What if you woke up inside your own dream—and couldn’t get out?
Eleven-year-old Julie Fray is living a nightmare. Her parents are fighting so much she can’t escape—even when she goes to sleep. Every night she has horrible dreams.
Then one night Julie wakes up inside her nightmare, in the studio where her dreams are produced. She learns that if she can find the people responsible for her dreams, she might be able to make them stop. But it won’t be easy: the tiny tear in the fabric of her consciousness that let her fall into the dream studio in the first place is closing fast...and Julie could be trapped inside her own head forever!
“Hartinger deftly moves into the realm of fantasy….[His] winning pairing of a sincere message with hyperbolic humor should resonate with readers.”—Publishers Weekly
“Entertaining and humorous.”—Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Brent Hartinger is the author of many books for teenagers, including Geography Club, The Last Chance Texaco, and Grand & Humble. He lives near Seattle but once lived and worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, which may have had something to do with this book, his first for younger readers.
For the last twenty years, I have made my living writing just about everything that involves words.
I've been writing books since college, but I didn't sell any of them until the summer of 2001. Since then, I've sold a whole bunch of them--with many more in the works.
I like to write for all ages, but I particularly like writing for and about teenagers. I think it's because I identify so strongly with them (whenever I hear an adult complain about a teenager, I almost always take the side of the kid, even without hearing his or her version of the story!).
For the record, I try hard to write books that people *like* to read. (The most frequent comment I get from readers is that my books are "page-turners," which makes me very happy, because that is exactly what I want them to be!) My biggest complaint with books I hate is that they don't get to the point (or, worse, they don't *have* a point!).
My second great love is the theatre. My plays have been performed at dozens of theaters across the country. And I was recently asked to adapt Geography Club into a stage play, which was first presented (very successfully!) in Seattle in April 2004. I've also written a play version of my thriller Grand & Humble. (If you're involved with a theater and want a copy of either script, contact me at brentsbrain@gmail.com.)
I also have several screenplays under option, and there is a feature film version of Geography Club in the works.
And if that's not enough, I've written over five hundred published articles, essays, short stories, newspaper columns, cartoons, and even a few greeting cards!
I also sometimes teach writing, in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College and elsewhere.
I live in Seattle, Washington, with my partner since 1992, Michael Jensen. Michael is also a writer, the author of two terrific gay westerns, Frontiers, and its sequel, Firelands. Together, we also helped found a very successful entertainment website called AfterElton.com (but we don't work there anymore).
I answer all emails (eventually), so if you have a question or a comment, or if you're interested in having me speak to your school or group, contact me brenthartinger.com.
Or if you want to send me something by mail, or if you'd like to request a signed bookplate, you can reach me here:
Brent Hartinger PO Box 30542 Seattle WA 98113-0542
My "Official" Biography
BRENT HARTINGER is the author of a number of novels for children and teenagers, including Geography Club (HarperCollins, 2003); two sequels to Geography Club called The Order of the Poison Oak (HarperCollins, 2005) and Double Feature: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (HarperCollins, 2007); The Last Chance Texaco (HarperCollins, 2004); Grand & Humble (HarperCollins, January 2006); Project Sweet Life (HarperCollins, winter 2009); and Shadow Walkers (Flux, 2011).
Mr. Hartinger's many writing honors include being named the winner of the Lambda Book Award, the Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award, a GLAAD Media Award, the National Best Book Award, and a Book Sense Pick (four times).
Also a playwright and screenwriter, Mr. Hartinger's ten plays have been produced in dozens of theaters nationwide (twice in New York); his screenplays have won many awards, including a 2009 Writers Network Fellowship and the $5000 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Screenwriting in the Sun Award. He has several scripts under option and in the process of studio or network development, including a film version of his novel, Geography Club.
Mr. Hartinger lives in Seattle with another novelist, Michael Jensen, his partner since 1992. He has counseled dozens of teenagers, both as co-facilitator of Oasis, a 200-member gay teen support organization he helped found, and as a counselor at a group home for young people.
Mr. Hartinger is a co-founder of Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom (or AS IF!), an anti-censorship group, and speaks frequently at schools, bookstores, conferences, churches, and civic groups on the subjects of censorship, writing, and social tolerance. He sometimes teaches creative writing, most recently at Vermont College in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
Oh, and there's lots more information about me at my website. Check it out! www.brenthartinger.com
Her parents' constant fights frighten eleven year old Julie Fray. She is so scared that something bad is going to happen that even when she sleeps she suffers nightmares that she is a pawn on a chessboard with her mom as the white queen and her dad as the black king each giving orders for her to move. The dreams are getting worse and the preadolescent child has no one to turn to as her parents are too caught up with their war to see what it is doing to her. Being awake is as bad if not worse.
This time when she suffers the nightmare, Julie awakens but not to the hostility between her parents pulling on her to their side. Instead somehow she is still inside her nightmare realm. Specifically she finds herself in a studio where Julie's dreams are a big production. Production assistant Roman befriends the bewildered frightened young girl and tells her to find the producer. However Julie has a bigger problem than getting nightmares less frightening. The child actress who portrays her, Vivian has crossed over to the real world and refuses to switch back. If she fails to return to reality, she will be trapped inside her head where a studio produces the nightmare world of Julie Fray.
DREAMQUEST is a powerful character study that hooks the audience once they realize Julie is marooned in her nightmares. The story line is set up so that readers are unsure whether this is a horror tale or a psychological thriller; in either case Julie and the preadolescent audience will agree that she is in deep trouble regardless. This tale of Slumberia is a fantastic novel that will please its pre-teen crowd, but also their parents.
Harriet Klausner
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DREAMQUEST is a madcap, exciting adventure into the realm of nightmares.
Julie's parents fight so much she feels like they're ripping her apart --but the terrifying nightmares she has every night are even worse. Then her dreams rip a seam and she wakes up in nightmarish Slumberia where a cast of freakish beings create her horrible dreams.
With the help of some unusual friends, she goes on a dangerous quest to end her nightmares. If she can't escape Slumberia before her time runs out, she'll be trapped in her bad dreams forever.
Brent Hartinger is a master of plots with humor, suspense and memorable characters. Readers who enjoy magicical books like HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and heartwarming quests like WIZARD OF OZ will love DREAMQUEST.
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