Just received these lovely industry endorsements for Catalyst! Also sharing a terrific review by Athena – OneReadingNurse who shares a name with a ‘character’ in the book and TOTALLY gets Catalyst! She even compares it to The Celestine Prophecy!!!
Go to the BUY page to get your copy – Ebook out now, print book in September.
Endorsements
“Tracy Richardson has created an intriguing premise that blends the worlds of sci-fi, spiritualism, and climate activism.”
—Allen Johnson, Screenwriter, The Freemason
“An ode to the responsibility of taking care of our one and only Earth, Catalyst offers an energetic and immersive experience that spotlights alternate dimensions, energy fields, and our very own human potential.”
—Genese Davis, Game Writer, Author of The Holder’s Dominion series
“Catalyst frames a portrait of collective humanity for each of us to find our likenesses rendered within a profile of the human condition.”
—Rita Kohn, Senior Writer for the NUVO Cultural Foundation
Review by Athena – OneReadingNurse
This book contains a lot of really great messages for young readers, first and foremost the environmental consequences of our actions. Marcie and her team are dealing with an energy company that wants to expand fracking in the area, and there is a great amount of info about that and other environmental disasters.
Marcie has an interesting character arc as well. She knows there is something about the world that she can sense, but isn’t sure what it is. With the help of Zeke and Lorraine, two grad students on the dig, Marcie and the other teens learn about the Universal Energy Field and the implications of the fourth, fifth, and dimensions beyond. Leo is the other main character and provides the opposing point of view on fracking, as his father works for the energy industry. Their relationship is interesting because it pretty accurately portrays how teens have trouble with opposing viewpoints, and how to talk around issues and make compromises. I really shipped them.
I’m also Greek and ran cross country and share a name with the alien space ship…so…yeah, there are those things too. I liked Marcie a lot. The book reminds me of The Celestine Prophecies, which I was obsessed with in high school, and I’m really glad that this generation of young readers gets a book like this too.
The book turns from fairly normal, to paranormal, to sci-fi Jesus in a spaceship REAL quick, and I loved it. I thought the context of spiritual leaders made sense, since it would be pretty egocentric to assume that the gods and goddesses and religious leaders are only dedicated to one planet. The sci-fi element is definitely a bit out there in left field but it worked for me.
The book is relatively short at 248 pages. The pacing is pretty even and I’m sad that it took me so long to start because once I did, I read it in two sittings. I was never bored at all. I would totally and fully recommend this for teen readers as an environmentally and self-conscious read that has some great examples of conflict resolution and interpersonal relationships within the team.
