Book Feature: Space Orville by Jeff Whelan

Space Orville, a young Earthman of 16, is relishing his new life as an independent "grown-up." He has just been accepted as an apprentice with Morphean Gaming Systems and has moved into an Earth-orbiting apartment with his companion, NeutroFuzz, to test holographic video games. As a result of a questionnaire he answered in the back of a magazine, Space Orville finds himself recruited by the Universal Protection Service to rescue a brilliant inventor who has been kidnapped by a group of diseased refugees seeking a cure for their malady. But these exiled aliens may have more nefarious plans for this inventor's device. Initially perplexed, Space Orville becomes thrilled at being recruited for this dangerous mission. He is therefore bummed to find himself partnered with a warrior dwarf.

Meanwhile, two agents from the OmniCosmic Alliance are in pursuit of a dangerously powerful and deranged scientist, one Bizmo the Inconceivable, who has escaped from prison with a device that can alter reality and enslave every living mind. When these two missions collide, Space Orville must find a way to work with this new team of real "grown-ups" while maintaining a hold on his newfound independence.

Space Orville is not only a rollicking, interstellar adventure loaded with mind-altering concepts and wordplay, but an exploration of how learning to work with others is a large part of learning to be one's self.

"Jeff Whelan serves up vivid description, priceless Lewis Carroll-like dialogue and wordplay, as well as meditations both profound and playful." - Amazon Review

Available at:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble

For more information, please visit Jeff's IAN page.

Jeff Whelan was born near Chicago and did his growing up in the smallish town of DeKalb, Illinois. Taking time to travel with a carnival in his teens and spending a good part of his 20s living and working in San Francisco, Jeff returned to DeKalb and found himself settling down and starting a family. After 20 happy and fulfilling years in the field of special education, Jeff became a happy and fulfilled stay-at-home parent. Once both children became full-time schoolers, Jeff returned to work by day as a special education paraprofessional and remains, by night, a home-based medical transcriptionist.

You can connect with Jeff by visiting his blog and via Facebook and Twitter.
Also be sure to read the SpecFicPick interview with Jeff Whelan.