The Wait is Over!
You can now read The Field on your E-reader of choice! Perfect timing for our voluntary Social Distancing! Order your copy today!
E-Book ISBN 978-1-61254-447-2
Take care, stay safe and keep positive friends! Read, read, read!!
Review of THE FIELD by Gina Rae Mitchell
Here’s a very nice review of The Field from blogger Gina Rae Mitchell. Link to her page here.
The Field is such an excellent book that I can honestly recommend it for readers of all ages. It’s not your typical YA fiction novel.
The Field by Tracy Richardson is a wonderful young-adult novel. However, I truly believe this story is not only for young adults. I found it highly entertaining, and I am far from young.
The storyline has a lot of soccer and science in it, and yet you don’t have to be knowledgeable in either to enjoy The Field. The author captures the feelings of high schoolers very well. I bet we can all remember those days of angst, indecision, joy, and every other emotion that encompasses the passage from youth to adult. Relationships are an important theme throughout the book. It’s interesting to see how the changing of family & friend dynamics have lasting effects on people.
“A Science Fiction Winner”
Richardson creates an entirely believable world. Whether you consider this book sci-fi, metaphysical, or fiction, I’m confident you will enjoy reading it. It is very well-written, and the characters come alive while you are reading. I would recommend this book to readers from teen on up. Lovers of soccer, science, physics, and all-around excellent science fiction will enjoy The Field by Tracy Richardson.
LitPick gives THE FIELD 4 Stars and calls it “electrifying”!!
“The Field is an electrifying …[and] imaginative book full of action and mystery. I liked that the author blended a believable story about a regular high school boy with just enough sci-fi to make it enjoyable. … if you are a soccer fan who also likes a little bit of sci-fi, this book might be for you.” ~ LitPik reviewed by Jotaf aged 13
I love getting reviews from teen readers. Nice to know that he loved the book! Read the full review at LitPick.
What is the double meaning of THE FIELD?
My YA novel, THE FIELD is really about two fields (actually three, but telling you would be a spoiler and I want to see if anyone even figures it out, Evil laugh.)
The first field is the soccer field ~obvious from the cover. Eric is a soccer goal keeper competing for the starting spot on his high school varsity soccer team. Soccer is like a thread woven through the story, moving the action forward and linking the characters together. The struggle to play and win on the soccer field is a major theme of the book. But it is not the only theme.
The other field is the Universal Energy Field that many scientists believe exists all around us, everwhere in the Universe. What is this Universal Energy Field? I could say that you’ll have to read my novel to find out, but that would be mean. (another evil laugh.) Dr. Auberge, a character in THE FIELD says, “Scientists theorize that there is enough energy in a square inch of space anywhere in the Universe to power all of New York City for a year.” Intrigued? Here are some non-fiction books on the topic that you might find interesting.
The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
The Field ~The Quest For The Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart
The Intention Experiment – Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart
The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden
The Great Field – Soul at Play in a Conscious Universe by John James, PhD
What the BLEEP Do We Know? ~ Feature Film by William Arntz
I will continue to add books to this reading list and post it to the site. I hope you find THE FIELD entertaining, engaging and perhaps even enlightening. There is more to space than space.
Goodreads Review of THE FIELD from R3id Libby
Here is the first official review of The Field by R3id Libby posted in Goodreads. He was also the inspiration for one of the characters of the book. See if you can guess which one?!?! It should serve as a warning to all of you who know an author – you may find yourself (or a caricature version of yourself) in the pages of a book. Thank you R3id!
This book is a good summer read, and you may very well find yourself reading several chapters at a time. I finished the book in about a week; the plot is easy to follow, the characters relatable, and each word positively absorbing.
Whether you’re on the soccer field with Eric and Will during each thrilling play, or on top of the mysterious rock watching the stars with Eric and Renee, or just kidding around with Cole, (with whom I feel a deep emotional resonance,) every scene is at once thrilling, thoughtful, and absorbing. Middle and high school students will find “The Field” exciting and easy to read, and parents will be fascinated to know what a day in the life of a high schooler is like nowadays.
However, the appeal of “The Field” is not limited to any demographic– readers needn’t be soccer fans, workers for clean coal, or cosmic energy field enthusiasts to get into every part of this story.
On a side-note, Richardson’s simple, accessible writing style contrasts well with her husband’s bold prose in his work “Fragile”, and reading both books is an interesting experience: Two very different writing styles from under the same roof! Not to mention that their talented son did the cover art for “The Field”. To connoisseurs of art, I say to expect great things from this family. And to readers, I say, “Bon appetit!”
Why I Wrote THE FIELD
The idea behind The Field came from several different places. The first influence was metaphysical. We all experience it. The hunch that turns out to be true, running into a friend that you were just thinking about, the answer to a question you were pondering popping into your head or an eerily prophetic dream. I wanted to tell a story about a regular person, a normal person, who was having these types of experiences. Most of the YA paranormal stories that I read are about teens who are extra-ordinary in some way. They have special powers that no one else possesses. In The Field, Eric is an ordinary high school soccer player who is experiencing something more. He’s connecting to The Universal Energy Field and the Collective Consciousness; something that I believe we all can do.
The second influence was all of the disaster, post-apocalyptic literature out there. I like a good dystopian story as much as the next person, but I was starting to feel as if all we could see in the future was doom and gloom. I’d like to think that we are better than that. Certainly bad things happen and bad people exist, but why not focus on what is good? It doesn’t have to be sappy or boring, either. And it isn’t necessarily easy. Eric struggles with figuring out how to tap into The Field, how to play well in the goal, and in his relationships with his girlfriend and best friend. And it doesn’t end with him having all the answers. The process is what matters and what he learns is that he’ll never know everything and that it’s not important. He just needs to know that there is something more out there than we experience, if we just take the time to pay attention.
Environmental issues play an important role in my writing as well. I have a degree in biology and while I didn’t pursue science as a career, I am still very influenced by it. The earth is our home and I believe that we should take care of her. We live in a throw-away culture, not thinking about how our plastic bottles or lawn fertilizer will affect the world around us. I think the time is fast approaching when we’ll have to take notice. Really, it’s already here. In The Field I focus on so-called ‘Clean Coal’ and to some extent nuclear energy and compare them to other truly clean energy sources such as wind or solar and then I take it a step further. What if The Universal Energy Field is a source of energy that we can tap into? How would we do it? What is it? I don’t mean to claim that I have the answers, but there are brilliant scientists who are trying to find those answers. Again, it comes back to my belief that there is so much more in the Universe than we perceive or even imagine.
The soccer focus came naturally. Both my husband and son are soccer goal-keepers. Our son is still playing club soccer in college and my husband has coached travel and high school soccer for years. You could say that I am a soccer mom, but I wish you wouldn’t. Really. Even though I do have a van. And live in the suburbs. I will say that watching your son dive at the feet of a sprinting, teen-aged boy intent on scoring is the worst kind of torture. Let’s just say that my stomach was in knots most weekends and I spent a lot of time in the bathroom at games from nerves! In fact, our son recently sent a text message picture of himself with a broken nose from playing soccer while my husband and I were on vacation. At first we thought he’d been mugged or in a fight because there was no message accompanying the picture. Do you know what he said when we called him in a panic? “I made the save!” I did actually play one season of women’s league soccer myself, but after being drilled in the face with a ball and knocked completely off my feet, I was glad to discover that I was pregnant and could no longer play. (Okay, it was a long time ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. My team wore pink socks. So not my color!)
Exploring these ideas through the vehicle of story presents a unique opportunity. In fiction, I can make things up (which I love), but I can also present new ideas in a way that is more accessible and approachable. I hope that my books allow people to look beyond what they think they know is true, and, hopefully, give them a really good story to enjoy while they’re doing it.
