Today N.R. Bergeson and Month9Books are revealing the
cover and first chapter for THE MAGNIFICENT GLASS GLOBE which releases April 4,
2017! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to be one of the first readers to
receive a eGalley!!
A
quick note from the author:
I keep a map in my hallway with pins marking every place I’ve ever lived or visited. As of today, I’ve lived in seven different countries, and visited 65. As I stared at that map one day, contemplating where I’d go next, the idea for The Magnificent Glass Globe came to me. Not only do I wish I had a magic globe of my own, but I wish that everybody would take advantage of modern opportunities to expand their horizons, gaining a deeper understanding of the wider world we live in. So many of the problems we face in this world are the product of different groups of people who don’t understand one another. Well, there’s no better way to solve that problem than to go where others live and getting to know them in their world. My hope is that the Glass Globe will continue to take kids around the world, giving them a taste of life in faraway places, and a better view of the all the adventures this world has to offer.
On to the reveal!
THE
MAGNIFICENT GLASS GLOBE
Author:
N.R. Bergeson
Pub. Date:
April 10, 2017
Publisher:
TantrumBooks
Format:
Paperback, eBook
Pages:
273
Add to Goodreads
One
day, while mischievously exploring the museum’s warehouse with her brother Ike
and best friend Helen, Mary stumbles across an old travel trunk belonging to
her grandfather.
Inside,
they discover an nondescript glass globe. Curious about the simple object, Mary
touches the globe, and is shocked when the room is suddenly consumed by the
most amazing view of Earth.
The
magnificent globe lets the friends zoom closer and closer toward the earth’s
surface, eventually bringing them close enough to touch the trees. That's when
the globe entirely disappears, and they find themselves falling.
Suddenly,
they're far from home, in place that's either a paradise, or the place where
they will die.
CHAPTER
ONE
Hide
and Seek in the Museum
“We’re ready,” Mary said, as she and Helen adopted
running stances.
Ike turned to the wall and covered his eyes.
“one!” he counted aloud.
With that signal, Mary took off, running at full
speed across the museum. Her best friend jogged alongside with ease. No matter
that they were the same age—Helen’s long, athletic body was the reason others
often mistook the eleven-year old for a teenager.
“… two … Three … four!”
“You keep going,” Helen whispered.
“… two … Three … four!”
“You keep going,” Helen whispered.
From the corner of her eye, Mary watched Helen
disappear as she veered into the African pottery exhibit. Mary pushed ahead,
her kinky dark hair bouncing as she went.
A feeling of unexpected pleasure bubbled up inside
her as she ran. A broad grin spread from ear to ear.
Now’s
the time, she thought. It’d been a while since this feeling
had last come.
She closed her eyes briefly, imagining the place
she longed to see above all others. As she reopened them, the marble floor
turned to dirt beneath her feet. The white walls of the museum sprang forth
into lush greenery as leaves and vines covered them. The transition took only
seconds, and soon Mary was no longer running through the museum.
She was back, flying on her feet through the
rainforest. It really had been too long.
“Ha ha!” she laughed, upping her speed a notch.
Mary felt free and fearless, leaping over fallen
logs as she bounded through the jungle. Glancing to the left, she saw two lanky
monkeys, swinging from branch to branch and hooting excitedly as they matched
her speed. The air felt steamy, and beautiful rainforest noises echoed all
around.
Mary turned sharply to her right, rounding a wide
tree. Ike would never find her now.
An unexpected light appeared in front of her eyes,
catching her off guard.
Huh? she wondered.
And with that momentary, out-of-place thought, it
was over. The trees around her vanished, returning to the dull, darkened
corridors of the museum.
“No!” she cried in despair. “Come back!”
Mary tried to pretend otherwise, but this adventure
hadn’t been real.
“I’m in the Amazon. I’m in the Amazon,” she
urged herself, straining to get the engine of her imagination to turn over.
It was no use. Whatever had been working before was
gone now. All she could conjure up were vague images, like black-and-white
photographs that vanished into smoke before she could get a good look at them.
I’m
probably getting too old for this, she thought. She’d
be twelve soon, after all. Did all imaginations stop working at twelve? Without
hers, who would she be?
It’s
all because I’ve been spoiled.
Spoiled by the museum. Not that she’d change
anything. She likely wouldn’t have formed her imagination in the first place if
not for this place. As the curator’s daughter, she’d practically grown up here.
But maybe it’d caused an overload. The fires of her mind burned too hot, and
she’d used up the finite amount of imagined adventure her brain had to offer.
Mary reluctantly accepted, yet again, that the
museum was only a museum. Not the real thing. Just a place that could provide
glimpses of what she might find in faraway places. Places that weren’t here,
where she was, and probably always would be.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Ike called from the
distant wing of the empty museum.
Oh
yeah, she remembered. Hide and seek.
Mary began looking for a place to hide. Ahead, that
light which had yanked her out of the rainforest shone brightly. It took a
moment to realize what it was. As she did, her spirit swelled, and her smile
returned.
“My lucky day,” she said, walking toward the light.
She might not be able to will her imagination back,
but Mary knew another way to get the results she craved. It kind of felt like
cheating, but at this point, she’d take what she could get.
In front of Mary was her favorite thing in the
whole museum. The beautiful world map, illuminated by the spotlight, hung
proudly on the corridor wall.
Almost immediately, she felt that familiar tugging sensation.
The black-and-white photographs didn’t vanish right away. She sighed in
satisfaction. There it was.
Faraway places.
Adventures. All thanks to the map.
The rest of what the museum had to offer might be
losing its potency, but the map was still an effective way to stimulate the
imagination. Something about it, and all maps for that matter, could always
draw her in.
Nearly ten feet high and twenty feet wide, the
stunning map filled the entire wall. It showed the world in amazing detail. It
even had pictures of plants and animals lining its border. Each was connected
to a spot on the map by a red line, indicating the native habitat of the plant
or animal. As always, Mary dreamed that simply touching the map could magically
whisk her away to any place she desired. She wouldn’t need her imagination
then. Then she’d have it all right in front of her.
In the back of her mind, Mary again remembered the
game of hide and seek.
Just
another minute, she told herself. It would take her little brother
a while to find her, especially since he wouldn’t come looking in these
darkened exhibits alone. She had time.
And she needed this.
One bright picture caught her eye, as it had
countless times before. A large, spotted cat climbed along a green log in an
even greener jungle. She looked at the description and read:
The
Amazon jaguar (Panthera onca onca) is one of the largest predators living in
the rainforest basin. Accurate numbers are difficult to estimate, but they are
very rare, and seldom seen by humans.
A line connected the picture to the heart of the
Amazon. Reaching up, Mary traced it with her finger.
“Right there,” she said, tapping her finger in the
middle of the rainforest. “That’s where I want to go.”
Her mind’s eye began to produce the rainforest once
again, as creeper vines sprung from the surface of the map and wrapped around
her wrist. The melody of chanting birds and monkeys filled the air.
Deep down, Mary understood the solution to her
problem. She had for a while. Her imagination wasn’t dying. It’d only matured,
just as she had. Babies could live on milk, but as they got older, they needed
more variety in their diet. Her younger imagination could produce the adventure
she craved when fed by the interesting artifacts of the museum, but it needed something
more now.
She needed to be fed the real thing.
This was why she’d been begging her parents for the
chance to really go somewhere. To keep her imagination alive and
healthy.
“Yes, I think it would be an interesting place
too,” said an unexpected voice from behind.
Mary yelped as she spun around, startled by the
intruder.
All traces of her imagined rainforest vanished yet
again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,”
apologized the janitor.
The tall, aging man pushed a wide broom across the
floor. His white hair was trimmed short and neat, much like his narrow white
mustache. It matched his pale skin. Mary had seen him before, but had never
spoken to him. He hadn’t been working at the museum for long.
“So, you like to travel?” the janitor asked, revealing
his slight accent.
She tried to remember the man’s name.
“Yes, well, I think so,” Mary stammered, her heart
still racing from the fright he’d given her. “I’ve never actually gone
anywhere.”
“And why the Amazon?” asked the janitor. “You like
hot weather?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said. “Maybe because there’s
more life in the Amazon than any other place on earth. But I think I’d like to
go anywhere, really.”
The janitor stared at her again for a moment,
smiling awkwardly in a way that only made Mary feel uncomfortable.
“You know,” he finally said, “life is always better
when seeking adventures.”
Boy, did she ever know that. She didn’t need the
janitor to tell her.
“I wish I could have adventures,” she admitted.
“But if my father has his way, I’ll be here forever. He’s not a fan of
traveling.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” the janitor replied.
“After all, adventures don’t come cheaply. And they take time. Maybe it’s best
to just imagine adventures here in the museum.”
Yeah
right, she thought. Easier said than done.
“That’s what Dad always says,” Mary replied. “But
it’s not the same.”
Not
anymore, she added silently.
“I’ve been around the world a time or two,” the
janitor said. “It can be more trouble than it’s worth. But maybe things will
get better. Perhaps in your lifetime, people will be able to travel wherever
and whenever they desire, and in the blink of an eye.”
Mary laughed, realizing she’d only just been
wishing for the same thing.
“That would be nice,” she said. “But with my luck,
it still wouldn’t work for me.”
“I’ll tell you this,” the janitor said. “Whoever
discovers a way to make it happen will become very rich, and powerful.”
“Well, maybe I need to start studying harder so I
can be the one to discover it,” she said.
“Not unless I discover it first,” replied the
janitor.
A strange greedy look enveloped him, his eyes
reflecting like fire in the spotlight. The change in his demeanor caught Mary
off guard.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
The janitor shook his head slightly.
“Oh, nothing,” he said. “I’m getting old, so I say
strange things sometimes. I should probably get back to work. Have a nice
night.”
Before Mary could respond, he turned away abruptly,
and resumed sweeping his way down the dark hallway and out of sight.
Mary wasn’t sure what to think about the exchange.
There certainly was something strange about that janitor. She shrugged, and
turned back to the map.
As soon as she did, her imagination flooded back to
life, but only for a few seconds. Voices echoed from somewhere in the museum,
jolting Mary’s memory and reminding her of the game. Hastily, she tore away
from the map, desperately seeking for a place to hide.
It was too late. Before she could even step away,
Helen and Ike emerged into the corridor. Standing below the map’s spotlight,
Mary had nowhere to go.
“I found you,” Ike said sarcastically. “Nice hiding
spot.”
“Oh man, not again!” Helen said, slapping her palm
to her forehead.
“I’m sorry,” Mary replied. “It’s just that I—”
“We know,” Helen said. “You and your map thing.”
“It wasn’t just that,” Mary said. “That old janitor
came by and started talking to me, and I couldn’t hide until he left.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” Ike said. “And it’s just a
coincidence that you’re in front of your geek map.”
Mary blushed, realizing she was caught.
“Well, so what?” she said in defense. “You can
laugh all you want, but if I’m going to start traveling the world soon, I have
to be ready. So stop making fun of me, and maybe I’ll let you come with me.”
Ike and Helen didn’t share her enthusiasm. Helen
pretended to yawn, as if bored.
“Whatever you say, Magellan,” she teased. “If you
ever do travel the world, you’ll need me there anyway to get your wimpy butt
out of trouble whenever you find it. Until then, can we at least have fun while
we’re stuck here?”
“Who’s not having fun?” said a man’s voice.
Into the corridor stepped Lewis Tucker, chief
curator of the Charleston World Museum.
“That’s impossible,” he continued. “A closed
museum, all to yourselves? It’s the happiest place on earth!”
“I think you’re confused with Disneyland, Dad,”
said Ike.
“We were playing hide and seek, but Mary
quit on us in the middle of the game,” Helen said. “She got lost in one of her
map fantasies again.”
“Oh she did, did she?” Dad turned to Mary and
raised a questioning eyebrow. “What was it this time? The Trans-Siberian
railroad? The Australian outback?”
“Dad, I really want to go to the Amazon!”
she blurted out. “You know my twelfth birthday is coming up next year. Maybe we
could make it a family trip?”
“Now hold on there, Mary,” Dad interrupted with a
laugh. “We’ve talked about this time and time again. You know how expensive and
difficult it is to take a big trip like that.”
“I know, but I’ll do anything you ask. I can do
extra chores for a year, or I could … ”
Mary could tell by the smile on his face that he
wasn’t taking her seriously.
“Dad, if we send Mary to the Amazon, can I have her
room?” Ike asked.
“Nobody’s going to the Amazon,” said Dad. “For
crying out loud, your own father runs one of the biggest museums in all of
South Carolina. We can enjoy places without actually having to go
there.”
“But Dad! Please? Will you at least think about
it?” Mary begged.
“I’m sorry, my girl,” Dad said. “But the only place
we’re traveling to right now is home for dinner. If we don’t get there soon, your
mother might banish me to the Amazon. Let’s not hear any more about this
traveling nonsense, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Mary said, deflated.
There had to be some way to convince him. Pestering
Dad for months on end to let her travel was clearly not working. “Not until
you’re older,” she was always told. But Mary didn’t think she could be that
patient. It wouldn’t be easy to convince Dad to change his mind, and she knew
her dream was a big one. But she was smart enough to find away. Maybe she was
just going about all wrong. Maybe if she started smaller …
“If we can’t go to the Amazon, could we at least go
to Disneyworld?” she asked, flashing her father a big smile.
“Oooohhh, I’d like to second that motion,” Ike
said, also beaming.
“I volunteer to come as a chaperone,” Helen
offered.
“Why me?” Dad said, raising both hands into the air
while talking toward the sky.
Mary and Ike laughed as they said goodbye to Helen,
who waited as her father, the museum’s head of security, locked up the
building.
I’ll
find a way to convince him, Mary told
herself as she buckled her seatbelt.
If there was a way, she’d figure it out. After all,
she’d never given up on anything before.
N. R. (Nils) Bergeson is the author of the “Magnificent
Glass Globe” series. Nils was born in California but spent his childhood at the
foot of the beautiful mountains of northern Utah. From an early age, he was
fascinated with the wider world, prompting him to earn a degree in
international studies from Utah State University, followed by a Master’s degree
in Public Administration/International Management from the Monterey Institute
of International Studies. He knew early on that his interests were as wide as
the world itself, and that he’d find real joy living overseas. Since 2002, Nils
has only spent four years living in the United States. He was a missionary in
Siberia, spent time in Romania as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, and has worked
for several years in Colombia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and now Indonesia as a
U.S. diplomat/international development worker. He’s traveled to more than 60
countries with his wife, Emily, and their three young children. Nils’ love for
writing, which began in the second grade, complements his globetrotting ways well.
He hopes his writing will instill a desire in his readers to take advantage of
modern opportunities to see the world, learn new languages, and expand their
cultural experiences. We live in a wonderful world, and it’s just waiting for
us to see it.
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