Fiction, Fantasy

Catacombs and the Lava Bed Forest

Name: Catacombs and the Lava Bed Forest
Author: Sarah Gerdes
ISBN: 9780976408505

by Sarah Gerdes

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Synopsis

Product Description

Lying on the cold catacomb floor, Almore held down his struggling sister as the wall before them slowly closed. The light in the tunnel dwindled until it became a pinpoint, and then faded into blackness. When he was sure the wall was completely shut, he let Mia go. Together they got up and walked slowly toward the wall, still not believing it had opened and closed before their eyes. Together they touched it, feeling rock where air had been seconds before. The secret portal, once high and wide enough to accommodate a full-grown man, was now a solid sheet of cold, impenetrable black lava
And their father and his attacker were trapped behind it.
The Fleener twins, Almore and Mia are lost in time. After watching their father, a volcano expert, vanish into a lava rock wall, Almore and Mia begin a dangerous and adventure filled journey. Aided by strange and powerful artifacts they find along the way, Almore and Mia discover new friendships, search for their father, and battle against an evil force attempting to harness the mystical power of volcanoes to rule the world and change the face of mankind forever.

Review

"Author Sarah Gerdes has written a fabulous, interesting and stimulating book. It incorporates la great plot, characters and adventure." --
Jane Shay, owner, Lilypad Children's Bookstore, April 2, 2005

"For parents seeking summer kid lit, Catacombs and the Lava Bed Forest is ideal." --
Ina Gilles, Queen Anne News, May 4, 2005

"My students loved reading Catacombs. They were entirely engaged and now they cannot wait for the second book!" --
Sarah Geren Ziegler, 5th Grade Teacher, Medina Elementary, Medina WA

About the Author

First-time fiction author Sarah Gerdes had one place of constancy in her life: spending summer vacations with her family at their cabin at Medicine Lake in California. Gerdes family moved often, taking her from Costa Rica to Honduras to Florida, finally settling down in Oregon. As a child, Gerdes found comfort sitting on the edge of the former volcanos rim at Medicine Lake, named by the Modoc Native Americans for the waters medicinal healing powers. Gerdes and her five siblings played in the mounds of arching black obsidian which surround the rim of the volcano. They were free to explore the red rocks of the dome peaks of pumas, climbing on trails of broken volcano shards to make forts constructed of downed trees. Hidden under the earth, catacombs stretch for miles like tentacles of a giant spider. Gerdes often explored the numerous caves created by tubes of air captured within the lava flow.
Using an artful blend of fact and fiction, "Catacombs and the Lava Bed Forest" takes place twenty years prior to the Modocs final stand against the U.S. Army. Using 12-year-old twins Almore and Mia Fleener as the hero and heroine, Gerdes constructs a world where the twins face time travel, mysticism and question their morals in the search for their lost father. Written as the first book in the Catacombs series, Gerdes sets up the conflict between evil forces that would harness the mystical powers of the volcanoes to rule the world and change the face of mankind forever.
Thirty-six-year-old Gerdes is the founder and CEO of Business Marketing Group (BMG) and mother of a 13-year-old son. A successful entrepreneur, Gerdes career has been profiled by Fortune Magazine, Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine. Her book, "Navigating the Partnership Maze: Creating Alliances that Work" (McGraw-Hill 2002) is available in Chinese and English. She has provided expert commentary to print, radio and television programs such as Inc. Magazine, National Public Radio and CBS covering business growth topics. Gerdes lives in Maple Valley, Wash. near another famous volcano which may again erupt some day.