BROKEN CIRCLE

For fifteen years, Adam’s father has kept Adam’s identity—and destiny—secret. As the future Grim Reaper, Adam will inherit the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States and will be responsible for helping recently departed souls traverse that mysterious realm known as “Limbo,” to make it to the other side—from life to death.

But dark forces gathering around the world and plotting to destroy the family’s entire legacy compel Adam’s father to reveal the truth—propelling Adam into a world of death, feuds, broken promises, and dangerous truths. The rise of an immortality cult based on the ancient promise of La Luz—a city where the angel of death could not enter—threatens to destroy not only Adam and his family but the entire world.

This is the first of fice books in a planned series. The series combines a compelling, fast-paced plot with deep questions about the human condition and a multicultural, diverse approach to how we understand and experience death. It will appeal to popular, diverse, and literary audiences in the same way as books by Matt de la Peña, Alex London, and Neil Gaiman.

J.L. Powers is the award-winning author of 3 young adult novels, The Confessional, This Thing Called the Future, and Amina. She is also the editor of two collections of essays and author of a picture book, Colors of the Wind, the story of blind artist and champion runner George Mendoza. She works as a publicist for Cinco Puntos Press, and is founder and editor of the online blog The Pirate Tree: Social Justice and Children’s Literature. She teaches creative writing, literature, and composition for Skyline College in California’s Bay Area. She served as a jurist for the 2014 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature.

M.A. Powers is J.L.’s “little” (but much taller) brother. He has a PhD in the Oncological Sciences from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah-Salt Lake City. He is currently a stay-at-home dad and lives in Maine. He is homeschooling his oldest daughter, plays the guitar and keyboards, likes camping and hiking, and enjoys smoking brisket like all good Texas transplants. His dream is to trek across Scotland and sample all of the Scotch distilleries. This is his first book.