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there was a contest, on a writer's BLOG: “Three-hundred word fantasy: Box of Dubious Delights.” I submitted: The Tontine. The submission gave me inspiration. There a story there, so I wrote it. Well, I wrote five short stories. Starting with The Find. I hope the enjoy the tales.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
The Find: Max and the Dream Time, Book 1 is a young adult fantasy novella written by Ruairí Cinéad Ducantlin. It was high summer, and in the fall the four friends would be in eighth grade, just one year away from high school and young adulthood. They were spending their summer doing the things they had always done, hanging out at the Old Mill or playing Xbox, but it was different now, at least for Max. Jamie had started flirting with them. Mark and Randall were fascinated by her, especially in the bikini she started wearing for their swims, but it just made Max feel uncomfortable and a little sorry for her. Mark and Randall were changing also. Mark had an obsession with hockey and being the captain of the team in high school. Randall was already making plans for after college. Up until she began flirting, Jamie just wanted to read. Max was still Max, and still being Max, he’d started to feel a bit isolated from the others.
Max loved rocks, and his swims were jointly swimming and diving explorations down to find special rocks that had been polished by the water. Then he saw a rock that seemed different from the rest. Breathing deeply, he prepared to dive down and get it. He noticed a warmth to the water as he reached it, and, bringing it up to the surface, he discovered it was an Orb, and it still contained a warmth of its own. He was reluctant to share his find with the others, figuring that Randall would toss it into the woods. As they studied the shifting colors and lights reflected within its surface, a light lanced up from it and hit Max’s forehead. No one else seemed to notice, but Max knew it had happened.
Ruairí Cinéad Ducantlin’s young adult urban fantasy novella, The Find: Max and the Dream Time, Book 1, is a crisp and imaginative tale about an exceptionally different coming of age. I loved following the four friends as they enjoyed their endless summer before eighth grade and reveled in their newly found adolescence. Ducantlin’s story is lyrically told, and his plot is illuminating and fresh. And the reader can’t help but wonder about that orb and Max’s dream time. The Find: Max and the Dream Time, Book 1 is most highly recommended.
