I'm trying to figure out how to present my epic novel to the TL;DR, '30 second attention span' crowd.
Perhaps they would enjoy it in a Curious George approach?
Let me try it with the first sixth of the book!
OUT THERE: THE 1K
The abridged version of the first sixth of the book.
The very abridged version.
-----------------------------------
"Mom! Dad! I wanna fly Earth's first spaceship!" Will jumps in excitement.
"No," his dad says, "You have ADHD."
"I think he can. What could go wrong?" his nerdy mom defends her son's dreams.
Suddenly, an alien craft appears out of the night sky and whisks Will away from Earth.
There are other kids on the ship, too, all taken like he was.
Everything is a blur.
Will is frightened.
"You have to talk to understand everyone because they put translator bananites in our heads," a girl says.
Her name is Emma. She sits next to Will and lets him listen to music.
Will calms down.
The two become instant best friends.
Will sees Earth one last time before the ship jumps to hyperspace.
Emma, not wanting to forget Earth, changes her name to Terra.
Both are very sad.
Will and Terra learn that they are two out of one thousand kids taken from Earth.
Chancellor Urza says they're going to save the galaxy.
But how? Will wonders. How can kids defeat evil aliens who can blow up planets?
They spend six days on the starship called the Intrepid.
This is a ship from the Planetary Alliance, and the people who work on it are called Regents.
They meet all kinds of strange looking humanoid aliens. They learn about the other two human species - the mik and the masakans.
The mik are giant humans. Much taller and stronger than anyone Will and Terra have ever seen.
Will is upset, because the one thousand kids will be split up to live all over the Alliance's part of the galaxy.
Will he ever see them again?
They land on the beautiful human homeworld of Masaka.
"It looks like Earth!" Terra exclaims in happiness.
"But it's not," Will says.
Captain Linell has a bad feeling about bringing them home to Masaka. They aren't supposed to be together, or they could be discovered.
Will and Terra and their new friends make a promise to always be there for each other.
The next morning, the starship Intrepid rescues them from the wicked trap set by Senator Degull and Senator Runell.
But oh no! Will and Terra are kidnapped!
The Intrepid goes on a wild chase after the rogue Regent starship that took them.
The enemy ship vanishes into hyperspace.
Will wakes up in a white room and wearing different clothes.
He'd just had the weirdest and most vivid dream of his life.
Terra is on the other side of a window in an identical room.
"Where are we?" Will asks.
"I don't know." Terra says.
"I'll get you out," Will says. He tries to break the glass, but fails.
Suddenly, threads of blue light extend out from their hands toward each other.
It scares them. They feel different.
"Why is there light coming out of us?" Terra asks.
"Captain Linell is brave! She'll know what to do," Will exclaims.
"Captain Tevara Linell is dead," a man walks into Will's room.
"I'm Doctor Barakan, and you live here now," he says.
"What's happening to us?" Will asks.
"It's a gift I'm giving you to save the galaxy. Isn't it great?" Doctor Barakan gloats.
"We're already gonna do that," Will argues, "We don't want it."
"Tough," Doctor Barakan says, "No take-backs. I own you now."
Will and Terra use that light inside them to fight back, but it makes them tired.
His plan to change their DNA to turn them into something the galaxy hasn't seen in a century is working!
In time, he and Chancellor Urza will get what they want.
They will end the four hundred year war by using Will and Terra's lives.
2 years later...
"Woohoo! Flying is fun!" Yune Darrak loves driving his hoverbike through the capital city of New Cerillia on Masaka.
He smooth talks his way into a club that's in a bad part of town in order to capture a criminal named Avik Coval.
Uh oh. It looks like he's not the only one after Avik.
Yune's friend and former crewmate is here, too.
"You got taller," his friend, Zaf Bixim, laughs.
"I did not," Yune said. But it's a lie.
The man Yune is looking for gets into a shootout with Yune and Zaf and escapes capture!
Yune and Avik go on a high speed chase through the city.
It's very dangerous.
Yune captures the bad guy and gets back the artifact he was hired to find.
It's a red crystal the size of a golf ball that belongs to some alien monks.
It's worth a lot of money. That's why the bad man stole it.
Yune thinks he's won, but oh no! An old friend-turned-enemy shows up to steal it from him!
When all looks lost, Yune's friend from the club arrives just in time to save him.
Zaf was hired by the same monks to get their special rock back.
He doesn't give it to Yune, but he does tell him that Senator Runell has a hiding place.
Yune needs money. Bringing the Senator to justice would solve his problems.
"I'll do it." He takes the bounty hunting job.
Senator Runell found a hidden place high in the mountains.
Yune lands his ship, the Horizon.
He complains about snow. "It's wet and cold and I don't like it."
While scouting out how to get inside the secret Regent facility, Yune spots something unusual.
Two children are playing under the clear dome protecting the hiding spot.
It's Will and Terra.
But Yune doesn't know that.
"Scientist's kids," he guesses.
He's about to go back to his ship when lights flash in the dome.
Oh no! Both kids suddenly fall to the ground.
Armored Regent troopers spirit them away into the hideout.
This isn't right.
Yune will find out what's going on when he captures Senator Runell.
In order to do that, he'll need help.
Yune calls his best friend, a felorian Ai Hiri sen named Selka Kelnaris.
The two of them will team up to capture Senator Runell.
"Let's go get rich. Yay, money!"
Yune doesn't tell Selka about the kids. Solving this mystery is his side project.
Little did he and his best friend know that his side project would change the course of their lives.
Forever.
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