Twelve year old Seth Reid can't seem to get his life back together after losing his dad one year ago. On the verge of getting suspended from school, and nearly failing every class, he meets Belvedere, a quirky shapeshifter, seeking help to save the universe. On an adventure to another world filled with dragons, crystals, and an unknown dark infection, will Seth finally find where he fits in the world? This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2014 by Melanie McFarlane www.melaniemcfarlane.com No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. ISBN: 978-0-9937337-1-0 Cover art © 2014 by Surendra Rajawat http://surendrarajawat.daportfolio.com/

Before the universe existed, God was. Not the God of man made religions but an omniscient presence known only to himself. Then humans were created. Humans multiplied and covered the face of the Earth. Then reaching out to the stars they sought to claim what they believed to be theirs, to share with whatever other sentient species was there. But they found none like themselves. Thinking themselves alone in the universe after centuries of seeking other intelligent life a malaise enters their collective soul. It is then that Earth is unexpectedly contacted by a seemingly omniscient 'voice' heard by all. Told the Earth must be evacuated, humans are encouraged to leave with urgency when first Mercury and then Venus are destroyed. It seems to them that God is not happy. Having reached out to the stars, human kind believed all was theirs, to be shared with beings like themselves who awaited their arrival. Humans had claimed as their own that which they thought to be theirs. Many worlds were discovered. However, they were worlds without life; habitable and yet uninhabited. The offspring of God could find no others like themselves. They then realized, and they regretted, the universe was theirs alone. In denying God they had sought of themselves as gods. And having rejected the Creator of all they possessed, they were now alone in the universe...or so they had thought.

A dying Earth plagued with fires, natural disasters, and a deadly virus. A luxury spaceship, planned to send only the wealthiest families on a one-hundred-year hypersleep journey to a safe haven out on the far stretches of the universe. And a girl who is determined to get her and her family on board. After receiving the last four tickets aboard the STARLINE, seventeen-year-old Lina McAddams thinks that finally, everything is going to be okay. Her and her family are going to leave a decimated Earth behind and restart their lives, embarking on the STARLINE's one-hundred year long journey to "paradise." It seems that nothing can wrong. Until Lina wakes up from hypersleep fifty years too early. And she is the only one. Frightened and alone, Lina slowly begins to unravel the true intentions and destination of the STARLINE company, realizing that maybe, just maybe, the spaceship is not going to the "paradise" it advertised that it would be going to. Fighting fear, solitude, and the sudden outbreak of the deadly virus aboard the ship, Lina doesn't think she can survive. Until she realizes that she wasn't the only one who woke up. Filled with action, romance, suspense, and adventure, "ASCENSION" tells the chair-gripping story of Lina McAddam's harrowing journey through the cosmos.