When Disney Imagineers installed hologram guides for the Magic Kingdom using teenage models, they had no idea the technology might backfire. But backfire it did: some nights when the kids go to sleep, they wake up in one of the Disney parks as holograms. The five teens have twice thwarted evil plots masterminded by Maleficent; but now Finn, Philby, Willa, Charlene, and Maybeck have another problem: Wayne, their mentor and head Imagineer, has mysteriously gone missing. Concerned that Wayne has been abducted by the Overtakers, the kids pick up a major clue from a close friend, Jess, whose dreams (nightmares, really) often accurately predict the future. This time, the clues from Jess’s dream lead the kids into Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Each clue seems tied to the last, and with the stakes growing ever higher, what starts out as a puzzle ends up as a fight for their lives. As they quest for a sword, take rides on Soarin’ and Maelstrom, have life-and-death encounters with a giant snake, and attempt to stop Maleficent, the Kingdom Keepers not only begin to decipher deeper meanings in the clues, but discover new truths about themselves and their ever-growing friendships.
Ridley Pearson (www.ridleypearson.com), the first American to be awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Wadham College, Oxford University, is the bestselling author of over 35 novels including, Peter And the Starcatchers (co-written with Dave Barry), the young adult novel, The Kingdom Keepers, and two dozen crime novels including: Probable Cause, Beyond Recognition and Killer Weekend (July 2007). His novel The Diary Of Ellen Rimbauer, a prequel to a Stephen King miniseries, was a New York Times #1 bestseller, as was Peter and the Shadow Thieves (#1 for 6 weeks). Ridley adapted The Diary Of Ellen Rimbaurer for ABC Television; it aired in 2003.
Peter and the Starcatchers is to open as a stage play, off-Broadway in March 2011, under Disney Theatrical.
Ridley is a founding member of, and plays bass guitar in, the all-author rock band, The Rockbottom Remainders (www.rockbottomremainders.com), with Dave Barry, Stephen King, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Amy Tan and Greg Iles. The band has raised over 2.5 million dollars for charities over its 18 year history.
