Title: The Odd Job Squad
Author: Karl Fields
Series: N/A
Pages: 240
Publisher: Createspace
Date Published: June 14th 2011
Genre: Young Adult/ Comedy
Format: eBook
Source: Goddessfish Blog Tours
Synopsis:
The best way to get even is to get Odd. Thirteen-year-old Ander Cartwright is an expert on two subjects: fortune cookies and payback. Especially payback. When he's not struggling with algebra, Ander is the leader of an anonymous revenge club that operates within the walls of Marina Middle School. Got a beef with a classmate? Email Ander's crew and, if your case if legit, they'll get even on your behalf. It's not easy to right wrongs and stay under the radar at the same time. That's why Ander developed three simple rules designed to keep him and his friends from blowing their cover. But when Ander spots the opportunity to settle an old score of his own, he ignores his own rules, setting off a chain of events that threatens to blow his cover, and it'll take all the butt-kicking, detention-dodging skill the guys can muster to keep a lid on their secret.
Read ahead with this exclusive excerpt to see if this book about revenge is as sweet as it sounds!
Read ahead with this exclusive excerpt to see if this book about revenge is as sweet as it sounds!
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Chapter 1 – You’re Snot or You’re Not
We almost never got revenge requests during the summer. It was like the crushes and fights and trash talk and other junk were all part of some weird science experiment that could only exist in the Petri dish called Marina Middle. But three days after school started that year, we were back in business.
On the first day back, Greg Bilski, a seventh grader, walked up behind one of the sixth graders and goes, “Hey Snot, how was your summer? Have a nice trip?” Greg stuck his foot in front of the kid, gave him a shove and sent him flying. The kid dropped all his back-to-school stuff – pens, pencils, notepads, you name it – as he tried to break the fall, but he didn’t get his arms out fast enough.
Shredding the elbows of your new shirt isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you on your first day of school. It’s being reminded you’re a Snot. A rookie. A lowly sixth-grader. Having a ton of people point and laugh at you when all you were trying to do was find your way from Earth Sciences to History probably didn’t help much either. That’s where we came in. Say you had a beef with somebody at school, somebody like Greg. If you sent us an email stating your case, and if we thought it was justified, we’d deliver a little payback on your behalf.
Alan, Greg’s victim, emailed us on Wednesday....
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Meet the Author!
Meet the Author!
Karl Fields is a writer of fiction for teens and young adults. His other interests include jazz, golf and collecting flash drives, the more unusual the better. He was an army brat and by the seventh grade, he had attended six different schools on three continents. His first book, The Odd Job Squad, is about the exploits of three eighth graders who operate an anonymous revenge club at their school. He recommends that you not attempt the stunts portrayed in this book. His second, Instant Preplay, is about a boy who discovers that his DVR records shows before they air. He recommends that you get one of those if you can.
Comment below to be entered to win a 25$ Amazon gift card! Also, Karl Fields will be giving away a box of "Pinks" which are pink fortune cookies that Ander has a fondness for in the book! The more you comment, the higher your chance at winning! Good Luck :)
My first thought was - will the payback backfire? I'm hoping this story is more funny than scary.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Hi Mary,
DeleteBackfire? That couldn't possibly happen, could it? :-) As far as the story goes, scary? Nah. I certainly hope readers find it funny. That was my intent.
Thank you for hosting today
ReplyDeleteHi Andra,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for being today's tour host! I work the dreaded day job but I'll be stopping in throughout the day to answer any questions, etc. And yeah, Pinks are good stuff!
My pleasure!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun read.
ReplyDeleteKit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Hi Karl,
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you and learn about your books. While YA is not my usual reading material, I've been known to pick one up on occasion. Have to say, the books I've read were very well worth my time to read. Your book sounds like it falls into that category.
Question for you: If you have a ‘first novel’ tucked away in a drawer someplace and is considered to be ‘unpublishable’, what would need to be done to that novel to bring it back to life and make it publishable?
kareninnc at gmail dot com
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIndeed, I have a "trunk novel," something I wrote six or seven years ago. Last summer, I made the mistake of pulling it out of its virtual trunk, thinking a simple rewrite might bring it up to snuff. Um, no. The writing was pretty cringe-worthy, and to do the story justice, I would have had to start over from scratch. At this point, I'm really excited about the other things I'm working on and don't want to divert time from them, so I'm afraid that story isn't likely to see the light of day any time soon.
DeleteSounds like the perfect fun YA novel. Thanks for sharing the paybacks with us
ReplyDeletefencingromein at hotmail dot com
Congrats on your first book, The Odd Job Squad. I enjoyed the excerpt. I don't read too much YA. I don't have kids. I am a librarian and I do select YA titles for my library--but it's a community college. My audience is a little older. Even my Early College High School students would find this a bit "young" for them, I think.
ReplyDeletecatherinelee100 at gmail dot com