Showing results by author "Richard S. Hartmetz" in All Categories

A little bird sits high on a wire, watching the strange pink monkeys below him. Father bird warns him that they are dangerous, but he is curious and decides to ask the other animals about them. He questions a robin, a horse, a cow, a honeybee, an ant, a dog, a deer, a rabbit, and an owl, all of whom warn him of the dangers connected to the fearsome beasts. The owl tells the little bird how they fight in great wars, and participate in animal slavery, poisoning the air and water, and even killing their own kind.

This story deals with the very real scourge of teenage depression and suicide in the most realistic manner possible, peeking into the lives of four very different young men as they encounter life’s struggles and how to deal with them. It shows the terrible conditions that existed in early psychiatric facilities, but could take place anywhere, at any time, with anyone’s children.

They have her brother! MacGuffin, and Alicia have taken Jack Peterson hostage, giving Murry only 48 hours to surrender to them! She is out of options.... All the pieces are in place. All the conspiracies and deceits are out in the open. Or are they? Murry tries to assemble an army to rescue her brother, but there is no one left. Christopher, Jordan, Dylan, Christian, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Smith are all dead. Michael is still in a coma from which he will likely never recover, Alicia and Jacob have gone over to the dark side and Cliff is a member of the KGB. That leaves Murry and Matthew.

Robin Caruso, the girl who sailed around the world, has defied the odds and returned home alive: just barely. Surviving pirates, angry natives, animal attacks, and the fury of the ocean, she now faces the wrath of the authorities that she evaded and the consequences that her actions had on her family. Striking a deal with the government to testify against the leader of the pirates, she is forced to flee when he escapes and places a bounty on her head.

General Zarkov is dead, but only Muriel Peterson and Officer Laskey know about it. While Laskey is on medical leave, MacGuffin approaches Murry personally, attempting to incorporate her into his plans for world domination by ODESSA. Murry discovers that one of her old friends has allied herself with a conspiracy theorist and has uncovered information about the A.S.E. group’s connection to the CIA. She also discovers information on a system of computers and satellites known as Echelon.

Dead! They were all dead! Murry Peterson is still dealing with the realization that her handler and three of her teammates are dead. However, another handler comes into the picture, shattering her hopes for a return to a normal life; the creepy Mr. Smith who was responsible for staging the “school bus accident” which claimed her friends. Then, the details of General Zarkov, Operation: Failsafe and the missing nuclear bombs emerge; a plot to kill the President and millions of innocent people at the Olympic Games...

Muriel Peterson’s grandfather is killed in 1976. Four years later, the guidance counselor at her new junior high school asks if she is a good American and offers to free her from the boredom of being a preteen in her small Pennsylvania town. He asks her to spy on a family of Russian immigrants suspected of stealing secrets for the KGB. She reluctantly accepts and begins to infiltrate the life of that fellow student and his family.

A young boy lays dreaming on a grassy hill, escaping the harsh realities of the real world. His family pressures him to grow up and conform, but he resists. One day, he finds a discarded refrigerator box, which he drags home and paints blue. Climbing inside, he goes off on fantastic adventures, picking up a companion along the way. Then, one day, something happens and his make-believe world is shaken. Is drudgery and conformity inevitable, or can a childish imagination survive? Find out as we travel to the far reaches of space and time with a boy and his box.

After narrowly averting General Zarkov’s plan to kill millions of people and the President of the United States at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Murry Peterson barely has time to recover from the death of another teammate. She is taken by the CIA to a secret training facility, where she finally receives the same training an adult agent receives, including how to kill. Approached by the corrupt section chief, MacGuffin, Murry allows him to believe that she will work with him. Meanwhile, the team is sent to Europe as exchange students to track down Zarkov.

Robin Caruso is a typical teenage girl, who wants to live anything but the typical life. She longs for adventure and attempts to persuade her parents to allow her to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world solo. At first, they refuse, but after their daughter is branded a hero during a dramatic at-sea rescue, they have little choice but to consent. Months later, the preparations are made, but a last minute injunction is filed to prevent the voyage from taking place and Robin must stage a daring escape before she is able to get underway.

Nuclear weapons, a rogue Russian general and Soviet sleeper agents have made it to the shores of the United States! A vast conspiracy begins to take shape; one that threatens to unravel the very threads of democracy. It's 1982 and the Cold War is heating up. Andropov has become the leader of the USSR, and his anti-American sentiments are affecting the entire world. A passenger jet is shot down and tensions are high. Is the world on the brink of a nuclear war?

Muriel Peterson longed to escape the confines of junior high school while living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1980. When her guidance counselor revealed himself to be an agent of the CIA, he recruited her to help him on a mission. A year later, he needs her help again. Reluctant at first, Murry is coaxed back into the spy game, this time as part of a team.