Startled, I looked up from my computer and turned around in my wheelchair. My best friend, Dan, had slipped silently into my lab. I still thought of it that way, but we’d made it into the Secret Supers clubhouse almost a year ago. Dan’s round, brown face smiled down at me while his tall, wide frame loomed behind me. His dark glasses hid his blind eyes.
“I didn’t hear you come down the elevator.”
“I took the stairs. Your mom made cookies, so I came over. I could smell them from my house.”
“You mean, you could smell them from my mom’s thoughts?”
“And your’s and your dad’s. You were all excited, so I couldn’t help myself from taking a sniff from your mom’s nose. I didn’t snoop any further than that.”
“I know you respect everyone’s privacy with your mindreading power.”
“Except maybe yours. You did permit me to read yours anytime. But I haven’t read your mind about what you’re concentrating on. C’mon, tell your old friend Dan.”
“Don’t tell anyone. I want to surprise the Secret Supers.”
“Of course not. Now I’m dying to know!”
“I’m applying to Space Camp.”
“What’s Space Camp? I can hear the capital letters in your voice.”
I spun my wheelchair around to face him. “What’s Space Camp? It’s the greatest camp there is! We’re all bored out of our minds now that August has started and we want to do something. Space Camp teaches you all about our space program. You learn about astronauts and rockets. You go on a centrifuge and experience zero-g and moon gravity.
Do You Know My Four Heroes? – Kayla
“Now I know, so we might as well let Kayla and Aubrey know.”
I glanced at my screen clock. “Ten thirty. I can call Kayla, but Aubrey’s at her summer baseball practice.” I speed-dialed Kayla.
“You don’t have to put her on speakerphone. I can read her mind,” said Dan.
I laughed. “You read my mind. I was ready to do that.”
Hello, Jeremy. Kayla’s voice sounded in my mind. Kayla had spinal meningitis and could no longer talk or walk without a walker. I felt sad when I heard her high mental voice, sounding just as she used to talk before losing it.
“Hi, Kayla. I’ve got big news for you and Aubrey: the Secret Supers are going to Space Camp!”
Sounds like fun. I assume it’s all paid for and our parents are on board?
“Right. I researched it, then my parents contacted yours, Dan’s, and Aubrey’s, and everyone agreed. Just now, I applied and got approval. We’ll be gone for a week.”
When?
“The last week in August, just before Labor Day.”
Now I have something to look forward to, instead of another sweltering day. How long does it last?
“A week. We arrive on the last Sunday of the month and leave on Friday.”
Kayla – Part 2
I suppose you want me to tell Aubrey. I’ll give her the message to come over to our Secret Supers room, and we’ll all surprise her when she comes in.
“Great idea, Kayla!” I grinned.
Dan’s head snapped up from the phone and then he leaned back down. “You can tell her now. Her practice was canceled because of a thunderstorm. Boy, is she grumpy!”
“Baseball’s the love of her life,” I said. “A new adventure will cheer her up.”
All right, I told her to meet us there. She’s riding her bike straight from practice.
Dan placed his hand on his head like he does when he’s listening telepathically. “Uh, oh, Kayla, you’d better hurry. She’ll beat you here.”
I didn’t think of that. Mom’s busy at work. I can’t interrupt her, and I can’t bike anymore.
I straightened in my wheelchair. “Let me give you a lift—literally.”
Now you’re reading my mind, Jeremy. I was just about to ask you for help. Are you sending your flying car?
“Nope. Just put on your Secret Supers outfit and I’ll fly you over.”
“I’ll put on mine. It’s here in my backpack.” Dan slid it off his shoulders.
I hadn’t noticed Dan’s backpack. I turned to my phone. “We’ll make it a full club meeting. This’ll be the first time we’ve worn the new costumes your mom made for us, Kayla.”
I modeled mine for Mom. They fit a lot better than the store-bought ones we had, and they’re much sturdier. The old ones were pretty scuffed up.
“Something about fighting ten-foot robots does that.” Dan grinned.
I yelled from the bathroom as I dressed telekinetically, pulling the tights over my legs twisted by a lifetime of cerebral palsy. It did fit better than the old uniform. Even the boots went on better. I loved the material I selected. It was completely air tight and waterproof. It fit beautifully with the other secret enhancements I’d put in. I wondered when I should tell the others about them.
Of course—
THUMP! THUMPITY! THUMP!
I don’t need to read minds to know that’s Aubrey. No one else pounds as she does down the stairs.
The door to the clubroom burst open. “TA-DA! I’m here. I came here at the speed of light, on a bicycle.”
Coming out of the bathroom, I saw Aubrey’s tousled blond hair peeking out of her baseball cap. Sweat beaded her broad forehead. Her black mask and red Secret Supers uniform clashed with her green ball cap. Instead of black boots, her prosthetic legs went to her knees.
I smiled at her. “Aubrey, did you notice how much better these new uniforms fit?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t bind me at all when I run or bike. I could wear it all the time. It’s easy to get on and fits nicely around my stumps. Now tell me what the big news is, Jeremy. Kayla wouldn’t tell me anything!”
Fantastic listen listened to this with my younger brother he really seemed to enjoy this even as I found myself giggling a few times great Voice work and premises highly recommend this to parents looking to get their kids more into books.
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Did you like Discover the Four Heroes from Secret Supers in Space? Got questions? Comments? Reach me directly by clicking here. Or you can email me at [email protected] I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.
Meet My Favorite Villain From My Favorite Book – Which one is that? My Undead Mother-in-law, the second book I wrote, now the third in my series (Zombie Detective occurs before it) has been published for eight years. You can buy it by clicking here. Keep on reading for a better deal!
Meet My Favorite Villain, Vik Staskas
Vik Staskas absently stroked his long glossy-black hair as he skimmed through the day’s news on his wall-mounted monitor from his five-hundred-foot superyacht. He noted the surge in zombie cures and sought to tap into the money. He hired operatives to infiltrate the Midley Beacon and SPEwZ Inc., the business arm of the famous charitable zombie organization. The possibility of failure didn’t occur to him. He succeeded in everything he tried: a street thief as an orphan in Belgrade; a college student in Paris, where he got his PhD in robotics; and taking over European organized crime without the nominal bosses knowing he existed. He was ready to take over the US.
He developed remote-controlled cyborg animals and insects. He used them to spy, to infiltrate, to conquer, to steal, to kill. They were unstoppable. He planned his first hijacking of a zombie blood air shipment from Gary, Indiana. He could think of several practical uses for cyborg-controlled zombies in his crime empire. As they were, zombies had too much free will for his taste. He chuckled. Even zombies didn’t stand a chance against him.My Undead Mother-in-law.
Meet My Favorite Villain What do readers and audiobook listeners say about it?
Andy Zach continues his unrelenting attack on the horror/zombie genre with outlandish humor. What will society do with the new human zombies after the havoc caused by The Turkey Zombies?!? That was a rhetorical question…so just laugh! 😉
Note: While this is Book 2 in the series, it works pretty well as a stand-alone story.
Set several months after the zombie turkey outbreak of Book 1, the contagion continues to pop up in other species. Now that several zombie humans have been created, the government can no longer hide it. In fact, most zombie humans continue to work, play, cook, attend church, and have family get-togethers.
Diane is such a fun mother-in-law! She’s a bit overbearing but ferociously protective of her family. I love her dedication to zombie acceptance and beating down zombie stereotypes. Also, she’s a great brawler. I would not want to be on any team opposing Diane!
The zombie critters were great too! I love that the contaminated corn (the suspected source of the zombie outbreaks) is still the main suspected source of these new zombie species – like snakes and chipmunks. That scene with the rat and the snake hijacking the plane – haha! This story had me chuckling often.
I did miss Sam and Lisa from Book 1 but they do have minor roles in this book. In fact, seeing what this book does to them, I really hope we see more of them in Book 3. While there isn’t nearly as many zombie turkeys, we do get a few zombie turkey gobbles in this tale (which makes me laugh like a maniacal little kid).
Review Continues
I look forward to Book 3. 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Phil Blechman and Raven Perez continue to do a great job with this series. I love Blechman’s zombie turkey calls – makes me laugh every time no matter how gruesome the scene. Perez was spectacular as Diane – loud, proud, boisterous, hilarious. The technical recording quality is also top notch. Blechman and Perez sound like they are in the same room for the recording. It’s seamless when they trade off or even back and forth in the same conversation. Excellent all around! 5/5 stars.
Not your usual zombie story. This one is fun and funny. I laughed several times throughout the story. I’m looking forward to the next installment of the series.
Do you want to review this or any of my audiobooks?
Enjoy all four novels in audiobook, paperback, or Kindle format!
Andy Zach has done it again for me, I love the Audiobooks. The Performances by Raven Perez, and Phil Blechman, are outrageously Great. Not too many turkey gobbling sounds in this story, but I can live with that. Read the first book and you’ll understand. All in all, I’d double the number of stars for the first book, and this one if I could.
Very entertaining. Didn’t know what to expect other than I thought it would be amusing. It was! I played some for my husband and laughed tears at one point just as I had.
it a super story about a super mother in law. father in law, brother and sister in law and a bunch of “Sidekicks” real impressive side kicks. Good triumph over evil through pain and persistence and a real bad villan is finally defeated; or is he? The Narration is outrageously hilarious and so “Camp” that I smile when I think about this listen. I am becoming a lover of Zombisim, in fact long live Zombies, no perhaps live isn’t quite the right word. Any way If a great listen is what you need these days first listen to Andy’s first book Zombie Turkeys “gooble gooble” and than for a continuous great listen meet the mother in law.
Meet My Favorite Villain – Winding Up
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Get Your 9th Day of Christmas Gift – A “Spacial Sale”. What do I mean? Secret Supers in Space is on sale for .99 from January 5th to 12th. What’s the book about? Let me tell you.
Get Your 9th Day of Christmas Gift – Synopsis
Chapter 13 Icon – Secret Supers Walking
The Secret Supers are bored out of their minds during summer vacation-until they go to Space Camp. They learn all about the space program, try out moon gravity and zero-g simulations, and practice docking with the International Space Station.
But that’s the easy part. The villains they defeated in the past are back.
Get Your 9th Day of Christmas Gift – Readers Speak
The book picks up shortly after the last one. Early conversations recap the previous events to bring you up to speed. The story has action, adventure, comedy, and even romance. With something for everyone I recommend giving it a try. Warren
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2024
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