched was trampled, both from our
large group and from Mr. Messick’s exploration last night. We
walked over broken branches and flattened grass. We imitated
the park ranger’s technique of stabbing the ground with sticks,
hoping to uncover hidden holes that were now covered
up. However, we found no hints as to where Brandon could have
disappeared to.
Heather, Katie, and I walked shoulder to shoulder. As the distance
between us and the neighboring search parties grew, we also spaced
ourselves farther apart. We slowed down our pace, not wanting to
miss a potential nook or cranny that could hide Brandon’s location.
If I were paying attention to the island’s sounds, I would have
noticed that the usual chirping of birds had faded. There was only
the crunch of the ground beneath our feet. My eyes swept the forest
floor in front of me, and my focus was strictly on looking for my
missing classmate.
Our first hint of danger came when we heard a scream behind us. The
three of us turned around, frozen in our tracks.
“What was that?” Katie asked.
The scream pierced the quiet of the forest again. We pinpointed the
direction it came from and hurried toward the sound.
We were almost back to the search’s starting point when a wave of
students ran toward us. They motioned for us to go back in the
direction from where we had come.
“Run!”
We didn’t ask any questions. We turned around and ran as fast as we
could in the opposite direction. I had no idea what we were running
from, but from the terror in the voice that sent us fleeing, I
wasn’t going to stand around and ask questions.
Amazon
About H.S. Stone:
Even before he could read, H.S. Stone wanted to write a book.
Fascinated by the stories that seemed to leap from his kindergarten
teacher's books, he went home and wrote his own book, with illustrations
and bound by staples. Of course, since he didn't know how to read or
write yet, the book was full of gibberish.
Undaunted, H.S. eventually mastered the ABC's and continued to write throughout his grade school years, adolescence, and into adulthood. His publications include novels aimed at Young Adult and Middle Grade readers as well as several short stories. He currently lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Undaunted, H.S. eventually mastered the ABC's and continued to write throughout his grade school years, adolescence, and into adulthood. His publications include novels aimed at Young Adult and Middle Grade readers as well as several short stories. He currently lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.
